Freshman guard Dwayne Sutton had season highs of 25 points and 18 rebounds to lead UNC Asheville past Winthrop 77-68 in the Big South tournament title game Sunday at Buies Creek, N.C., to claim the league's automatic NCAA tournament bid.

Senior forward Sam Hughes added 15 points -- all in the second half -- as the fourth-seeded Bulldogs (22-11) advanced to the NCAA field for the first time since 2012 and the fourth time overall. UNC Asheville recovered from an 11-point, first-half deficit en route to knocking off the second-seeded Eagles.

Senior guard Jimmy Gavin scored 31 points for Winthrop (23-9), which shot just 35.2 percent from the field. Junior guard Keon Johnson, who is averaging a team-leading 18.7 points per game, had just two points on 1-of-16 shooting.

UNC Asheville went ahead to stay on a 3-pointer by freshman guard Dylan Smith that made it 47-46 with 11:39 remaining. The Bulldogs led by as many as 12 points while closing out the victory.