ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Ahmad Thomas scored 24 points and UNC Asheville held off a late Campbell rally to claim an 85-79 win Saturday in the Big South Conference opener for both teams at Kimmel Arena.
 
MaCio Teague added 14 points, Alec Wnuk and Kevin Vannatta 13 each and Raekwon Miller 11 for the Bulldogs (8-6, 1-0), who shot 57 percent (31-54) from the field and made 19-of-23 (.826) from the line.
 
Chris Clemons scored a game-high 25 points and had five in a late 9-0 run that cut the Bulldog lead to 77-75 with 1:52 to play.  Teague missed on a short jumper and Clemons drove to the bucket in traffic in an attempt to tie the game, but his shot fell off the rim.
 
After Teague scored on a spin move, Marcus Burk made a pair from the stripe to cut the gap to 79-77 with 32 seconds remaining. However, Miller and Teague both connected on both ends of ones-and-ones in the last 25.4 seconds to help Asheville hang on.
 
Burk added 18 points, Andrew Eudy scored a career-high 16 while dealing five assists, and Cory Gensler chipped in 11 for the Camels (6-7, 0-1), who shot 53.6 percent (15-28) in the final period, 50.8 percent (30-59) on the day.  CU knocked down 7-of-20 threes (.350) and made 12-of-18 from the stripe (.667).
 
In a second half full of runs, Burk's 3-point play pulled Campbell with 63-61 with 8:25 remaining before Asheville responded with a 10-1 flurry and led 77-66 when Teague made two from the line with 3:22 to go.  Clemons' and-one and Shane Whitfield's backdoor cut started the final CU burst; then Eudy made a jump hook to trim the margin to 77-73 with 2:30 remaining.
 
The loss was Campbell's sixth by single digits this season and fifth by six points, or less.  Asheville improved to 6-0 at home this year, 49-10 all-time at Kimmel Arena against Big South Conference opponents.
 
Campbell jumped to a 20-11 lead on Clemons' steal and dunk with 12:18 to play in the opening half, but the Bulldogs responded with a 12-4 rally and trimmed the gap to 24-23 when Raekwon Miller hit a pair of free throws with 8:00 remaining.
 
Thomas had eight points in a 16-4 spurt to give Asheville its largest lead of the opening half (41-33) with 2:20 to go. However, Gensler's deep three at the horn cut the Camel deficit to 43-40 at intermission.

Asheville shot 63 percent (17-27) from the floor in the opening half, while the Camels made 48 percent of their shots, including 5-of-12 threes.  Clemons had 17 points in the first period, while Thomas scored 16 before the break for the Bulldogs.
 
The nation's 11th-leading scorer, Clemons extended his NCAA Division I-leading streak of double-figure scoring games to 61 and recorded his 44th career outing of 20, or more, points.
 
The Camels start a two-game home stand Wednesday vs. Gardner-Webb at 7:00 p.m.