University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Saturday, February 25
Asheville, NC
2:00 p.m.
UNC Asheville
(23-8, 15-3)
63
vs
45
Liberty
(19-12, 14-4)
1
2
F
Liberty
26
19
45
Asheville
25
38
63
Photo by: UNC Asheville
Big South Regular-Season Champs! Bulldogs Claim Share of Title With Win Over Liberty
02.25.2017 | Men's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville men's basketball team claimed a share of the Big South Conference regular-season title with a 63-45 win over Liberty before a crowd of 2,928 at Kimmel Arena.
UNC Asheville (23-8, 15-3 Big South Conference) and Winthrop (22-6, 15-3 Big South Conference) shared this year's regular-season title. Due to numerous tiebreaking procedures, Winthrop has earned the No. 1 seed in the Big South Conference Men's Basketball Tournament and will play host to the quarterfinals and semifinals. The highest remaining seed will host the championship game.
The game would start with Liberty leading by as many as seven in the first half with just over 12 minutes left in the half. The Bulldogs would trail by just one though at the halftime break at 26-25.
The second half would be all Bulldogs with UNC Asheville outscoring the Flames, 38-19, in the half to pick up the 18-point win.
UNC Asheville junior guard Ahmad Thomas scored a career-best 31 points in the Big South-title clinching victory for the Bulldogs. Thomas put together an impressive stat sheet as always in the game with 31 points, six rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block.
Bulldog freshman guard MaCio Teague collected his second double-double of the year in the game with 12 points and a career-high-tying 10 rebounds. He also had four assists and one block.
Myo Baxter-Bell was the top scorer for the Flames in their loss with 18 points.
UNC Asheville shot 51.1 percent (24-of-47) from the field as a team in the contest, while also holding Liberty to just 30.2 percent (16-of-53) as a team. The Bulldogs held Liberty to just 20.8 percent (5-of-24) from the floor as a team in half No. 2.
BULLDOG BITES
BIG SOUTH REGULAR-SEASON TITLE NO. 6: UNC Asheville men's basketball picked up their sixth regular-season title in the 2016-17 season (1996-97, 1997-98, 2001-02, 2007-08, 2011-12 and 2016-17). Asheville head coach Nick McDevitt has been a part of five of the six Big South Conference regular-season crowns either as a player, assistant coach or head coach (1997-98, 2001-02, 2007-08, 2011-12 and 2016-17).
DEFENSIVE LOCKDOWN: In the most important game of the season to date, UNC Asheville men's basketball held their opponent to just 45 points, which is the least scored by a Bulldog opponent all season.
FANS SHOWED UP WHEN IT MATTERED MOST: UNC Asheville fans showed up to support their championship team in a big way on Saturday with a season-high 2,928 fans inside Kimmel Arena.
SERIES: UNC Asheville and Liberty met for the 59th time on Saturday. The Bulldogs now own a 39-20 all-time series advantage with Asheville having won the last 12 meetings.
QUOTABLES
On huge win in front of tremendous crowd
"It was a great atmosphere. To have this many people here, I thought it was a fantastic college basketball environment. The crowd was into it, our players were feeding off of it and to kind of close out the careers of three special seniors and also to win like that in front of a crowd like this is special." – Head Coach Nick McDevitt
On Big South Conference regular-season championship
"Your goal each and every year is a regular-season championship and a postseason championship. Our guys hung in there and we were able to get a regular-season championship here this afternoon and let's see what happens next week." – Head Coach Nick McDevitt
UNC Asheville (23-8, 15-3 Big South Conference) and Winthrop (22-6, 15-3 Big South Conference) shared this year's regular-season title. Due to numerous tiebreaking procedures, Winthrop has earned the No. 1 seed in the Big South Conference Men's Basketball Tournament and will play host to the quarterfinals and semifinals. The highest remaining seed will host the championship game.
The game would start with Liberty leading by as many as seven in the first half with just over 12 minutes left in the half. The Bulldogs would trail by just one though at the halftime break at 26-25.
The second half would be all Bulldogs with UNC Asheville outscoring the Flames, 38-19, in the half to pick up the 18-point win.
UNC Asheville junior guard Ahmad Thomas scored a career-best 31 points in the Big South-title clinching victory for the Bulldogs. Thomas put together an impressive stat sheet as always in the game with 31 points, six rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block.
Bulldog freshman guard MaCio Teague collected his second double-double of the year in the game with 12 points and a career-high-tying 10 rebounds. He also had four assists and one block.
Myo Baxter-Bell was the top scorer for the Flames in their loss with 18 points.
UNC Asheville shot 51.1 percent (24-of-47) from the field as a team in the contest, while also holding Liberty to just 30.2 percent (16-of-53) as a team. The Bulldogs held Liberty to just 20.8 percent (5-of-24) from the floor as a team in half No. 2.
BULLDOG BITES
BIG SOUTH REGULAR-SEASON TITLE NO. 6: UNC Asheville men's basketball picked up their sixth regular-season title in the 2016-17 season (1996-97, 1997-98, 2001-02, 2007-08, 2011-12 and 2016-17). Asheville head coach Nick McDevitt has been a part of five of the six Big South Conference regular-season crowns either as a player, assistant coach or head coach (1997-98, 2001-02, 2007-08, 2011-12 and 2016-17).
DEFENSIVE LOCKDOWN: In the most important game of the season to date, UNC Asheville men's basketball held their opponent to just 45 points, which is the least scored by a Bulldog opponent all season.
FANS SHOWED UP WHEN IT MATTERED MOST: UNC Asheville fans showed up to support their championship team in a big way on Saturday with a season-high 2,928 fans inside Kimmel Arena.
SERIES: UNC Asheville and Liberty met for the 59th time on Saturday. The Bulldogs now own a 39-20 all-time series advantage with Asheville having won the last 12 meetings.
QUOTABLES
On huge win in front of tremendous crowd
"It was a great atmosphere. To have this many people here, I thought it was a fantastic college basketball environment. The crowd was into it, our players were feeding off of it and to kind of close out the careers of three special seniors and also to win like that in front of a crowd like this is special." – Head Coach Nick McDevitt
On Big South Conference regular-season championship
"Your goal each and every year is a regular-season championship and a postseason championship. Our guys hung in there and we were able to get a regular-season championship here this afternoon and let's see what happens next week." – Head Coach Nick McDevitt
Team Stats
LIBERTY
AVL
FG%
.302
.511
3FG%
.125
.368
FT%
.833
.800
RB
26
36
TO
9
13
STL
8
4
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
31
FGM
12
3FGM
4
FTM
3
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
6
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
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