Charleston Southern Knocks Off High Point

Charleston Southern charged back from a 13-point halftime deficit to beat High Point, 58-55, Thursday night and advance to the Big South Conference championship game at High Point, N.C.

Kurtis Rice led Charleston Southern (13-16) with 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Donnell Covington had a career-high 17 points.

Charleston Southern will play Winthrop (26-5), a 78-64 winner over Birmingham Southern, for the title.

In other games: D.J. Thompson led a balanced attack with 12 points to lead Appalachian State to a 63-60 victory over College of Charleston in a Southern Conference tournament quarterfinal game at Chattanooga, Tenn. Appalachian State will play the North’s top-seeded team, Chattanooga, a 77-70 winner over East Tennessee State.... Chris Gash’s basket from the left wing helped top-seeded Gardner Webb avoid an upset in a 64-62 victory over eighth-seeded Troy in a quarterfinal game of the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament at Nashville. Gardner Webb will next play Jacksonville, a 68-64 winner over Lipscomb.... Marques Alston’s layup with 1.4 seconds left capped a late rally for top-seeded Monmouth in a 54-53 win over Central Connecticut State in a quarterfinal game of the Northeast Conference tournament at West Long Branch, N.J. Monmouth will next play host to Wagner, which defeated Robert Morris, 69-65, at Coraopolis, Pa.

*

Rick Samuels, who won 360 games in 25 years, was fired as coach at Eastern Illinois after a fourth consecutive losing season. The Panthers were 12-16 this season, finishing eighth in the 11-team Ohio Valley Conference with a 7-9 record.