Thomas misses triple-double by an assist in Asheville's win

ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- Ahmad Thomas scored 19 of his 24 points in the second half when UNC Asheville pulled away for a 75-61 victory over Presbyterian on Saturday and took sole possession of first place in the Big South.

Thomas grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds, just missing a triple-double with nine assists. Raekwon Miller added 14 points and Jonathan Baehre 11 with five blocks for the Bulldogs (16-9, 9-3), who are alone atop the conference with Radford (8-4) losing to Winthrop (8-4) earlier Saturday.

The Bulldogs have won five straight and eight of their last nine in improving to 11-0 at home, 20-0 dating to last season.

Asheville took the lead for good at 11:20 of the first half, which ended 37-31. The Bulldogs led 65-57 with six minutes left before finishing on a 12-4 run.

The Blue Hose (10-15, 3-9) were led by Reggie Dillard's 14 points.