University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Wednesday, February 9
Asheville, N.C.
6:30 PM
UNC Asheville
13-11,5-6Big South
69
vs
53
Hampton
7-15,3-8Big South
1
2
F
Hampton
23
30
53
UNC Asheville
37
32
69
Photo courtesy of Seth Maile/Asheville Athletics
Men’s basketball takes down Hampton 69-53 at Kimmel Arena Wednesday night
02.09.2022 | Men's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville Men's Basketball team got back to its winning ways on Wednesday night, defeating the Hampton Pirates 69-53 at Kimmel Arena.
Led by LJ Thorpe's 10 first-half points, the Bulldogs raced out to a 37-23 lead at the break, but Hampton came out strong in the second and cut the deficit to five with 12 minutes to play. Jamon Battle would score five straight points to re-energize the Asheville offense, pushing the lead to 14 when a put-back slam from Battle closed the door on a Hampton comeback.
The Game at a Glance
The win snaps a four-game skid at home, moving the Bulldogs to 13-11 overall and 5-6 in Big South play. Hampton meanwhile, drops to 7-15 and 3-8 in league play. The Bulldogs hit the road Saturday, visiting USC Upstate at 4:00 p.m.
"I thought guys that maybe don't stand out on the stat sheet like Silas (Mason) Quay (Kimble), BJ (Marable) gave us some good minutes with some big energy plays," UNC Asheville head coach Mike Morrell said. "Quay gave us good minutes, took a charge for the second game in a row. Those are things that you can control in a lot of ways, you just have to make the decision to do it. I was happy that we were able to push the tempo too, because it's both offense and defense. It's another game where we held a team in the low30's (field-goal percentage) so we're capable."
More from Morrell
On withstanding the Hampton run in the second:
"They were the aggressors coming out of the half. They got really, really good talent on offense. We kind of knew they were going to try and push the tempo if they could get some stops and get to the other end. It happens, you're not going to be perfect for 40 minutes but I thought for the majority of the game we were the aggressors."
On LJ Thorpe's play:
"It was good. You take away some of the 50-50 turnovers he's probably even 10-of-13 from the field. As talented as he is, he wants you to be hard on him so I'm sure he'll go back and find ways to get better but I thought he was highly efficient tonight especially when they went into the zone. Really proud of him."
Led by LJ Thorpe's 10 first-half points, the Bulldogs raced out to a 37-23 lead at the break, but Hampton came out strong in the second and cut the deficit to five with 12 minutes to play. Jamon Battle would score five straight points to re-energize the Asheville offense, pushing the lead to 14 when a put-back slam from Battle closed the door on a Hampton comeback.
The Game at a Glance
- Bulldogs hold Hampton to 33.3% shooting, 13.6% from 3-point range (0-for-9 in second half)
- Asheville wins points in paint (42-32), points off turnovers (12-4) battle
- Thorpe scores 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting
- Tajion Jones snags a career-high 13 rebounds, adds nine points
- Battle grabs season-high 8 rebounds, scores 14 points
The win snaps a four-game skid at home, moving the Bulldogs to 13-11 overall and 5-6 in Big South play. Hampton meanwhile, drops to 7-15 and 3-8 in league play. The Bulldogs hit the road Saturday, visiting USC Upstate at 4:00 p.m.
"I thought guys that maybe don't stand out on the stat sheet like Silas (Mason) Quay (Kimble), BJ (Marable) gave us some good minutes with some big energy plays," UNC Asheville head coach Mike Morrell said. "Quay gave us good minutes, took a charge for the second game in a row. Those are things that you can control in a lot of ways, you just have to make the decision to do it. I was happy that we were able to push the tempo too, because it's both offense and defense. It's another game where we held a team in the low30's (field-goal percentage) so we're capable."
More from Morrell
On withstanding the Hampton run in the second:
"They were the aggressors coming out of the half. They got really, really good talent on offense. We kind of knew they were going to try and push the tempo if they could get some stops and get to the other end. It happens, you're not going to be perfect for 40 minutes but I thought for the majority of the game we were the aggressors."
On LJ Thorpe's play:
"It was good. You take away some of the 50-50 turnovers he's probably even 10-of-13 from the field. As talented as he is, he wants you to be hard on him so I'm sure he'll go back and find ways to get better but I thought he was highly efficient tonight especially when they went into the zone. Really proud of him."
Team Stats
Hamp
UNC-A
FG%
.333
.459
3FG%
.136
.286
FT%
.727
.500
RB
40
41
TO
12
7
STL
4
5
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
14
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
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