CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Gardner-Webb battled back from a pair of double-digit deficits in the second half, closing to within three with 1:08 to play, but a 7-0 Winthrop run in the final minute was enough to close out the third-seeded Runnin' Bulldogs by a final score of 76-67 on Saturday afternoon in the 2022 Hercules Tires Big South Championship semifinals from Bojangles Coliseum.
D'Maurian Williams connected on seven of 12 tries and hit three triples to lead the team with 22 points as the Runnin' Bulldogs closed out the season at 18-13 overall, their most wins since 2018-19 when making their run into the NCAA Tournament.
Jordan Sears finished with 16 points, one shy of a season-high, and tallied a team-high two steals in 31 minutes of action off the bench.
Lance Terry and
Zion Williams each added 11 points apiece to help Gardner-Webb finished with four scorers in double figures, propelling the Runnin' Bulldogs to a 37.9-percent field-goal percentage for the game, a mark that the Eagles bested by hitting at a 48.1-percent clip from the field overall, including going 7-for-16 from beyond the arc.
The first half saw the teams go back and forth, trading the lead nine times. The biggest separation between the teams was Gardner-Webb's six-point lead at the 16:09 mark. However, the Eagles went on a 10-0 run after this to claim their first lead of the game. They were able to expand their advantage to four points at the end of the run. Heading into the half, the Eagles led 31-30.
The battle between the big men down low, D.J. Burns for Winthrop and
Kareem Reid from GWU, resulted with both players being limited to only a couple of minutes early in the tilt due to foul trouble. Terry also picked two fouls, and
Ademide Badmus picked tacked on another three, as
Zion Williams stepped up when needed on the offensive end to ultimately round out the first half scoring 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting while going 2-for-2 from behind the arc in the first 20.
To start the second half, Winthrop's Corey Hightower scored four, followed by Burns getting his first points of the afternoon. This swelled the Eagles lead to seven points, their largest all game.
Gardner-Webb was able to tie the game for the first time in the second half at the 10:22 mark off a
D'Maurian Williams steal and fastbreak two-hand jam by Terry. After this, Winthrop went on a 13-2 run to stretch their lead to 11, the largest for either side all game.
GWU managed to cut the lead down to three on multiple occasions late in the final frame, but Winthrop held on strong and refused to allow the 'Dogs to get any closer at any point during the duration of the contest.
The loss forced Gardner-Webb to finish out a successful season in which it earned the No. 3 seed in the Big South tournament for the second time in three years, while going on to advance to the semifinals for the seventh time in 14 seasons as a member of the Big South.
