University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Coastal Carolina
Coastal Carolina Ends Bulldog Season, 74-57
03.07.2015 | Men's Basketball
CONWAY, S.C. – Elijah Wilson scored 29 points to lead Coastal Carolina to a 74-57 win over UNC Asheville in the quarterfinals of the Big South Conference Tournament at the HTC Center Friday night.
The Bulldogs end their season with a 15-16 record. Freshman forward Ahmad Thomas led Asheville with 16 points and eight rebounds. Andrew Rowsey finished with 14 points. Jaleel Roberts and Kevin Vannatta chipped in nine points each.
CCU (22-9) advanced to the semifinals where it will face seventh-seeded Gardner-Webb Saturday at 2 p.m.
The Chanticleers took charge of this game early in the second half when they went on a 22-2 run. They trailed 35-29 but raced to a 51-38 lead. Wilson led the run with 12 points. He finished the game 7-of-10 from beyond the arc and scored 20 points in the second half.
Coastal Carolina's defense shut down Asheville in the second half. The Bulldogs shot just 29 percent (8-of-28) from the field and did not make a three-pointer (0-of-9). Asheville had 21 turnovers for the game as CCU outscored the Dogs, 20-12 on points off turnovers.
“First of all, congratulations to Coastal. They played really well. I thought we played well for the first 25 minutes of the game and then got a little disorganized and they went on a little run,” stated Bulldog coach Nick McDevitt. “Elijah Wilson caught fire and made some big shots. We just turned the ball over too much to win the game. In order to beat a quality team like Coastal at their place, it's very challenging. We dug ourselves too big of a hole.”
The Bulldogs had just nine assists in the game.
“I didn't think we were playing selfish. We were just playing a little too individual,” added McDevitt. “We had several guys trying to make a play and stopped moving the basketball. We were just trying to drive the ball. Against an athletic bunch like Coastal, that's not a recipe for success. To have nine assists tells you the lack of ball movement we had.”
McDevitt is already looking forward to next season.
“I'm looking forward to having a lot of these guys back,” McDevitt commented. “We have a lot of hard work in front of us. The league is getting better and better. I'm looking forward to next year already.”
Rowsey scored 12 points in the first half as the Bulldogs led for most of the opening half before settling for a 31-27 halftime lead. Asheville hurt itself in the opening half with 11 turnovers. The Dogs led by as much as eight in the first stanza but turnovers allowed the Chants to go on a 9-0 run to take a 27-26 lead.
Rowsey knocked down a trey and a bucket from David Robertson stopped the momentum by the home team and allowed the Blue & White to take a 31-27 lead at intermission.
