University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Thursday, February 27
High Point, NC
7 p.m.
UNC Asheville
14-14,8-9Big So
80
at
76
High Point
9-21,6-11Big So
1
2
F
UNC Asheville
39
41
80
High Point
32
44
76
Photo by: Mark Godin
Clutch Free Throws Help Bulldogs Secure Critical Road Conference Victory
02.27.2020 | Men's Basketball
HIGH POINT, N.C. – UNC Asheville's men's basketball team sunk all six of its free throws in the final 11 seconds to hold off High Point, 80-76, Thursday night inside the Millis Center.
With 39 seconds remaining in the ballgame, the Bulldogs (14-14, 8-9 Big South) held a tenuous 74-73 lead after being up by as much as 13 points in the second half. After running the shot clock down into single digits, Lavar Batts, Jr. made his move to the basket, drawing a foul. He calmly stepped up to the line and knocked down two free throws to put the Bulldogs up three points.
The Panther (9-21, 6-11 Big South) brought the ball to midcourt, and the Bulldogs fouled with 6.5 seconds left to prevent a 3-point attempt. Denny Slay II sunk both attempts for HPU to make the score 76-75.
Tajion Jones made the right play on the inbounds pass, finding DeVon Baker streaking across the floor. Baker drew the foul, and he too confidently knocked down both of his free throws to put the Bulldogs back up three points, 78-75.
Again, the Bulldogs fouled the Panthers to prevent the tying shot, this time with three seconds remaining. John Michael Wright hit his first attempt for HPU, and went for the intentional miss on the second shot. Jeremy Peck boxed his man out of the play, pulled down the rebound and found Jones, who drew a foul with one second left and the Dogs up 78-76.
Like his teammates, Jones stepped up to the line, cashed in on his free throws, and put the Bulldogs up 80-76.
Jones led the way with 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field, including 5-of-7 from the free-throw line. LJ Thorpe scored 19 points and added eight rebounds and six assists to lead the team in both categories.
Batts chipped in 10 points to go along with five rebounds and five assists, while Baker scored 10 points as well.
The first half was close throughout, with the game tied at 29 apiece with 5:23 remaining, but the Bulldogs closed out the half on a 10-3 run, led by three points each from Jones and Jamon Battle. In that span, the Bulldogs forced five turnovers and blocked four shots, including a career-best three blocks from Jax Levitch, to help send the Dogs into the locker room leading 39-32.
The Panthers cut the lead to three, 44-41, with 16:43 left in the game, but an and-one by Thorpe and a 3-pointer by Jones quickly put the Bulldogs back up nine points. They pushed their lead to a game-high 13 points on a fastbreak layup by Jones on an outlet feed from Batts at the 11:29 mark. From there, High Point would slowly whittle away at the lead until the tense final moments of the game.
Â
NOTABLY
UP NEXT
The Bulldogs close out the regular season with a 4:30 p.m. matchup at Campbell, Saturday, February 29.
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FROM THE MIND OF MORRELL
"I thought right from the get-go we were able to get the style of play going. Last game we didn't, but to get it to 80 (points) today was good. We wanted to get it up and down the floor. We were able to score, so we were able to get into the press, which was huge. Then we made some shots. Tajion (Jones) and LJ (Thorpe) were really good on a night where DeVon (Baker) struggled a little bit. We can't expect DeVon to offensively put us on his back all the time, so it was good to that. We made some big shots and big free throws, but I thought the press was really good tonight in terms of pressuring them, and the bench was huge. Trent (Stephney) had a couple steals that led to a basket for him that just kind of got us to where we needed to go. And that's two games in a row (Jamon) 'Doc' Battle has given us effort that doesn't show up on the stat sheet. The juice and energy he brings is unlike anyone else on the team. It was a great team win for us." – Head Coach Mike Morrell
With 39 seconds remaining in the ballgame, the Bulldogs (14-14, 8-9 Big South) held a tenuous 74-73 lead after being up by as much as 13 points in the second half. After running the shot clock down into single digits, Lavar Batts, Jr. made his move to the basket, drawing a foul. He calmly stepped up to the line and knocked down two free throws to put the Bulldogs up three points.
The Panther (9-21, 6-11 Big South) brought the ball to midcourt, and the Bulldogs fouled with 6.5 seconds left to prevent a 3-point attempt. Denny Slay II sunk both attempts for HPU to make the score 76-75.
Tajion Jones made the right play on the inbounds pass, finding DeVon Baker streaking across the floor. Baker drew the foul, and he too confidently knocked down both of his free throws to put the Bulldogs back up three points, 78-75.
Again, the Bulldogs fouled the Panthers to prevent the tying shot, this time with three seconds remaining. John Michael Wright hit his first attempt for HPU, and went for the intentional miss on the second shot. Jeremy Peck boxed his man out of the play, pulled down the rebound and found Jones, who drew a foul with one second left and the Dogs up 78-76.
Like his teammates, Jones stepped up to the line, cashed in on his free throws, and put the Bulldogs up 80-76.
Jones led the way with 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field, including 5-of-7 from the free-throw line. LJ Thorpe scored 19 points and added eight rebounds and six assists to lead the team in both categories.
Batts chipped in 10 points to go along with five rebounds and five assists, while Baker scored 10 points as well.
The first half was close throughout, with the game tied at 29 apiece with 5:23 remaining, but the Bulldogs closed out the half on a 10-3 run, led by three points each from Jones and Jamon Battle. In that span, the Bulldogs forced five turnovers and blocked four shots, including a career-best three blocks from Jax Levitch, to help send the Dogs into the locker room leading 39-32.
The Panthers cut the lead to three, 44-41, with 16:43 left in the game, but an and-one by Thorpe and a 3-pointer by Jones quickly put the Bulldogs back up nine points. They pushed their lead to a game-high 13 points on a fastbreak layup by Jones on an outlet feed from Batts at the 11:29 mark. From there, High Point would slowly whittle away at the lead until the tense final moments of the game.
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NOTABLY
- The Bulldogs led for 35:43 of game time, including the entire second half.
- The Bulldogs improved their record to .500 (14-14)
- Tajion Jones scored 23 points on an efficient 8-of-11 shooting night, including 5-of-7 from three. It is his team-leading ninth 20-point effort of the season and first since he had 29 against Radford, January 23.
- It is the third time Jones has hit five or more 3-pointers in a game this season.
- In just 2:37 of floor time, Jax Levitch recorded three blocked shots, setting a career-high. Levitch had four total blocks this season entering the game. He joins Jamon Battle as the only players on the roster with three-or-more blocks in a game.
- The Bulldogs forced 16 High Point turnovers while turning it over 14 times themselves. It is the 22nd time in 28 games the Bulldogs have forced more turnovers than their opponent, and they have only turned it over more than their opponent in three games.
- The Bulldogs led in points off turnovers 22-to-7, fast-break points 21-to-11, and points in the paint 34-to-30.
- LJ Thorpe led the team with eight rebounds, the 18th time this season he has led the team in rebounding.
- Thorpe also led the team with six assists, the ninth time this season he has finished the game as the team's assist leader.
UP NEXT
The Bulldogs close out the regular season with a 4:30 p.m. matchup at Campbell, Saturday, February 29.
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FROM THE MIND OF MORRELL
"I thought right from the get-go we were able to get the style of play going. Last game we didn't, but to get it to 80 (points) today was good. We wanted to get it up and down the floor. We were able to score, so we were able to get into the press, which was huge. Then we made some shots. Tajion (Jones) and LJ (Thorpe) were really good on a night where DeVon (Baker) struggled a little bit. We can't expect DeVon to offensively put us on his back all the time, so it was good to that. We made some big shots and big free throws, but I thought the press was really good tonight in terms of pressuring them, and the bench was huge. Trent (Stephney) had a couple steals that led to a basket for him that just kind of got us to where we needed to go. And that's two games in a row (Jamon) 'Doc' Battle has given us effort that doesn't show up on the stat sheet. The juice and energy he brings is unlike anyone else on the team. It was a great team win for us." – Head Coach Mike Morrell
Team Stats
AVL
HP
FG%
.456
.510
3FG%
.429
.364
FT%
.731
.741
RB
31
33
TO
14
16
STL
8
5
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
23
FGM
8
3FGM
5
FTM
2
Pts
10
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
5
Pts
10
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
5
Players Mentioned
G
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