CONWAY, S.C. --- Jerome Hill (Adel, Ga.) led all scorers with 31 points and added a game-high 10 rebounds to lead Gardner-Webb to an 82-67 Big South Conference victory on Saturday evening, while surpassing both the 1,000-point and 600-rebound plateaus for his career.
With the win, Gardner-Webb (12-7, 4-2 Big South) moves within one game of Coastal Carolina (14-4, 5-1 Big South) for first in the league standings. The victory is Gardner-Webb's seventh against Coastal all-time, and the third in the Runnin' Bulldogs' last five visits to The HTC Center.
Gardner-Webb (12-7, 4-2 Big South) shot an even 50 percent from the floor on the night, including a 53.8 percent clip in the second half, while limiting Coastal Carolina (14-4, 5-1 Big South) to a field goal percentage of 43.1 percent in the contest. The Chants edged the Runnin' Bulldogs by a 35-33 margin on the glass, including a 13-8 advantage on the offensive boards, converting those rebounds into 17 second chance points.
Hill led the way for Gardner-Webb with 31 points on 10-of 21 shooting, becoming the fifth player in the program's Division I history to surpass the 1,000-point in his career. With his 10-rebound effort, the junior forward also breached 600 boards in a Gardner-Webb uniform.
Harold McBride (Bronx, N.Y.) and Adonis Burbage (Orlando, Fla.) each recorded career-highs on the night, scoring 18 and 16 points, respectively, while Tyler Strange (Leominster, Mass.) dished out five assists.
Badou Diagne paced four Coastal Carolina players in double figures with 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting, as Warren Gillis added 12 points and three assists. Elijah Wilson and Josh Cameron chipped in 11 and 10 points, respectively, while Shivaughn Wiggins tallied a game-high seven assists.
Coastal started strong, opening an early 8-4 lead on a trey by Diagne before Gardner-Webb answered with a Strange strike from long range, cutting the margin to 8-7 with 16:30 left in the half. The teams traded buckets for much of the next nine minutes, with the Runnin' Bulldogs carrying a narrow 22-21 advantage into the under-8 media following a McBride jumper.
The Chants would counter with an 11-6 run, taking a 32-28 lead with a Wilson jumper at the 2:39 mark. After Freeman tossed in the lay-up on the follow to push the margin to 34-28, Gardner-Webb quickly responded with back-to-back threes, knotting the score at 34-34 with 44 ticks left in the half.
McBride extended the run to 9-0 with the 'Dogs third straight trey, kissing it off the glass from the top of the key to beat the buzzer and send Gardner-Webb into the break with a 37-34 lead.
The Runnin' Bulldogs carried the momentum into the second half, opening the period with a 16-11 run to push the margin to 53-45 with 12:11 to play. Gardner-Webb kept pushing, stretching the lead to 70-54 with a 17-9 spurt that was capped by a three-point play from Hill at the 4:20 mark – an effort which put the junior forward over 1,000 points for his career.
Hill and the Runnin' Bulldogs would close out the double-digit win from there, finishing the evening with 12 of the game's final 25 points to seal the 82-67 victory.
Gardner-Webb is back in action on Thursday, January 22 when the Runnin' Bulldogs host Longwood at 7:00 pm in Paul Porter Arena.
