ROCK HILL, SC (AP) – DJ Burns scored 22 points and Winthrop kicked off the second half with an 80-53 win over Campbell on Sunday for his second consecutive Big South tournament championship and an automatic NCAA tournament offer.
Burns finished the first half with back-to-back baskets and a six point lead. The Eagles (23-1) made their first eight shots in the second half as they ran away in 17 title games against Campbell for their 13th championship. They will be making their 11th appearance in an NCAA tournament.
When the top-manned Eagles missed a shot in the second half, they were leading 36-21. The fiery shooting continued as the lead peaked at 31 and they went back to their seventh straight win in a season of one Had a winning streak of 21 games before losing two points to UNC Asheville. They are 43-4 in their last 47 games.
Burns, a 6-foot-9 forward, finished 11 of 12 off the ground, with the Eagles shooting 79% in the second half and 63% overall. Kyle Zunic added 13 points with 3 pointers. Chandler Vaudrin, who has three triple doubles this season, had 10 rebounds and six assists with eight points.
Winthrop won the tournament title last year just to see the offer for the NCAA tournament melt away with the COVID-19 crisis.
“Oh man, it’s so great to be back and know the opportunity we had last year and unfortunately events took that away,” said Burns, who moved from Tennessee two years ago. “It feels good to come back here and have a second shot to do it again.
“We work as hard or harder than anyone else in the country and we’ll go out and play our game, play our style to speed it up or slow it down if you have to. We’ll all do what it takes.” This is part of our culture that the trainers taught us from day one. “
Third-occupied Campbell (17-10) won nine games and was looking for his first NCAA appearance in 29 years. Although the Camels lost a two-game series at Winthrop in the regular season, one of those losses was only one point. But this time they only led once – at 2-0.
Jordan Whitfield scored 18 points and Ricky Clemons 10 for Campbell.
Winthrop won his three tournament games with an average of almost 26 points.
