RADFORD, Va. — A 16-0 run midway through the first half provided the boost for fifth-seeded Hampton on Thursday night as they defeated fourth-seeded Longwood 78-53 in the quarterfinals of the Hercules Tires Big South Men’s Basketball Championship.
With the win, Hampton (14-18) advances to face top-seeded and host Radford on Friday night at 8 pm inside the Dedmon Center.
The Lancers got off to a 5-2 lead at the first scheduled timeout with 16:08 left after a 3-pointer from Jaylon Wilson. Hampton responded with the next eight points as a 3-pointer from Jermaine Marrow put Hampton up 13-5 with 11:55 remaining.
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A 3-pointer from Lorenzo Phillips and a layup by Wilson brought the Lancers to 13-10 with 10:46 left before Hampton started its run. Jumpers by Ben Stanley and Marrow pushed Hampton to 17-10 with 9:30 left, then Greg Heckstall erupted.
The senior from Norfolk scored nine points in the span of 102 seconds draining a pair of 3-pointers and then hitting three free throws being fouled on a 3-pointer. His three free throws put Hampton up 26-10 with 5:43 left. A 3-ball from Marrow capped the 16-0 run putting Hampton up 29-10 with 4:38 left.
Hampton forced Longwood into missing 17 of its first 21 shots in the game and held them to 20.7% shooting in the first half (6-of-29). In the second half, the lead grew to as much as 31 points on a 3-pointer from Marrow with 5:31 left for a 65-34 lead.
Marrow was the leading scorer with 32 points, 20 of those coming in the second half. Heckstall had his fifth post-season double-double in Hampton’s last seven games dating back to last year’s post-season run with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Ben Stanley had 12 points and six boards.
Hampton hit a blistering 65.4% in the second half (17-of-26) to finish just over 50% from the floor at 50.9% (27-of-53). They hit 11-of-25 from 3-point range (44%) and were 13-of-17 from the line (76.5%). The Pirates outrebounded Longwood 42-31.