University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Liberty
Bulldogs Clinch First Round Bye with Thursday Victory
02.25.2016 | Men's Basketball
THE RUNDOWN
Score: Asheville 73 – Liberty 56
Teams: Asheville (19-10, 12-5 BSC)
Liberty (12-18, 9-8 BSC)
Location: Kimmel Arena / Asheville, N.C.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – UNC Asheville never trailed on Thursday night as it jumped out to a 16-point halftime advantage on the way to rolling to a 73-56 victory over Liberty in Big South Conference action. The Bulldogs forced 14 turnovers, including 11 in the first half as they kept pace in the league standings heading into Saturday's final day of the regular season.
The victory gives the Bulldogs a bye in next Thursday's opening round of the Big South Championships, held at Campbell. Asheville's final seeding, game time and Friday opponent are to be determined.
THE TURNING POINT
Asheville turned the 14 Liberty turnovers into 19 points, a 16-point advantage in the category, while recording seven steals and pulling down 11 more rebounds. The Bulldogs have now won the rebounding battle in 19 of 29 games this season and own a 14-5 record when pulling down more rebounds.
NOTABLES
-Three Bulldogs finished with double-figures in the win, led by Sam Hughes' game-high 17 points. The senior was 5-of-7 from the floor and added six rebounds, a steal and a block to his final stat line.
-Ahmad Thomas (15 points) was a 50 percent shooter (5-10) from the floor and had the game's oly double-double as he pulled down 10 rebounds (seven defensive). Kevin Vannatta rounded out the double-digit scorers with 13 points, adding four assists and three rebounds.
-The Bulldog lead grew to as high as 22 points with 10 minutes remaining, as Asheville finished the night hitting 42.9 percent (24-of-56) from the floor while adding three three-point baskets (3-of-16, 19 percent) and hitting 22-of-29 free throws (76 percent).
-Will Weeks played 23 minutes off the bench, finishing with six points and six rebounds. Trae Bryant added 19 minutes of turnover-free basketball off the bench, while Alec Wnuk was 3-of-4 from the floor (6 points) and Raekwon Miller tallied two steals and three rebounds in his six minutes of action of the bench.
-Liberty had 12 players see action in the loss, with A.C. Reid (11 points) and Lovell Cabbil (10 points) leading the way. In part due to the 12 players, Liberty's bench outscored Asheville 22-16 in the loss, one of the few categories the Bulldogs were on the wrong side of.
-Asheville finished with a 12-point advantage in points in the paint, while finishing +6 in both the second chance points and fast break points.
-Asheville led for a total of 39 minutes exactly and the game featured just three ties – all coming in the opening three minutes of the game.
QUOTABLES FROM HEAD COACH NICK McDEVITT
On the game – “I thought we played well tonight particularly on the defensive end of the floor and in the first half. We were able to string together stops that allowed us to build a double-digit lead. We talk to our guys about not just trading baskets, but trying to get a stop at a time and string together multiple stops. We were able to do that tonight – we had nine consecutive stops in the first half that allowed us to build our lead.
On the Bench contribution – “We have to continue to have that from multiple guys to be able to go down to Campbell and win three games in three days.”
UP NEXT
-Following tonight's win, the Bulldogs close the regular season Saturday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. against Coastal Carolina on Homecoming in Asheville. The men's game will be the second game of a doubleheader with the Bulldog women hosting Campbell at 2:00 p.m. Both games will be on ESPN3.
