University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Longwood
Bulldogs Grab 74-64 Conference Road Win at Longwood
01.28.2015 | Men's Basketball
FARMVILLE, Va. – Andrew Rowsey scored 24 points to lead UNC Asheville to a 74-64 Big South Conference road victory over Longwood Wednesday night at Willett Hall.
Senior center Jaleel Roberts tied a career-high with 14 points. He was 7-of-9 from the field and scored 12 points in the second half. Ahmad Thomas added a career-best 11 points. Sam Hughes grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.
Asheville (10-10, 6-3 BSC) controlled the boards with a 49-32 advantage as the Dogs had 18 offensive rebounds to 10 for the home team. The Bulldogs' bench came through as they outscored Longwood's bench, 34-15.
Rowsey was 6-of-13 from the field and 10-of-11 from the charity stripe.
Longwood (6-16, 2-7 BSC0 was led by a game-high 25 points from Quincy Taylor. Leron Fisher and Shaquille Johnson finished with 11 points each.
“This is a great win for us on the road,” stated Bulldog coach Nick McDevitt. “We got a lot of contributions from a lot of different players for us.
“Our rebounding was just tremendous,” added McDevitt. “We did an outstanding job in that area and a big reason for our win this evening.”
Asheville led from start to finish but the Lancers closed to one midway through the second half at 49-48 on two free throws from Taylor.
But the Bulldogs took charge at the point by scoring the next 11 points to race to a 60-48 lead. Roberts sparked the run six points on three dunks.
Asheville would lead by as much as 16 at 63-47 on a Thomas trey. Longwood would rally and close to 71-64 on a trey from Kanayo Obi-Rapu at the 55-second mark. Asheville would not allow the Lancers to get any closer as the Dogs went 3-of-4 from the free throw line in the final 40 seconds.
The Bulldogs controlled most of the first half with a massive rebounding edge. Asheville out-rebounded the Lancers, 26-12 and had 10 second-chance points to two for the home team.
Rowsey had a big opening half with 16 points as Asheville built a 31-20 lead late in the half. But Longwood rallied with its full-court pressure defense. The Lancers had six steals in the opening half and outscored the Dogs, 11-3 late in the half to close to 34-31. Rowsey was fouled on a three-point attempt with two second left in the half. The sophomore guard nailed all three free throws to give Asheville a 37-31 halftime lead.
Sophomore forward Gicamo Zilli came off the bench for the Bulldogs and played well with four points and five rebounds.
UNC Asheville returns home to face Big South rival Campbell at Kimmel Arena starting at 4:30 p.m.
