University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
6-10,0-2Big South
Charleston Southern
11-6,2-0Big South
Solomon Erupts for Career-High 34; Asheville’s Late Push Falls Short
01.03.2026 | Men's Basketball
CHARLESTON, S.C. –The UNC Asheville men's basketball team hit the road Saturday for its first Big South road contest of the season and, despite outscoring Charleston Southern in the second half, the Bulldogs came up short in an 86–83 loss to the Buccaneers.
Charleston Southern never allowed Asheville to take the lead and built a double-digit advantage before halftime, though a free throw from Justin Wright trimmed the deficit to nine at the break, 38–29. At the end of the first half, Toyaz Solomon led the Bulldogs with 12 points, followed by Kameron Taylor with nine and Wright with eight.
Asheville opened the second half on an 11–3 run to cut the Buccaneers' lead to one, 41–40. Four different Bulldogs contributed during the spurt, highlighted by Wright reaching double figures with the first basket of the half and later knocking down his first three-pointer of the game to answer a Charleston Southern triple.
With 11:21 remaining, Wright completed an old-fashioned three-point play to tie the game at 50. Taylor later tied the contest again at 52 with a trip to the free-throw line, marking the final deadlock of the game. Charleston Southern answered with a decisive 10–1 run to take a nine-point lead with under eight minutes to play.
In the closing minutes, the Buccaneers stretched their advantage to as many as 15 points and led by 12 with 47 seconds remaining. Asheville continued to fight, as back-to-back layups from Solomon and Taylor cut the margin to eight, and two trips to the free-throw line by Taylor pulled the Bulldogs within four with 20 seconds left, 83–79.
With 12 seconds remaining, Charleston Southern turned the ball over, and Solomon converted a driving layup to make it a two-point game, 85–83. A foul sent Brycen Blaine to the line, where he split a pair of free throws, giving Asheville one final possession with five seconds left, but the Bulldogs were unable to complete the comeback.
Toyaz Solomon reset his career-high in points for the third time this season as he scored 34 points, with 22 points coming in the second half. He was 12-of-26 from the field, 3-of-6 from 3-point range, and 7-of-10 from the free throw line. Solomon led the team with nine boards–seven being offensive.
Justin Wright finished with 22 points, and Kameron Taylor had 21. Wright connected on 10 free throws and two triples, while Taylor went 6-of-13 from the field and had nine free throws. He was second on the team with eight boards.
Asheville shot 25-of-64 from the field (39.1%), while Charleston Southern connected on 32-of-57 attempts (56.1%). The Bulldogs knocked down six three-pointers and limited the Buccaneers to seven from beyond the arc—CSU entered the game ranked No. 2 nationally, averaging 13.3 made three-pointers per contest.
Asheville scored 27 points at the free-throw line, while Charleston Southern finished 15-of-29 from the charity stripe. Both teams pulled down 38 rebounds, with the Bulldogs collecting 19 offensive boards and holding the Buccaneers to 24 defensive rebounds. Charleston Southern entered the game averaging 31.69 defensive rebounds and 44.50 total rebounds per game, both top-10 marks nationally, but Asheville held the Buccaneers below their season averages in each category.
The Bulldogs committed eight turnovers compared to Charleston Southern's 16, and had seven steals compared to the Bucs' five. Asheville outscored Charleston Southern 37-36 off the bench, 15-11 off turnovers, and 25-14 off second-chance points.
The Bulldogs (6-10, 0-2) will return to action on Wednesday (Jan. 7) back home in Kimmel Arena as Asheville hosts Longwood for YMCA Night at 6:30 p.m.
