ROCK HILL, S.C. – In the end, not even Longwood's Big South-leading defense could keep No. 1 seed Winthrop from getting back to the Big South Championship game.
 
Led by what was nearly a second straight triple-double by Big South Player of the Year Chandler Vaudrin, the Big South Regular Season Champion Eagles (22-1) extended one of the strongest runs in college basketball this year by taking down No. 5 seed Longwood 82-61 in the semifinals of the 2021 Big South Championship Thursday night at Winthrop Coliseum.
 
Vaudrin, whose triple-double Monday led Winthrop to an 83-54 quarterfinal win over No. 8 seed High Point, spearheaded the Eagle attack once again with 16 points, nine assists and eight rebounds to vault Winthrop back to the Big South Championship game for a second straight year.
 
Winthrop's semifinal win came at the expense of a fifth-seeded Longwood (12-16) team that entered the tournament as one of the hottest in the Big South, winning eight of their final 10 games of the regular season and upsetting No. 5 UNC Asheville 77-61 in Monday's quarterfinals. But even as the Lancers won a program-record 10 Big South games behind the top scoring defense in the conference, Winthrop's overpowered offense prevailed Thursday to remain one of only four teams in the nation with fewer than two losses.
 
Nearly perfect during their run to the Big South regular-season championship and the tournament's No. 1 seed, Winthrop will now face No. 3 seed Campbell in Sunday's Big South Championship game. The Lancers, meanwhile, exit the tournament after reaching the semifinals for the second time in school history and first under third-year head coach Griff Aldrich.
 
"You hate to have a game like this in the tournament, but what we talked about after the game was the season," said Aldrich, who has now amassed a program-record 24 Big South wins in his three years at the helm.

"One game does not define this season. I could not be more proud of them. I could not be more proud of the team they became. We're a very good team. Tonight did not reflect it, but I still think we were one of the best teams in the conference this year, particularly at the end. That's a credit to their perseverance and continuing to strive to be the best team they can be."
 
Winthrop ended a strong finish to the 2020-21 season for the Lancers, who overcame a rash of early injuries at the start of the season and a 2-8 start to conference play to finish the year 9-3, including their quarterfinal win over UNC Asheville Monday.
 
That defeat came largely at the hands of Vaudrin and fellow All-Big South guard Charles Falden, who combined for 35 points and teamed up to spark a game-changing 11-0 Winthrop run in the final five minutes of the first half. That rally featured six points and two assists from the backcourt duo, turned Winthrop's 33-30 lead to 44-30 at halftime, and halted a comeback surge from the Lancers, who rallied from an early 19-3 deficit to cut the lead to one possession following a 19-8 run of their own.
 
"Winthrop is 22-1. They're an extremely good team, and not just a good mid-major team. They're one of the better mid-major teams in the past five to ten years, certainly that the Big South has seen," Aldrich said.
 
"You can't take your foot off the gas against them at all. The last five minutes of the first half, we had another lull in our competitiveness. We got beat to the basket, we gave up offensive rebounds, we had some breakdowns defensively, and they're too good. They're going to make you pay."
 
Winthrop led by double digits the rest of the way, leaning on its Big South-leading offense and an aggressive defense to overcome a seventh straight double-digit scoring game from Longwood's All-Big South point guard Juan Munoz. Munoz, a graduate student and fifth-year Lancers, finished with 17 points in possibly his final Big South postseason game and joined his junior backcourt mate DeShaun Wade as Longwood's two double-digit scorers.
 
Wade added 12 points and five rebounds, while sophomore forward Leslie Nkereuwem scored nine off the bench following his 18-point outburst in Monday's quarterfinal win over UNC Asheville.
 
"This is a process," Aldrich said. "This is our third year, and if you had told us we would be playing in the semifinals and breaking the conference wins record, I would have been thrilled. I'm extremely pleased.
 
"And it's a young team; the number of guys with the potential to come back is significant. You see a lot of pieces out there that make you really excited about the future. There's a lot of talent, a lot of pieces that if we can keep the continuity, you hope you're really building and moving on an upward trajectory. So much this year, it felt there were a lot of new faces and injuries, it was like building as you go. Now you're excited because next year, you're not starting at square A; you're able to move forward more quickly."
 
#GoWood