University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Tuesday, November 5
Knoxville, TN
7 p.m.
UNC Asheville
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78
Tennessee
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UNC Asheville
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Tennessee
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Photo by: Adrian Etheridge
Thorpe Scores 22 Points as Bulldogs Battle with Tennessee
11.05.2019 | Men's Basketball
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Despite the second-career 20-point scoring effort from LJ Thorpe and a late second half run, UNC Asheville's men's basketball team fell on the road, 78-63, in a tough battle against Tennessee, Tuesday night, at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Thorpe poured in 22 points to lead all scorers in the game, coming up just two points shy of his career high set last season against Charleston Southern. He did most of his damage in the second half, scoring 16 points in the second stanza.
The game opened as a back-and-forth, high-scoring affair, as the Volunteers held an 11-10 lead at the first media timeout. Lavar Batts, Jr. was the catalyst for the Bulldogs (0-1), as he led all scorers in the first half with nine, and also had four first-half steals.
Batts was a human-highlight real, with a pair of contested layups among the tall Tennessee defenders that had SportsCenter Top 10 Plays-level quality. He also hustled back on defense and saved a possession with a strong block from behind on a fast break attempt against the Vols' Lamonte Turner.
The Volunteers (1-0) started to build their lead as the first half progressed, but the Bulldogs put together a nice flurry to finish the first half on an 8-2 run in the final two minutes of the half.
With Tennessee up 34-20 at the 2:08 mark – tying their largest lead of the half – sophomore Coty Jude made a strong move in the paint, drawing a foul and making the bucket for an and-one. The Bulldogs forced a Vols' turnover, and after a pair of offensive rebounds, Jax Levitch was able to put it back through the cylinder and narrow the gap to single digits again.
With 20 seconds remaining, Thorpe found freshman Trent Stephney from beyond the arc, and the rookie buried it for his first-career bucket as a Bulldog. The Vols added a dunk just before the half expired to take a 36-28 lead into the locker room.
The Vols came out firing in the second half, bumping the lead up to 20 five minutes into the period. Led by Thorpe, the Bulldogs continued to hang around though.
Tennessee increased the lead to 25 points – 76-51 – with just over four minutes left in the half, but as they did to close out the first, the Bulldogs went on another run to close out the game.
Thorpe started the run with an and-one, followed by back-to-back buckets from DeVon Baker. Freshman Jamon Battle sank a layup with about two minutes left, and then converted an and-one two possessions later to cap a 12-0 Bulldog run.
The Vols got one more bucket at the end for the final margin of victory.
NOTABLY
UP NEXT
The Bulldogs travel to Charleston, S.C., Saturday, to take on the The Citadel in a game scheduled to tip off at noon in a game that will serve as the season opener for The Citadel.
FROM THE MIND OF MORRELL
"I thought our guys competed. Our goal was to come in and try to be the aggressors for as long as we could. When you play a team like Tennessee with guards like Lamonte Turner and Jordan Bowden, that can be challenging. I was proud of our effort. We had that stretch in the second half where we kind of let things get away from us, but I was proud of our effort and I'm really excited about our team moving forward." – Head Coach Mike Morrell
Thorpe poured in 22 points to lead all scorers in the game, coming up just two points shy of his career high set last season against Charleston Southern. He did most of his damage in the second half, scoring 16 points in the second stanza.
The game opened as a back-and-forth, high-scoring affair, as the Volunteers held an 11-10 lead at the first media timeout. Lavar Batts, Jr. was the catalyst for the Bulldogs (0-1), as he led all scorers in the first half with nine, and also had four first-half steals.
Batts was a human-highlight real, with a pair of contested layups among the tall Tennessee defenders that had SportsCenter Top 10 Plays-level quality. He also hustled back on defense and saved a possession with a strong block from behind on a fast break attempt against the Vols' Lamonte Turner.
The Volunteers (1-0) started to build their lead as the first half progressed, but the Bulldogs put together a nice flurry to finish the first half on an 8-2 run in the final two minutes of the half.
With Tennessee up 34-20 at the 2:08 mark – tying their largest lead of the half – sophomore Coty Jude made a strong move in the paint, drawing a foul and making the bucket for an and-one. The Bulldogs forced a Vols' turnover, and after a pair of offensive rebounds, Jax Levitch was able to put it back through the cylinder and narrow the gap to single digits again.
With 20 seconds remaining, Thorpe found freshman Trent Stephney from beyond the arc, and the rookie buried it for his first-career bucket as a Bulldog. The Vols added a dunk just before the half expired to take a 36-28 lead into the locker room.
The Vols came out firing in the second half, bumping the lead up to 20 five minutes into the period. Led by Thorpe, the Bulldogs continued to hang around though.
Tennessee increased the lead to 25 points – 76-51 – with just over four minutes left in the half, but as they did to close out the first, the Bulldogs went on another run to close out the game.
Thorpe started the run with an and-one, followed by back-to-back buckets from DeVon Baker. Freshman Jamon Battle sank a layup with about two minutes left, and then converted an and-one two possessions later to cap a 12-0 Bulldog run.
The Vols got one more bucket at the end for the final margin of victory.
NOTABLY
- Redshirt sophomore LJ Thorpe recorded the second 20-plus point game of his career, scoring 22 points to lead all scorers in the game. He finished two points shy of his career-high of 24, set February, 9, 2019 against Charleston Southern.
- Thorpe and redshirt sophomore Lavar Batts, Jr. both finished the game with five steals. They are the first Bulldogs to record five steals in a game since Ahmad Thomas had five against Longwood, January 9, 2018.
- Tennessee had only five steals as a team, compared to 13 for the Bulldogs.
- In his first game as a Bulldog, Batts finished as the only other double-digit scorer with 11 points.
- Jamon Battle (7 points) and Trent Stephney (3 points) scored the first points of their Bulldog careers. Freshman AJ McBride did not score, but finished with the highest plus-minus on the night, at plus-eight.
- Redshirt junior Jax Levitch also got his first action in a UNC Asheville uniform and finished with two points and a team-high five rebounds.
UP NEXT
The Bulldogs travel to Charleston, S.C., Saturday, to take on the The Citadel in a game scheduled to tip off at noon in a game that will serve as the season opener for The Citadel.
FROM THE MIND OF MORRELL
"I thought our guys competed. Our goal was to come in and try to be the aggressors for as long as we could. When you play a team like Tennessee with guards like Lamonte Turner and Jordan Bowden, that can be challenging. I was proud of our effort. We had that stretch in the second half where we kind of let things get away from us, but I was proud of our effort and I'm really excited about our team moving forward." – Head Coach Mike Morrell
Team Stats
AVL
UT
FG%
.375
.508
3FG%
.250
.353
FT%
.714
.500
RB
29
49
TO
14
17
STL
13
5
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
G
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