Big South Quarterfinal Recaps
(Note: All tournament games are played at the home court of the higher seeded team.)
(1) Winthrop 74, (8) Coastal Carolina 62
It took a while, but Winthrop eventually took control of their match-up against Coastal Carolina, and will advance to the conference semifinals after knocking off the Chanticleers, 74-62. The Eagles, who now have a sixteen-game winning streak (currently the third longest in the nation), had a tough time stopping Coastal’s Jack Leasure, but found a way to pull out the win with a 22-13 run in the final ten minutes of the game. Leasure, the Big South’s Freshman of the Year, scored a career-high 25 points and scored the Chanticleers’ first sixteen points of the second half, keeping his team in the game.
Winthrop was led by James Shuler’s nineteen points and eight assists. Freshman point guard Chris Gaynor also had a strong game as he scored twelve points to go along with five rebounds, five assists, and three steals. Otis Daniels (eleven points) and Torrell Martin (ten points) were the other Eagles who reached double-figures in the game.
The Eagles will now host Birmingham-Southern in the second round, a team they beat twice during the regular season.
(4) Birmingham-Southern 69, (5) Radford 40
Birmingham-Southern’s defense held Radford scoreless for more than eight minutes to start the game and the Panthers were never challenged as they cruised to a 69-40 victory over the Highlanders at the Bill Battle Coliseum. The Panthers stifled Radford the entire game, holding the Highlanders to 21.2 percent shooting from the field. Offensively, Birmingham-Southern had a balanced attack, led by Arnold Gore’s twelve points. Jimmy Amerson and Jakob Sigurdarson scored ten points apiece for the Panthers.
The Highlanders never found their shot during the game, with Andre Bynum being the only Radford player that was able to consistently find the basket. Bynum led Radford with fifteen points and also led the team in rebounding with six boards.
This was Birmingham-Southern’s first appearance in the Big South Tournament, as they have just recently finished their probationary period after moving up from the NAIA ranks. They will look to keep their season going as they head to top-seeded Winthrop to play the Eagles in the semifinals on Thursday.
(7) Charleston Southern 66, (2) Liberty 60
Liberty’s attempt to win back-to-back Big South championships came to an unexpected early end as they lost a rare game at home, falling to the upstart Charleston Southern Buccaneers, 66-60, in the first round of the Big South tournament. The defending champions led for most of the second half and by as many as ten points, but were unable to stop the Buccaneer comeback, which was capped by a three-pointer from Terrell Brown with a little more than three minutes remaining, which gave Charleston Southern a lead that they would never lose the rest of the way. Ironically, that three-pointer was the only field goal made by Brown for the entire game.
Charleston Southern got strong production from its frontcourt, as forward Kurtis Rice led the team with 24 points and center Nathan Ball came through for fourteen points. Larry Blair was Liberty’s biggest weapon, as he scored 21 points, but the Flames were unable to get much offensive production elsewhere.
The Buccaneers will look to add another road upset to their record as they will now have to head to High Point to face the Panthers in the semifinals. During the regular season, the two teams split their meetings, with both squads winning on their home courts.
(6) High Point 98, (3) UNC Asheville 93 (OT)
It looked as if it was happening again. Throughout the regular season, High Point found ways to blow big second half leads on the road, and in the quarterfinals of the Big South Tournament, the Panthers saw a late lead fade again. However this time, they were able to withstand the comeback and beat UNC Asheville in overtime, 98-93.
High Point came out on fire and led by as many as twenty points in the first half, going into halftime with a 50-36 lead. The lead got back to as many as nineteen points and was at thirteen points with six minutes remaining before UNC Asheville mounted a furious comeback and even took the lead with forty-five seconds remaining in regulation. High Point’s Jerry Echenique, who led the Panthers with 22 points, was able to put-back a blocked lay-up with seven second left, though, and send the game to an extra period. In overtime, High Point took control early and put the Bulldogs away.
Danny Gathings and Mark Wilson had very strong games for the Panthers, with Gathings scoring nineteen points and grabbing eight rebounds while Wilson scored fifteen points and grabbed nine boards. Steven Rush was the leading scorer for Asheville with 23 points.
High Point will now get an unexpected home game as Charleston Southern, the tournament’s seventh seed, upset Liberty and will come visit the Millis Center on Thursday night.
