Thomas' Career Night Pushes Bulldogs Past Liberty

THE RUNDOWN

Score: Asheville 76 – Liberty 69

Teams: Asheville (10-5, 3-0 BSC)

Liberty (3-13, 0-3 BSC)

Location: Vines Center / Lynchburg, VA

LYNCHBURG, VA – Virginia native Ahmad Thomas finished with a career-high 27 points as UNC Asheville improved to 3-0 in the Big South Conference and handed Liberty its 12^th straight loss on Saturday afternoon.

THE TURNING POINT

The Bulldogs forced Liberty into 19 turnovers in the win, turning those miscues into 25 points on the afternoon. Asheville finished with 15 steals as a team, including nine in the first half, as Thomas collected seven total steals and the Bulldogs won their eighth straight in the series.

NOTABLES

-Thomas' 27 points came on 13-of-17 shooting from the floor, while he added nine rebounds and two assists in addition to his seven steals before fouling out with 2:52 remaining.

-The freshmen duo of Dylan Smith and Dwayne Sutton each finished with 16 points, primarily from the free throw line. Sutton was 9-of-11 from the stripe and Smith going 8-of-10.

-The Bulldogs pulled down 39 rebounds for the second consecutive game, including 27 on the defensive glass, as they outrebounded Liberty by five boards. Asheville's bench outscored Liberty 22-16 in the win.

-Asheville finished the afternoon shooting 41 percent (24-of-58), while Liberty notched a 39 percent mark (23-of-59) but were held to just 30 percent in the opening half.. The Bulldogs went to the line 29 times, hitting 83 percent, while Liberty went to the line 15 times (13-of-15, 87 percent).

-Liberty had three players score in double-figures in the loss, led by Lovell Cabbil's team-high 16 point afternoon.

QUOTABLES FROM HEAD COACH NICK McDEVITT

On Ahmad Thomas' Night – “He played great. Not just on the offensive end, which shows up on the stat sheet, but we also chat deflections and he had nine at halftime. When you are that active on the defensive end of the floor, you make a lot of things happen. He was a big reason we were up at halftime and we were able to win the game.”

On the team scoring – “I think we've done a nice job this year so far on sharing the ball and not being a team that's easy to guard. When you move the ball and your body you become difficult to defend as a team. Tonight, I thought we got a little stagnant, particularly in the second half. We have to continue to improve on that, but it's hard to win on the road. To come up here and get two wins in Virginia is a positive.”

On Winthrop – “Winthrop is a really good team, one of the preseason favorites to win the league. We are going to have to be ready to play. I know the game is at home, but that's going to be a tough game.”

UP NEXT

-Following today's win, the Bulldogs return home to take on Winthrop Wednesday, January 6. Asheville will head right back out on the road for another two-game swing after the meeting with Winthrop next week.