Winthrop to meet Coastal in final

Keon Johnson scored 15 points as fifth-seeded Winthrop beat ninth-seeded Longwood 71-58 on Saturday in the Big South semifinals.

Keon Moore added 14 points for Winthrop (19-12), while Xavier Cooks and Andre Smith both chipped in 11. The Eagles will face third-seeded Coastal Carolina on Sunday for the championship.

Longwood (11-23) trailed by 14 points with 8:38 remaining, but a quick six points pulled the Lancers within nine. Moore and Johnson answered with six-straight points, and Smith added a free throw for a 15-point lead with 5:08 left to play.

Leron Fisher and Quincy Taylor combined for 46 of Longwood’s points, finishing with 23 apiece. Shaquille Johnson – who recorded a double-double when the Lancers became the first No. 9 seed to head to the Big South semifinals with an upset of top-seeded Charleston Southern – finished with just four points on 1-of-10 shooting.

Coastal Carolina 73, Gardner-Webb 70: The third time was the charm for No. 3 seed Coastal Carolina (23-9) against No. 7 seed Gardner-Webb (20-14) in their Big South tournament semifinal. After losing a pair of regular-season meetings to the Runnin’ Bulldogs, the Chanticleers held off Gardner-Webb for a victory and the right to defend their conference championship.

Wofford 70, UNC-Greensboro 52: Spencer Collins poured in 21 points – and all five starters scored at least eight – as top-seeded, defending champion Wofford (26-6) made half its field goals to throttle No. 8 seed UNC-Greensboro (11-22) in the tournament quarterfinals in Asheville.

The Terriers advance to Sunday’s semifinal round as they seek a fourth tournament championship in six seasons. Wofford will play Western Carolina at 6 p.m.

Collins made 9 of 14 field goals and scored more than 20 points for the second time in Wofford’s last three games. Collins had a career-high 26 against Mercer on Feb. 26. He nailed a 3-pointer Saturday to help kick off an 18-4 run as the Terriers broke away early, en route to a 30-20 halftime lead.

Lee Skinner and Karl Cochran scored 12 points each, Justin Gordon 10 and Eric Garcia eight for Wofford.

Kayel Locke scored 17 with 10 rebounds to lead UNC-Greensboro.

Western Carolina 67, East Tennessee 61 (OT): Western Carolina survived a second-half comeback from East Tennessee that forced overtime to clinch the victory and advance to the semifinals.

James Sinclair led the Catamounts with a game-high 30 points to go with 14 rebounds and six steals.

Lester Wilson led the way for ETSU with 17 points.

William & Mary 72, Elon 59: Marcus Thornton scored 17 points, Omar Prewitt added 16, and top-seeded William & Mary beat eighth-seeded Elon to advance to Sunday’s semifinals in the Colonial Athletic Association tournament in Baltimore.

The Tribe (19-11) will face either No. 5 Hofstra (19-12) or No. 4 James Madison (19-12).

This story was originally published March 7, 2015 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Winthrop to meet Coastal in final."