University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
19-7,10-2Big South
Charleston Southern
10-18,6-7Big South
Asheville Moves to 12-0 at Home With Homecoming Victory over Charleston Southern
02.15.2025 | Men's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – In front of the largest crowd in Kimmel Arena this season, the UNC Asheville men's basketball team defeated Charleston Southern 75-72 in a thrilling Homecoming victory. Saturday's win improved the Bulldogs to 19-7, 10-2 in Big South Conference play and 12-0 in Kimmel Arena.
BANKS' SEASON-HIGH
Josh Banks was Asheville's leading scorer, as he finished the day with a season-high 23 points, going 7-18 from the field, 3-9 from 3-point range, and 6-6 from the charity stripe. Banks' perfect day at the free-throw line marks the third consecutive game he has shot 100% from the charity stripe.
Banks beats the clock! #ALLinAVL #IWWD pic.twitter.com/Ymm8SJaY7r
— Asheville Basketball (@UNCAvlMBB) February 15, 2025
Banks closed the game with 15 points in the second half, with six of his points coming in the final 90 seconds of action. Banks' layup with 40 seconds left in the game put Asheville ahead for the rest of the contest.
SOLOMON DOMINATES FIRST HALF
Toyaz Solomon reached double-figure points for the 25th time this season, as he scored 17 points and added a team-high eight rebounds and four assists to his final stat line. Solomon led Asheville with 10 points at the end of the first half.
Solomon scores his 10th point of the game! #ALLinAVL #IWWD pic.twitter.com/kmOPnRQ2H4
— Asheville Basketball (@UNCAvlMBB) February 15, 2025
MARSH & ABEE ROUND OUT DOUBLE-FIGURE SCORING
For the 19th time this season, four or more Bulldogs reached double-figures as Jordan Marsh and Fletcher Abee rounded out Asheville with 14 and 11 points. Marsh shot 7-18 from the field, and Abee was 2-3 from 3-point range and 5-5 from the charity stripe.
GANTT GETS IT DONE
Greg Gantt Jr. nearly reached double figures with nine points and had the second-most rebounds on the team with six. Gantt, Marsh, Banks, and Abee all had two assists each.
BY THE NUMBERS
There were 14 lead changes and 16 ties in Saturday's contest. The Bulldogs held the lead for 20:42, while Charleston Southern held the lead for 10:38. Neither team led for more than seven points.
The Bulldogs committed only six turnovers while forcing Charleston Southern to commit 13. In the paint, Asheville outscored Charleston Southern 38-26. Off second-chance attempts, Asheville outscored the Bucs 9-6, and following fast breaks, Asheville outscored Charleston Southern 15-11.
Only one point scored in Saturday's game came from a player off the bench, as Charleston Southern's starting five produced all of their points, and the one point came from a free throw by Kameron Taylor in the final second of the game.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Solomon opened the scoring on Saturday with a jumper before Charleston Southern raced to the other end of the court and sank a 3-pointer. Charleston Southern's Lamar Oden Jr. scored nine of the Buccaneers' first 13 points off triples.
Oden's third triple put CSU ahead by seven (13-6) before the Bulldogs responded with a 12-0 run, sparked by an old-fashioned 3-pointer from Gantt. Banks followed with a jumper, Abee was next with the Bulldogs' first 3-pointer of the day, and Marsh rounded out the run with back-to-back baskets. A layup from Charleston Southern brought Asheville's lead back down to three before back-to-back shots from the paint from Solomon and Marsh gave Asheville a seven-point advantage (22-15).
Fletcher Abee from Greg Gantt!! 😤#ALLinAVL #IWWD pic.twitter.com/cKUu6bLX39
— Asheville Basketball (@UNCAvlMBB) February 15, 2025
With eight minutes to play in the opening frame, the Buccaneers went on a 10-0 run to take a 25-22 lead. A pair of free throws from Solomon, followed by a pair of free throws from Banks, put Asheville back ahead by one before Charleston Southern's Taje' Kelly helped the Bucs back out in front by one (27-26). Solomon quickly responded with a turnaround jumper to put Asheville ahead, and the Bucs would not take the lead for the remainder of the half. A free throw from RJ Johnson tied the score at 40 with 2:11 left in the half, and with 15 seconds remaining, a layup from Banks ended the nearly two-minute scoring dry spell and put Asheville ahead 42-40 at the half.
Banks drives to the rim to send us into halftime with the lead! 💪#ALLinAVL #IWWD pic.twitter.com/qmSZqU3txY
— Asheville Basketball (@UNCAvlMBB) February 15, 2025
In the second frame, Charleston Southern answered every basket the Bulldogs put up for nearly the opening four minutes of action. Kelly evened the score out of the gate with a layup 10 seconds into the half, but Banks answered with his first 3-pointer of the game. Oden answered with his fourth 3-pointer for CSU before Marsh retook a 2-point lead for Asheville. Charleston Southern would answer Asheville's next three baskets until a 3-pointer from Abee, followed by a layup from Marsh, gave Asheville a five-point lead (48-43).
Charleston Southern responded with a 6-0 run to retake a one-point lead with 11:31 to go. Abee was fouled while shooting a triple and sank all his shot attempts to put the Bulldogs back out by two (51-49). Asheville was unable to extend their lead past three over the next two minutes of action, and Charleston Southern's Oden sank a triple to put the Buccaneers back out in front.
Charleston Southern would not allow Asheville to be back in the lead for the next 6:19, but Asheville did not allow CSU to take more than a five-point lead. Asheville tied the score three separate during the 6:19 of action but was unable to regain a lead until Solomon sank a free throw to put the Bulldogs ahead by one (66-65).
The Buccaneers moved back out in front by two points with 1:42 remaining before Banks answered with two successful free throws. Banks then followed with a layup to give Asheville the lead for the remainder of the contest. Following Banks' layup that put Asheville ahead 70-68, the Bulldogs' final five points were all scored off free throws.
Josh. Banks. 😤#ALLinAVL #IWWD pic.twitter.com/kSpdw1Tqup
— Asheville Basketball (@UNCAvlMBB) February 15, 2025
UP NEXT
The Bulldogs are back in action on Thursday (Feb. 20) as Asheville travels to Radford to take on the Highlanders on ESPNU at 7 p.m.
