SPARTANBURG, S.C. – After notching back-to-back victories over Radford and Longwood in the last week, USC Upstate returned home Saturday for a return match with UNC Asheville.
After a seesaw battle throughout the first 20 minutes at the Hodge Center, an extended scoring run in the second stanza proved to be the catalyst, as the Bulldogs walked away with a 77-64 win over Upstate.
A Justin Bailey free throw line jumper 37 seconds into the contest staked Upstate to an early lead, but back-to-back shots in the lane by Nick McMullen quickly pushed Asheville ahead by two points. Bailey and Jalen Breazeale canned consecutive triples for a three-point Spartan lead, only to see Trent Stephney answer with a triple for the Bulldogs and tie the game at 10.
After an Asheville layup, Breazeale and Floyd Rideau each drained a three on back-to-back trips and created a 20-14 Upstate lead near the midway point of the half. Moments later, Drew Pember scored eight straight points for Asheville and sliced the deficit to 29-28 with 5:10 left in the half.
Trae Broadnax knocked down a three-pointer and pushed the Spartan advantage back out to four three minutes later. Two Pember free throws and a Caleb Burgess layup cut the margin down to one possession, but two Ahmir Langlais buckets helped Upstate take a 36-32 lead into the interval. In the first 20 minutes, the Spartans were 15-for-28 from the deck.
“I thought that our first half was just terrific,” said USC Upstate head coach Dave Dickerson. “Even though we had 10 turnovers at halftime, I thought our energy was contagious. I thought that our guys played forward. We were connected as a team and played through our mistakes.”
Breazeale buried a three less than 30 seconds into the second half, but a Burgess layup sparked a staggering 23-6 run for the Bulldogs over the next seven minutes and 50 seconds of game action.
Burgess, McMullen, and Josh Banks all scored in succession for Asheville, while Stephney scored the next five points, followed by a trio of triples — one from Fletcher Abee and two by Pember — which created a 58-47 Bulldog lead at the 9:11 mark.
“We just got stops,” UNC Asheville coach Mike Morrell stated. “We were able to get out in transition. (Upstate) shot over 50 percent and played really well in the first half. They really exploited some things that we were able to do well in the first game (on January 3). We really settled down in the last four minutes of the first half and that kind of rolled over to the second.”
Upstate’s next four points came from the charity stripe as Broadnax and Nick Alves knocked down two shots from the line, cutting the deficit down to nine points. However, a personal 5-0 run by Burgess made the Asheville advantage balloon to 15 points, 66-51, with 5:09 remaining.
Layups by Alves and Bailey sparked a 10-3 Spartan run over the next two-plus minutes and cut the margin to eight, at 69-61, with 2:23 left, but a Pember turnaround jumper and three Burgess free throws in a 60-second span helped secure the win for Asheville.
“Asheville’s a good team,” Dickerson remarked. “Give those guys credit. They came in during the second half and played like a championship level team. They shot the ball well, got up and down, played a little faster, and we just couldn’t combat that. We need to get some rest, get our minds, and game right. I was worried at one time because I didn’t know if we could win games in this league. Now, I know we can win games in this league, and we’re going to do that.”
Breazeale led Upstate with a season and team-high 13 points along with four assists. Alves finished with 11 points, as did Bailey while pulling down six rebounds. Langlais also added eight points and seven boards. The Spartans made 23 out of 54 attempts from the floor, including an 8-for-27 clip from behind the arc. Upstate also outrebounded Asheville, 35-32, and outscored the Bulldogs 26-22 in the paint.
Pember finished with a double-double for the Bulldogs, recording game-highs in points (28) and rebounds (16). Burgess scored 14 points and had five assists, while McMullen added 12 points. Asheville outscored the Spartans by a 17-13 margin in points off turnovers and a 12-2 tally in fastbreak points.
Both teams will continue in Big South play on Wednesday as Asheville (17-9, 9-2) hosts Presbyterian for a 6:30 p.m. contest, while USC Upstate (8-16, 3-8) will travel to High Point for a 7 p.m. matchup.
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