ASHEVILLE, N.C.- The Presbyterian College men's basketball team held off a late rally from UNC Asheville as they upset the conference-leading Bulldogs, 69-65, on the road at the Kimmel Arena in Asheville on Thursday night.
The win is the second in a row for PC and the second in the last two meeting with the Bulldogs, as the Blue Hose upset Asheville last season on Feb. 15, 2014 at the Templeton Center, 72-71. The Blue Hose improve to 9-17 overall and 5-8 in the Big South Conference. Asheville falls to 13-12 and 9-5 in conference play. PC hosts Radford on Saturday night in a men's and women's basketball doubleheader. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m., with the ladies hosting the Liberty Flames at 5 p.m. Asheville travels to Winthrop on Wednesday, Feb. 18 for a 7 p.m. conference battle.
Four-time Big South Freshman of the Week DeSean Murray (Stanley, N.C.) recorded his fourth 20- point game this season with a team-high 21 points for the victorious Blue Hose. Markus Terry (St. Johns Creek, Ga.) and Jordan Downing (Huntersville, N.C.) added 11 points each. Ed Drew (Suffolk, Va.) scored 10 points and William Truss (Vestavia Hills, Ala.) had eight, including a trey that helped PC inch back into the lead in the final minutes of the contest. Davon Bell (Charlotte, N.C.) dished out eight assists to tie his career-high and Terry had a team-leading eight rebounds. PC was 47 percent (25-for-53) from the field in the win and 30 percent (3-for-10) from three-point range.
Andrew Rowsey dropped 24 points for the Bulldogs, while Jaleel Roberts added 12 points for the hosts. PC held Asheville to just 34.5 percent from the floor (20-for-58) and 30 percent (8-for-26) from beyond the arc. UNC Asheville converted 17 of their 18 foul shots.
PC narrowly outrebounded Asheville in the win, 69-65.
UNC Asheville jumped out to an early six-point lead, 13-7, with just under 14 minutes to play in the first half. PC clawed back to take a 16-15 lead with 9:57 on the clock. The teams tied it up three more times, the last at 20-20 with just over five to play, before the Blue Hose closed out the half with a 15-2 scoring run to take a 35-22 halftime lead. Terry led PC with 11 points in the opening half.
The Bulldogs came out hot in the second half, scoring 11-unanswered points a few minutes in to help cut the hosts' deficit to 43-42 with just under 13 minutes to play. The teams kept it close over the next few minutes before the Bulldogs took back the lead on a pair of Roberts' free throws with 7:12 on the clock, 55-53.
Asheville maintained a lead until the two minute mark when the Hose tied it up 63-63 on a pair of Murray's free throws. Will Week sank a pair of foul shots for the Bulldogs on the other end of the court to give Asheville back the two-point lead. Murray was fouled on a drive and made both his foul shots to tie it up again. A Bulldog turnover on the other end gave PC the ball back and Downing the opportunity for a layup to give PC the lead. Downing converted both of his foul shots in the final 15 seconds to give the Blue Hose the four-point lead.
