ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Arlon Harper pumped in a career-high 28 points as the Charleston Southern men's basketball team upended first place UNC Asheville, 93-88, at Kimmel Arena on Thursday night.

Harper and fellow freshman guard Saah Nimley (20 points, 9 assists) paced a brilliant offensive effort which saw the Bucs shoot 59 percent (33-of-56) from the floor and 45 percent (9-of-20) from three-point range.

Kelvin Martin was tenacious again, posting his seventh double-double of the season with 17 points and 12 rebounds. The senior forward now stands as the fourth-leading rebounder in Big South history.

CSU (12-7, 6-3) led by as many as 14 early in the second half and held off a late UNCA (13-7, 8-1) charge to match its road win total from a year ago and snap the Bulldogs' seven-game winning streak.

The Bucs entered halftime up 47-40, and drilled eight of their first nine shots of the second stanza to open up a 67-53 advantage with 15:43 remaining.

Nimley sat out the final 8:54 of the opening half after picking up two fouls, but ignited CSU out of intermission. The 5-8 Lawrenceville, Ga. native immediately set the tone by swishing threes from both wings on successive possessions, the second of which came with the hand of UNCA's J.P. Primm in his face.

Nimley added another trey several possessions later, and then used his shifty crossover dribble to drive to the bucket for an acrobatic finish in traffic. Not to be outdone, Harper capped the rally with one of his three steals and knocked down a baseline jumper to account for the 14-point cushion.

Primm and Matt Dickey spurred the Bulldogs back into the ballgame with a 12-2 run, but the Bucs depth proved critical as Chris Grier came off the bench to swing the momentum back in their favor.

Grier created contact and hit two free throws, came off a screen to net a right wing three, and found Martin for a layup after driving the lane. Another Martin finger roll off a look from Nimley staked CSU to an 80-67 lead at the 9:50 mark.

UNCA did not go quietly, however, exhibiting the mettle of a team with four senior starters and eight upperclassmen in its rotation. Primm tallied eight of his team-high 26 consecutively to whittle the deficit to five, and the count moved to 82-80 after scores by Dickey and Jaron Lane.

CSU went cold with Nimley (four fouls) and Harper (cramping) on the bench yet never gave up the lead, although Asheville did force a brief 84-84 tie on one of Primm's four triples.

Harper came back into the contest to re-instate the CSU lead with a pair at the charity stripe, and Martin came up with a huge block of Dickey on the next trip down the floor to give the Bucs the basketball back. Nimley took the mantle this time, forcing a foul and coolly connecting on two more from the line.

Three missed free throws afforded Dickey an opportunity to force overtime, but the senior could not convert as Nimley came out for a strong contest before Harper iced the victory with a pair at the line.

CSU recorded a 33-21 advantage on the glass, and racked up a 17-3 lead in second chance points to help build its first half lead.

Asheville established a 7-2 lead in the beginning stages of the contest, but CSU accumulated an advantage as large as ten on the backs of Harper, Martin, and Nimley.

Nimley assumed the leading role early, making two threes and getting in the paint to hand out four assists before being plagued by foul trouble. Harper went for 16 of his 28 in the opening 20 minutes, and Martin ripped down seven of his 12 caroms - including four on the offensive boards - to help put Asheville in a seven-point hole that they could not erase.

"This is a great victory for our basketball team," said CSU head coach Barclay Radebaugh. "UNC Asheville is a very good, very experienced basketball team. They were 8-0 in this league for a reason. We got out to a few big leads but they just kept coming at us. I was proud of the poise we showed late in the game, especially on the road."

CSU returns home to the Buc Dome for a Saturday evening matchup with Palmetto State rival Winthrop. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m.