Anders Broman's big 2nd half leads defending champ Winthrop (Mar 01, 2018)
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) Anders Broman scored all 15 of his points in the second half, Adam Pickett matched him with 15 and defending Big South Tournament champion Winthrop beat Gardner-Webb 72-68 on Thursday in a quarterfinal matchup.
After Gardner-Webb twice pulled within three points, Broman and brother Bjorn Broman combined to make four straight free throws for two-possession leads, the last at 70-65. Liam O'Reilly hit a contested off-balance 3-pointer with 4.1 to go but Bjorn Broman added two more at the stripe.
Third-seeded Winthrop (19-11) will play No. 2 seed Radford in the semifinals on Friday.
Kyle Zunic added 13 points and Xavier Cooks, the Big South player of the year, had 11 points on 5-of-16 shooting for Winthrop, which swept the regular-season series with wins of 19 and 23 points.
O'Reilly led No. 6 seed Gardner-Webb (14-18) with 20 points and six assists.
