Anders Broman's big 2nd half leads defending champ Winthrop

Mar 1, 2018, 10:58 pm

ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- 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.