Stephenson scores 16, Primm 15, North Carolina-Asheville defeats Liberty 75-72

North Carolina-Asheville defeats Liberty 75-72

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Chris Stephenson scored 16 points and J.P. Primm added 15 to help North Carolina-Asheville defeat Liberty 75-72 on Thursday night.

The Bulldogs (11-14, 8-6 Big South Conference) led 37-25 at halftime after outrebounding the Flames 24-17 and scoring all of their 10 second-chance points in the first half.

UNC-Ashville, which got 11 first-half points from Stephenson, shot 50 percent (14 of 28) and held Liberty (12-13, 7-6) to 25.8 percent shooting (8 of 31) before halftime.

The Flames pulled within 66-64 on Evan Gordon’s 3 with 4:07 to go, but the Bulldogs answered with six straight points.

Liberty would again pull within two, 70-68, on Kyle Ohman’s layup with 2:48 remaining, but wouldn’t get any closer in its third-straight loss.

Evan Gordon scored 16 points while Jess Sanders and Kyle Ohman added 15 each for the Flames.