A couple of minutes before tipoff to Friday night's NBDL game at the Roanoke Civic Center, some gear head climbed into Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s show car on display in the house and cranked the motor up.

Evidently, the thunderous rumble of sheer horsepower combined with a strong whiff of engine fumes was enough to jump-start the slumbering Roanoke Dazzle.

Losers of a season-high four straight games, the Dazzle woke up in its regular-season home finale and motored past the Asheville Altitude 94-87 in front of 3,444 fans.

The victory enabled second-place Roanoke (26-19) to close to 1 1/2 games of front-runner Columbus (27-17) with eight days left in the NBDL's 48-game regular season. Huntsville (25-19), a 105-99 winner over Columbus on Friday, is two games back in third. Asheville (24-20) dropped to fourth, three games off the pace.

The victory was a much-needed shot in the arm for Roanoke, which was coming off a season-worst 15-point home loss to visiting Columbus two nights before.

"We had to bounce back," said Dazzle forward James Thomas, who did a lube job in the paint on Asheville, scoring 21 points and grabbing a season-high 23 rebounds.

"I think we've got our swagger back now, got our confidence back. This stretch for us was hard. It's one of the hardest stretches I've ever been through in my basketball-playing years. It was tough because I don't think any of us were used to losing."

Led by Thomas and veteran center Kevin Owens, who had 13 points and 11 rebounds, Roanoke stormed back from a 51-43 halftime deficit to whip the Altitude for the sixth time in nine meetings this season. Reserve forward Sherman Gay was 7-for-9 from the field and contributed 17 points for the Dazzle, while Sung-Yoon Bang added 14 points.

Roanoke's bigs - Thomas and Owens - weren't going to let the home team lose this one. The Dazzle pounded the Altitude 62-46 on the backboards, including a 20-12 edge on the offensive glass, in producing 20 second-chance points.

"James is an animal," said Owens of Thomas, the NBDL's rookie of the year who posted his 21st double-double of the season. "I've never played with a guy that aggressive and that tough. He works so hard he gets other guys going. I know he gets me going."

Dazzle coach Kent Davison confessed he was starting to get flashbacks of last season, when Roanoke lost its final 10 games and missed qualifying for the playoffs. Well, the Dazzle already has locked up a berth this time. Friday's victory rekindled some embers of optimism in the home locker room.

"I don't know about [his players], but this sure helps my mental frame of mind," Davison said. "Because look at what we ended up last year with the long losing streak.

"You don't how many times I mowed my yard last year in the middle of summer and got off [the mower] and screamed. It's a good thing I live out in the middle of nowhere because it was frustrating as heck.

"And I can justify it and we can make all kinds of excuses, 'oh, this guy and that guy.' ... But know what? We were still 0-10. And the same thing here. There's lot of excuses we can come up with, but we still got to play because the referees are out there, the other team is out there, and they they throw the ball up."

Roanoke, which needs to finish either first or second to host a first-round playoff game, plays at Asheville tonight.

ASHEVILLE (87)

Shannon 6-12 2-2 14, Slay 6-17 0-0 12, Kitchings 5-9 1-2 11, Penney 2-11 0-0 4, Bowers 4-9 0-0 8, Suitt 0-0 2-2 2, Forte 9-14 1-2 19, Dobbins 6-9 0-0 12, Mazur 1-4 3-4 5. Totals 39-85 9-12 87.

ROANOKE (94)

Thomas 9-17 3-4 21, Doliboa 3-9 2-3 8, Owens 5-11 3-5 13, Davis 2-6 3-4 7, Bang 5-17 3-4 14, Gay 7-9 3-5 17, Hill-Thomas 3-8 4-5 10, Landry 0-2 2-3 2, Sanders 1-5 0-0 2. Totals 35-84 23-33 94.

Asheville28 23 17 19 - 87

Roanoke26 17 25 26 - 94

Three-point goals-Asheville 0-3 (Slay 0-1, Bowers 0-1, Penney 0-1), Roanoke 1-6 (Bang 1-6). Rebounds-Asheville 46 (Slay 8), Roanoke 62 (Thomas 23). Assists-Asheville 15 (Forte 5), Roanoke 14 (Davis 3, Hill-Thomas 3). Blocked shots-Asheville 6 (Kitchings 4), Roanoke 7 (Owens 4). Total fouls-Asheville 25, Roanoke 16. Fouled out-None. Technical fouls-Dobbins, Asheville coach Meyer. A-3,444.