Asheville withstands late Campbell surge 70-63

@GoCamelsMBB | facebook.com/GoCamelsMBB | Campbell Tickets

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – UNC Asheville opened the second half on a 25-4 run and barely held off a late Campbell surge to claim a 70-63 victory Saturday at Kimmel Arena.

Andrew Rowsey scored 19 points, freshman Kevin Vannatta 18 and David Robertson 10 for the Bulldogs (11-10, 7-3 Big South), who led by 18 with 11:36 to play before seeing that edge slip to just two.

Campbell (8-15, 2-8) led by as many as 16 in the first half in a wild game where CU sank 11 three-pointers. Freshman Curtis Phillips led the Camels with a season-high 17 points – one day before his birthday. Andrew Ryan added 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting (4-of-5 threes) plus 7 rebounds and Troy Harper came off the bench to chip in 13.

After Jaleel Roberts' bucket put Asheville ahead 49-31 with 11:36 remaining, the Camels began their charge with 3-straight triples from Phillips, Harper and Ryan. Asheville still led 56-47 on Vannatta's foul shots with 6:43 to go.

However, the Camels trimmed the gap to four on Harper's step-back 3 with 2:55 left. D.J. Mason's driving bucket over the 7-foot Roberts pulled CU with 65-63 with just over a minute to play.

But Vannatta's turnaround jumper from about 12 feet at the end of the shot clock made it a two-possession game with 26 seconds to go. Mason missed a three and Asheville made 3 of 4 from the stripe in the final 13.6 to seal the victory.

Asheville shot 64 percent (14-22) from the floor in the second half and 54.8 percent (23-42) on the game. The Bulldogs made 20-of-26 (.769) free throws and outscored the Camels 32-18 in the paint.

Campbell made 50 percent (22-of-44) of its shots and 11-of-24 from beyond the arc, but only 8-of-15 from the stripe to suffer its second narrow decision against Asheville in two weeks. The Bulldogs scored a 69-65 victory in Buies Creek on Jan. 17.

Campbell used an 11-1 burst and held a 27-11 advantage after Phillips banked in a three from the right wing with 4:40 left in the opening period. Asheville went 6:19 without a field goal as the Camels took a double-digit lead.

However, Asheville closed the half on a 13-0 run as CU went 0-of-2 from the floor with five turnovers in the span.

The hosts scored the first 10 points of the second half before Ryan's triple ended an 8:30 drought for the Camels. However, Asheville extended the margin to 18 before CU's 3-point barrage cut into the gap.

Campbell returns home Tuesday for a 7:00 p.m. start against Presbyterian.

Notes:

Seven of Campbell's eight Big South losses have come by a total of 34 points (4.5 per game). Overall, 11 of CU's 15 losses have been decided by single digits.
Red-shirt senior Andrew Ryan moved into 17th place on CU's career Division I era (since '77-78) scoring list and now has 925 career points.

Print Friendly Version