University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
6-4,0-0Big South
Western Carolina
3-6,0-0SoCon
Bulldogs Stun Catamounts in 78-61 Home Victory
12.14.2024 | Men's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville men's basketball team welcomed the Western Carolina Catamounts to Kimmel Arena Saturday afternoon for the annual Mountain Rivalry matchup, and the Bulldogs defeated the Catamounts 78-61.
Saturday's win marked the Bulldogs' third consecutive win, making them 3-0 at home and 6-4 on the season. Asheville improved its home record against WCU to 13-8.
Western Carolina scored the first points of the game, but the Bulldogs answered with the next six points, starting with a jumper from Josh Banks, who finished the day with a game-high 21 points. Toyaz Solomon followed with a jumper and a dunk. Banks went 9-13 from the field and 1-2 from 3-point distance to shoot 69.2% from the field. Solomon finished with 12 points, going 5-9 from the field and having two blocks. Both Banks and Solomon had five rebounds each.
With the score tied at eight, Fletcher Abee retook the lead for Asheville with a 3-pointer that the Catamounts answered before Jordan Marsh re-extended Asheville's lead by one. Marsh finished the day with 18 points, going 5-12 from the field, 2-3 from 3-point range, 6-8 from the free throw line, and had five rebounds, five steals and four assists. The Cats retook the lead with another 3-pointer, but this would end up being Western's final lead of the game as Asheville responded with a 15-2 run. A jumper from Banks evened the score at 14, and he followed with a triple to put the Dogs back out in front. The Catamounts cut Asheville's lead back down to one before a layup from Kameron Taylor extended the Bulldogs' lead to three (19-16). Taylor followed with an alley-oop before Banks helped extend Asheville's lead with back-to-back jumpers. Taylor was the final Bulldog to score double-digits, as he finished with 13 points, going 4-6 from the field and 5-5 from the charity stripe. A jumper from Abee concluded Asheville's run as the Bulldogs took a 27-16 lead with under 10 minutes to go in the first half. Asheville led by nine points or more for the remainder of the half and went into the second half ahead 42-33.
Western Carolina opened the second half with a dunk, but that was as close to Asheville's lead as the Catamounts would get, as the Bulldogs responded with the next four points to regain a double-digit lead (46-35). The Bulldogs led by eight points or more for the remainder of the game, with the Catamounts bringing Asheville's lead back down to single digits just five separate times. With 7:34 left in the contest, Asheville got back ahead by double-digits for the remainder of the game following a layup from Banks.
Greg Gantt Jr. and Abee rounded out the Bulldogs in the scoring column, as Gantt had nine points and Abee had five. Gantt led Asheville under the basket with nine boards.
Asheville finished the day going 26-50 from the field (52%), 4-11 from 3-point range, and 22-28 from the free throw line (78.57%).
The Bulldogs return to Kimmel Arena on Tuesday, Dec. 17, as Asheville welcomes North Florida to town for the second half of their home-and-home series. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. following the women's game.
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