March to madness: UNC Asheville earns NCAA bid with a wild comeback over Campbell

March is the month when college basketball stars emerge from unlikely places and find themselves smack in the middle of madness.

So it was Sunday afternoon in Charlotte, when UNC Asheville edged Campbell, 77-73, to win the Big South final and earn one of the first automatic bids to the NCAA tournament.

Yes, UNC Asheville is definitely in the NCAA tourney, but UNC itself very well may not be.

The Bulldogs (27-7) grabbed their bid by coming into the tournament seeded No. 1 and then justifying that seeding with a sterling comeback from 14 points down in the final with 7:35 to go.

When it ended, the UNC Asheville players ran on the court, celebrated for a few minutes and then kind of milled around on the Bojangles Coliseum court, unsure as to what came next.

This was understandable. It was only four seasons ago that UNC Asheville went 4-27, and the team hasn’t qualified for the NCAA tournament since 2016.

“I’m speechless,” said Drew Pember, the big man who transferred from Tennessee in search of more playing time and led UNC Asheville with 29 points, as he stood on the court and waited his turn to climb the ladder and cut a piece of the net. “I don’t even know what to do with myself. I’m just sort of walking around.”

In a one-bid league like the Big South, tournament finals straddle the same line of desolation and joy that every NCAA tournament game does. Like Pember, Campbell’s players found it hard to speak after the game, but for different reasons. Campbell has only made the NCAA tournament once, in 1992.

While Pember was named the Big South tournament’s Most Valuable Player, the MVP of the final eight minutes for UNC Asheville was Tajion Jones.

Jones, the only player left on the UNC Asheville roster who played for that 4-27 team, scored 13 points in a row for UNC Asheville in a span of barely over three minutes late in the second half. Without Jones, who played all 40 minutes, the Bulldogs would never have won. With him, the Bulldogs went on a 25-7 run over the game’s final 7:35.

“The rim opened up for me once I hit a couple of shots,” Jones said.

What happened in those last eight minutes?

“Tajion Jones,” Pember said. “That’s all I gotta say.”

Trying to win four games in five days and earn the school’s second NCAA bid ever as a No. 7 seed, Campbell (16-18) fell just short despite a valiant effort after beating the No. 3 and No. 2 seeds to get to the final.

“It’s hard to find words for this one,” Campbell coach Kevin McGeehan said. “We played really well, and we came out with a result we didn’t want…. What can you say? Not much.”

Campbell did make a couple of baskets late and still led 73-72 with one minute to go. But then Jones knocked in another 3-pointer, Campbell missed a couple of decent looks and it was over.

With Campbell’s home of Buies Creek, N.C., 135 miles east of Charlotte and Asheville sitting 125 miles east, the crowd of 2,369 was understandably split down the middle and took turns yelling in a well-played game in which Campbell held the lead for more than 32 minutes.

Campbell’s Jay Pal was the best player on the court for the first 30 minutes. He had a career-high 26 points and 10 rebounds and usually had to guard Pember, who started slowly but finished fast, just like his team. UNC Asheville scored the game’s last seven points, sending the Bulldogs to the NCAA tourney and whatever else March holds.

“I don’t know who’s writing the book of UNC Asheville this year,” Bulldogs coach Mike Morrell said, “but it’s a helluva story…. It’s a really cool day, man. A cool day.”

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