ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The Brevard College Tornados (0-5) took a brief hiatus from Division II action Tuesday evening, traveling to nearby Asheville, N.C. to face off with the UNC Asheville Bulldogs (4-3) as part of the Tornados 2016-17 exhibition schedule, UNCA would take the game by a final of 68-50.
Offensively, the Tornados were led by senior forward Omar El Diraoui (Beirut, Lebanon) who finished with a team-high 11-points on the night, finishing four of seven from the floor and two of four from behind the arc. Junior guard D.J. Bostick (Marietta, Ga.) also posted double-digit scoring figures with 10-points. Junior guard Stevie Williams (High Point, N.C) pulled down a team best five rebounds, while freshman Levi Lamb (Atlanta, Ga.) put up five points in four minutes Tuesday night. As the freshman finished a perfect two for two from the floor and one of one from three-point range.
The Bulldogs were led by the play of Ahmad Thomas who finished with a game-high 19-points, shooting eight of 10 on the night, while also tying for a game-high seven rebounds and collecting a game best six steals.
Following a Thomas layup to open the evening, El Diraoui would give the Tornados their first of two leads for the game, knocking down a three pointer to put Brevard up 3-2. Following a pair of Bulldog free throws that put UNCA up 4-3, senior Harry Singh (Hanover Park, Ill.) add two free throws of his own to put the Tornados up 5-4.
Brevard would even the contest at 7-7 just under the 14-minute mark on an Evan Dunham (Marietta, Ga.) layup, but the Bulldogs would use a 10-0 run to take a 17-7 lead before a Bostick three-point basket pulled the Tornados back within single-digits.
Asheville would close out the first half on a 21-10 run to take a 38-20 lead into halftime as Bostick and Dunham both combined for all 10 of the Tornados points to end the half.
Following an 8-0 Bulldog run to begin the second half of regulation, El Diraoui would get the Tornados back on the board with a layup at the 17:12 mark.
The Bulldogs would push their lead to as many as 28-points with six minutes remaining in regulation, but a three-point basket by El Diraoui at 5:32 would put the Tornados on a run the cut the Asheville lead down to 20, before a last second layup by junior DeJon Neal (Philadelphia, Pa.) cut the lead to 18-points at 68-50.
Brevard will return back to action tomorrow evening as they host Warren Wilson College at 8 p.m. as part of the Tornados annual WMYA My40 tv game hosted by Boshamer Gymnasium.
