Reggie Dillard's three-pointer with 19 seconds left gave the Blue Hose the one-point lead, his steal with three seconds left helped them keep it, as the Presbyterian College men's basketball team rallied for the 72-71 win over UNC Asheville in Big South action tonight at the Templeton Center in Clinton, S.C.
The Blue Hose, who improve to 6-21 overall and 2-10 in the Big South, are next in action Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m., when they travel up the road to Gardner Webb. UNC Asheville, which falls to 13-13, 7-5, head home to host Charleston Southern the 19th at 7 p.m.
Jordan Downing scored over 30 points for the second time this season with a team-leading 31-points. Dillard and William Truss added 12 with Truss pulling down 16 rebounds for his second double-double in as many games. Of PC's 28 defensive rebounds, 13 came from Truss to give the Bulldogs several one-and-done attempts. Markus Terry added 11 points to round out the Blue Hose in double-figures.
D.J. Cunningham led Asheville with 23 points and eight rebounds. Jaron Lane followed with 16 points and eight boards as well. Andrew Rowsey added 14 points in the losing effort.
PC shot 42.4% in the first half and was 16-of -35 in the second half. The Bulldogs shot 41.0% from the field, but hit just two-of-19 from the perimeter. PC didn't fare much better, going four-of-16. Asheville was 19-for-24 from the charity stripe while PC was 12-for-21. The Bulldogs held the rebounding edge, 42-39, and had one more turnover, 13-12.
The Blue Hose opened the second half with four unanswered to cut the margin to four a minute and a half in. Asheville responded with two straight to go back up by eight, 42-34, with 17:14 to go.
Down by 10, 46-36, the Blue Hose scored the next 12 of 14 points, six coming from Terry, to tie the game at 48-48, 11:54. Asheville came right back with four points, before Downing's dunk at the 10:10 mark made it a two-point game, with his three-pointer a minute later giving the Blue Hose their first lead of the game. Drew hit a lay-up to give PC a three-point lead, 55-52, at 8:48.
In all, the Blue Hose out-scored the Bulldogs, 17-6 over the five and a half minute period to take the three-point lead.
After getting the lead cut to one off Rowsey free throws, Downing gave PC a four-point, 60-56, lead off a long-rang three at 7:17.
Trailing by three, Asheville went on a 5-2 run, with all five coming from Cunningham, to retake a one-point 65-64 lead with 4:14 to go.
The Blue Hose kept hanging around, with the Bulldogs not able to break away over the next couple of minutes. Down by three, Downing was fouled twice over a span of five seconds, hitting three to tie the game, 67-67, with 2:30 left.
Corey Littlejohn was fouled 40 seconds later and hit two free throws to give the Bulldogs the two-point lead again, 69-67.
Downing's jumper knotted the game at 69-69 with 1:10 to go and as part of the back and forth battle, Cunningham hit a jumper 18 seconds later to give Asheville the lead back. 33 seconds later, after a couple of PC missed baskets, Dillard came through with the clutch shot of the night, a three-pointer right in front of the home bench to give the Blue Hose the 72-71 lead with just 19 seconds left.
Asheville, had an opportunity to take the lead with 10 seconds left, after collecting the rebound off a missed PC free throw, but Dillard stole the ball with three seconds on the clock, forcing the visitors to foul. PC missed both but the Bulldogs ran out of time and heaved a last-second shot from mid-court that fell short, preserving the one-point PC win.
Tied 6-6 with just under 17 to play in the first half, UNC Asheville went on an 8-0 run to take a 14-6 lead, with 15:17 to play. An Ed Drew lay-up a minute later ended the PC drought.
The Bulldogs built a 10-point lead with nine to go in the first half, before back to back Downing baskets helped bring the Blue Hose back to six, 24-18, with 7:35 to go before the break.
Five unanswered from the Bulldogs, including a three from David Robertson gave the visitors an 11-point lead, 29-18, with 6:18 on the clock. Three points from Terry cut the margin to eight 30 seconds later.
A Lane layup gave Asheville its largest lead of the half at 12, with two and a half minutes remaining, but PC ended the half with a small run, hitting two straight baskets to head into the locker room down by just eight, 38-30.
