CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Lance Terry scored 14 points and Gardner-Webb hung on for a 54-53 win over Campbell Friday night in the Big South Championship quarterfinal round at Bojangles' Coliseum.
 
The third-seeded Runnin' Bulldogs (18-12) will meet second seed Winthrop in Saturday's 2:00 p.m. semifinal.  Top-seeded Longwood will take on fourth seed USC Upstate in the first semifinal at noon.
 
In a battle of the top two defensive teams in the league, the sixth-seeded Camels (16-13) clawed back from a 7-point deficit to tie the score late, but could never take the lead.
 
D'Maurian Williams added 11 points for GWU and Ludovic Dufeal had 10 rebounds for the Runnin' Bulldogs, who finished with a 44-29 edge on the boards and a 13-5 advantage in second chance points.
 
CU trailed 44-37 with 8:33 to play when Terry made a runner in the lane, but the Camels rallied.  Whitfield's wing three cut the gap to 47-45 with 6:06 to go.  Messiah Thompson and Whitfield missed triples on the next two possessions, but Thompson hit both ends of a 1-and-1 with 4:19 to play to tie the score.
 
Zion Williams' 3-point play with 1:33 remaining pushed GWU's lead to 54-49, but the Camels closed the game with three-straight defensive stops.
 
Whitfield made two from the line with 48 seconds to play to cut the deficit to 54-51 then hit 1-of-2 with 14 seconds to go to cut the margin to a pair.  Thompson then stole the ball on the following inbound play and called time to set up a potential tying bucket.
 
As time wound down, Ricky Clemons drove to the hoop, but missed a highly-contest layup at the rim.  CU, however, was awarded the ball on the baseline with 1.8 seconds to go.  Whitfield cut to the right baseline and was fouled by Terry with 0.1 seconds remaining.
 
Campbell's all-time leader in games played (139), Whitfield made the first free throw, but his second bounced off to end the game.
 
Whitfield finished with a game-high 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the floor and Cedric Henderson, Jr., added 11 for the Camels, who shot 32 percent on the night, made 4-of-22 threes (.182) and 17-of-20 (.850) from the stripe.  CU finished with a 19-10 advantage in points off turnovers.
 
Two nights after defeating Presbyterian in double OT, Campbell held Gardner-Webb to 39.7 percent shooting (23-53) overall, 7-of-20 beyond the arc (.350). GWU missed 5 of its six free throws, but grabbed 14 offensive boards and outscored Campbell 30-14 in the paint.
 
The Runnin' Bulldogs hit five of their first nine three-point attempts and jumped to a 21-11 lead after Jordan Sears knocked down a three with 8:24 to play.
 
However, the Camels held GWU scoreless over the last 6:08 of the period and pulled within one (23-22) on Messiah Thompson's drive to the rim at the horn.
 
GWU missed 10 of its last 11 shots from the floor in the first half and shot 33 percent overall (9-27).  The Camels made 8-of-28 shots (.286), but held a 7-0 edge in points off turnovers.
 
Whitfield concluded his career with 1,171 points, which stands 13th on Campbell Division I era (since '77-78) scoring list.


 


Big South Championship
First Round – March 2
(9) North Carolina A&T 78, (8) Radford 71 (OT)
(12) Charleston Southern 79, (5) UNC Asheville 78
(7) High Point 84, (10) Hampton 77 (OT)
(6) Campbell 75, (11) Presbyterian 72 (2OT)
Quarterfinals – March 4
(1) Longwood 79, North Carolina A&T 65 (OT)
(4) USC Upstate 72, Charleston Southern 62
(2) Winthrop 68, High Point 51
(3) Gardner-Webb 54, Campbell 53
Semifinals – March 5
Longwood vs. USC Upstate (12:00 PM)
Winthrop vs. Gardner-Webb (2:00 PM)
Championship – March 6
Final (12:00 PM)