Team's only senior - 16 points
UNC Asheville outscored the Blue Hose, 51-28 in the second half to erase a 14-point halftime deficit and take the 70-61 win over the Presbyterian College men’s basketball team in Big South action Thursday at Templeton Center.
The Blue Hose led 33-19 at the break, with PC’s lone senior, Janeil Jenkins (Jacksonville, Fla.) coming through on senior night, leading the Blue Hose with a career-high 16 points off a five-of-eight effort from the field.
PC drops to 8-18 overall and 3-12 in the Big South, while the Bulldogs improve to 18-9, 11-4.
The Blue Hose broke a 4-4 tie with 17:27 to go in the first, with a 16-4 run, helped by six from DeSean Murray, to take a 12-point lead, 20-8, with 10:!6 on the clock.
UNC Asheville cut the margin to eight, 25-17, at 3:28, before PC, behind six straight from Markus Terry, scored eight of the half’s last 10 points to take its largest lead of the half at 14, 32-19, into the locker room.
Leading by 14, 39-25, with 17:07 to go in the game, off a lay-up from Reggie Dillard, PC suffered through a five minute scoring drought, with the Bulldogs recording 12 unanswered to suddenly make it a two-point game, 39-37, 12:26 on the clock. A free throw by Murray ended the drought at 12:10, to make it a three-point game.
Dwayne Sutton cut the margin to one with a jumper at the 11:26 mark, with Trae Bryant giving the Bulldogs their first lead of the game, 44-42, 9:56 on the clock. The three ignited a 15-4 run, giving Asheville an 11-point, 59-48 lead, 5:11 ticks to go.
The Blue Hose cut the lead back to single digits on several occasions after that, including eight off a Ruben Arroyo three-pointer with 15 seconds to go, but the Bulldogs seemed to have an answer for every rally, taking the eventual 70-61 win.
Following Jenkins with his career-best 16 points was Murray with 11 points and a team-leading seven rebounds. Dillard added 10 points. Sutton paced Asheville with 21 points and eight rebounds.
PC finished the night with a 39.6% shooting, after hitting 40.0% in the first. The Bulldogs were 46.0% from the field and five-of-19 from the perimeter, compared to six-of-16 from PC.
Presbyterian held the rebounding advantage, 36-33, but paced the turnover margin as well, 20-13, resulting in a 22-9 points off turnovers for Asheville. PC hit 13-of-20 from the charity stripe, while Asheville was 19-of-27, including six straight in the last three minutes.
