The win snapped a four-game losing streak for Asheville (15-13). Greenville (14-14) won the last two meetings with Asheville, winning 82-72 on New Year's Day and 68-67 on Jan. 6.

"We needed this one really bad," said Altitude head coach Joey Meyer. "Our players really showed heart, especially in the second half and they never quit."

Asheville trailed by as many as 28 points in the game and trailed by 17 points at the start of the fourth quarter (69-52). After newly acquired point guard Scoonie Penn and Scruggs joined Hemsley on the court, the Altitude went on to outscore Greenville 18-9 over the next 5:40 in the period to cut the deficit to 78-70. Scruggs and Penn combined to score 34 points off the bench for the Altitude, with Penn recording 15 in his Asheville debut.

Following a Billy Thomas dunk with 4:16 left in the period, Asheville would cut the lead to two points after Penn made his first three-pointer of the game to close the gap to 81-79. Thomas immediately responded with a three-point basket of his own and Rahim Lockhart made a layup, to push the Greenville lead back up to seven points (86-79) with 2:44 remaining.

The Altitude continued to chisel away the lead until Penn's three-pointer put Asheville up for good at 87-86 with 26 seconds remaining. Asheville scored three points from the charity stripe to secure the victory.

"Sconnie and Lee came off the bench in the second half and played great," said Meyer. "Once Johnny got it going, we knew all we needed was someone else to step up and those two guys did the job."

Thomas led Greenville with 29 points, including five three-pointers, while DeeAndre Hulett and Jeff Myers chipped in with 16 and 11 points, respectively.