BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Gardner-Webb gave No. 3 seed Campbell all it could handle Monday night, but the Runnin' Bulldogs fell by a 63-57 score in the 2021 Hercules Tires Big South Conference Men's Basketball quarterfinals on the road.

The league tournament this season is being played on the higher seed's home court throughout.

Freshman guard Jordan Sears scored a career-high 20 points in the loss for Gardner-Webb (11-15), including 14 in the first half on perfect shooting. That accuracy gave the Runnin' Bulldogs a 28-26 lead at intermission.

Campbell, which won its eighth game in a row to set a new program record for the Division I era, couldn't find its range from deep in the opening half – but drained five threes in the second half to find its range.

After Ludovic Dufeal sank a layup with 3:49 to play that gave Gardner-Webb a 51-50 lead, Messiah Thompson banked in a long three-pointer with the shot clock rolling down to put the Camels up 53-51. Sears responded with a layup to tie the game, but a 4-0 spurt by the home team seemed to flip control of the game in their favor.

Gardner-Webb got as close as two points with the ball and less than 40 seconds left, but a steal by Ricky Clemons turned the tide again. Campbell was able to salt the game away at the free throw line, making 6-of-6 from the stripe in the final 31 seconds to secure a trip to the semifinals at No. 2 Radford on Thursday.

Gardner-Webb shot 41.1 percent for the game (23-of-56) but found the going tough from long range (7-of-27, 25.9 percent). The 'Dogs did take advantage of nine offensive rebounds, scoring 13 second-chance points, but went to the free throw line just four times in the game (4-of-4). The two teams combined for just six fouls between them over the first 18 minutes of the second half.

In addition to Sears' hot touch – which saw him make 7-of-9 shots from the field – Gardner-Webb got 13 points from classmate D'Maurian Williams. GWU also got nine points and five assists from Jaheam Cornwall (zero turnovers).

Campbell made an efficient 8-of-15 from three-point range (53.3), including 5-of-7 in the second half. The Camels shot 44.0 percent for the game (22-of-50), held a slight rebounding edge and made 11-of-13 from the free throw line.

Jordan Whitfield led the way with 18 points and forward Joshua Lusane had 11 points. Clemons, no relation to the Camels' all-time leading scorer Chris, added nine points in addition to a strong defensive effort.