University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
High Point
Bulldogs Advance to Championship Game to Face Winthrop
03.05.2016 | Men's Basketball
THE RUNDOWN
Score: Asheville 80 – High Point 69
Teams: Asheville (21-11)
High Point (21-10)
Round: Big South Semifinals
Location: Gore Arena / Buies Creek, N.C.
BUIES CREEK, N.C. – UNC Asheville used a 6-0 to close the first half, withstood several second half High Point runs and hit key free throws down the stretch to head to the Big South Championship game for the first time since 2012 after an 80-69 victory over High Point in the Semifinals.
Asheville has won four Big South Championships in program history, most recently back-to-back the 2011 and 2012 titles. The Bulldogs will face off against Winthrop, who downed Gardner-Webb 82-69 in Saturday's second game.
THE TURNING POINT
The Bulldog defense held High Point to a 2-of-12 shooting stretch late in the first half to take their first lead before extending the advantage with the 6-0 run to close the half.
Asheville then used a quick 6-0 run over 60 seconds to gain space at the eight minute mark of the second half.
The Bulldogs closed the game hitting nine of their last 10 free throws over the final 1:29 of play.
NOTABLES
-Ahmad Thomas and Dylan Smith each finished with a team-best 18 points in the win, with Dwayne Sutton tallying a double-double effort with 13 points and 10 rebounds and Sam Hughes adding 11.
-Asheville spent the second holding off High Point runs. The Panthers scored the first seven points of the second half to close to 39-33. The Bulldogs hold on and built a 12-point lead on the 6-0 run, led by Thomas. The sophomore scored all six points for the Blue & White to push the margin to 61-49 at the 8:02 mark.
-The Bulldogs began to take charge of the game in the final eight minutes of the first-half, once again thanks to their defense.
-High Point led 20-19 at the nine-minute mark but Asheville outscored the Panthers, 20-6 to take a 39-26 halftime lead. The Bulldogs forced High Point to six turnovers as the top-seeded Panthers went 2-of-13 from the field and had six turnovers in that stretch.
-Asheville shot 45.0 percent (27-for-60) for the game, including 53 percent in the opening half, as it hit 21 of 27 free throw attempts (78 percent), and sprinkled in five three-pointers in the win. The Bulldogs held High Point to just 33 percent in the first half on the way to the Panthers hitting just 37.0 percent (20-for-54) for the game. High Point finished the afternoon just 4-of-20 from three-point range.
-High Point went 25-of-26 at the free throw line, including hitting all 19 attempts in the second half, to stay close all afternoon.
-The Bulldogs forced 20 High Point turnovers, including 11 in the first half, on the way to tallying 18 points off turnovers in the win. Asheville was outrebounded, 39-32, with the Panthers scoring 18 second chance points.
-Sunday's appearance in the Big South Conference championship game will be the Bulldogs first since winning back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012. It will be Asheville's ninth appearance in the title game as the Bulldog program is 4-4 in championship games. McDevitt will coach his first title game on Sunday but it will be his seventh as part of the Asheville program. He has been a part of two as a player (1998, 2000) and four as an assistant coach (2003, 2008, 2011, 2012).
QUOTABLES FROM HEAD COACH NICK McDEVITT
“What a great win. We really got a great effort from everybody today to beat a championship-team like High Point. Our guys really competed, played hard and made enough plays to get to the championship game. I am so proud of this team. We've got one more game to go.”
“We knew we weren't going to win this game by 30 points. High Point was going to make some runs. But I thought our guys handled those runs and got the job done. We played with some real poise in the final few minutes and stepped up and hit some big free throws.”
