ASHEVILLE, NC— Winthrop men's basketball shot 55 percent from the field, but suffered an 85-84 loss at UNC Asheville, Wednesday night in Big South Conference men's basketball action.

The loss is the third straight for the Eagles as they are now 9-6 overall and 2-3 in the Big South. UNC Asheville improves to 11-5 overall and remains perfect in the league at 4-0. The Eagles will look to end their three-game skid on Monday, Jan. 11 when they step away from league play to host Ferrum College at 6 p.m.

Ahmad Thomas' layup with 24 seconds to play in the game proved to be the game-winning bucket for the Bulldogs. Winthrop's ensuing possession ended up becoming one of their season-high 22 turnovers. However, as Asheville's Dwayne Sutton dribbled up court after intercepting a pass and was whistled for an offensive foul as Bjorn Broman tried to track him down to commit a foul or win the ball back. That gave the Eagles one last chance as Keon Johnson pulled up from three against a 1-3-1 zone from the Bulldogs, but his open look didn't fall.

Johnson finished with a game-high 23 points as he was 6-for-12 from the field and 4-for-9 from three. He was joined in double-figures by Jimmy Gavin with 17 points and Broman added 11 points.

Winthrop led by 23 points in the second half with 15:31 to play after a three-point play from Gavin, but Asheville turned up the pressure and that led to the season-high 22 turnovers by the Eagles, who committed 13 in the second half. Asheville took full advantage of the Eagles miscues turning 22 turnovers into 29 points (15 in the second half). Asheville cut the Eagles lead to eight points with 8:31 to play after a Raekwon Miller triple, but Winthrop had an answer when Joshua Davenport scored on a dunk off a nice feed from Xavier Cooks. Asheville didn't slow down as it came right back and outscored the Eagles 20-9 over the final eight minutes of the game to earn the comeback win.

Asheville's Sam Hughes led the Bulldogs with 21 points while Kevin Vannatta had 20 points. Miller finished with 16 points off the bench and Thomas and Dwayne Sutton added 13 points. The Bulldogs finished the game shooting 46 percent from the field.

Winthrop scorched the nets in the first half shooting 73 percent from the field, including 9-for-11 behind the arc as it led 55-37 at the break. The Eagles raced out to a 7-1 lead before Asheville cut it to two points and then Winthrop pushed its lead to double-figures at 24-13 after Broman drilled one of his three first half triples with just over 11 minutes to play in the half. After the Bulldogs cut the Eagle lead to 18-13, Broman hit back-to-back threes for the double-digit advantage. Winthrop held its double-figure lead the remainder of the half and even push it to 18 points on a couple of occasions, including the score at the half.

Hughes converted a three-point play with 2:14 to play in the half to make it a 10-point game, but Winthrop's Johnson responded with a three as the Eagles outscored the Bulldogs 9-1 from that point to the end of the period.