By MONTE DUTTON

At one time, Presbyterian lost seven of eight Big South men’s basketball games. How times have changed.
Entering this week’s Hercules Tires Big South Championships in Johnson City, Tenn, and coming on the heels of Saturday’s 68-57 victory over Gardner-Webb (10-19, 5-11 Big South) at Templeton Center, PC (14-17, 7-9) has won four out of five.
Seniors Kaleb Scott, Kobe Stewart and Jamahri Harvey led the way.

Scott led the Blue Hose with 21 points while grabbing seven rebounds. Stewart chipped in 15 and nine. Harvey knocked down three 3-pointers on his way to 13 points.
“It was too much to be happy about, too much to talk about,” said Scott, a 6-8 product of Raleigh, N.C. “It was a huge way to end our regular season, given all the adversity that we went through.
“It’s a testament to the resiliency of this group.”
In PC’s 18 seasons in the Big South, this is the first time it has won as many as seven regular-season games.

“We were playing for so much in terms of tournament seeding, Senior Day and as far as helping the guys keep their emotions in check and execute the game plan,” Ferrell said to publicist Brent Stastny. “I’m super proud of the way we played.”
Two weeks ago Ferrell’s sixth PC team seemed trapped at No. 8 of the nine conference teams. As it turned out, that’s where Gardner-Webb, which won the first game between the two, 63-61, resides. The Bulldogs, who are said to run, have to play league doormat USC Upstate on Wednesday at 7:30.

PC does not hit the Freedom Hall floor until Friday at 2:30, taking on fourth seed Radford (19-12). The Hose defeated the Highlanders on their home floor, 80-73, on Feb. 22. A win on Friday likely pits PC against top seed High Point (26-5) on Saturday at noon.
Presbyterian’s defense held Gardner-Webb to 57 points and .125 (1/8) shooting from beyond the three-point arc. Isaiah Richards paced GWU with 16 points.
The half ended spectacularly. In the final 20 seconds. Kory Mincy made a steal and passed to Jaylen Peterson for an alley-oop dunk. Peterson then blocked a thot and passed to Harvey for a 25-foot triple at the buzzer, putting the Blue Hose up 14 points at the half.

The tournament scenario is not so sanguine for the PC women (6-23, 4-12), who fell, 91-81, to Gardner-Webb (11-17, 8-8) on Saturday in Boiling Springs, N.C.
The eighth-seeded Blue Hose of first-year heach coach Tiffany Sardin face ninth-seeded UNC Asheville (3-26) on Wednesday at 5 in Johnson City. If they win, they face High Point (18-11) on Thursday at noon.
Junior forward Kishyah Anderson set a school Division I record, scoring 40 points in a losing cause, hitting 18/32 field goals.
Paige Kindseth added 16 points and Shelby Fiddler 15. Laney Scoggins grabbed 11 rebounds.
Ashley Hawkins and Kendall Scott each pumped in 25 points for the Runnin’ Bulldogs. Andrea Martinez pulled down 11 boards.

Rion Gordon, Clinton High School’s stalwart center and long snapper, is headed to Brevard College in North Carolina. A centerpiece of the Red Devils’ Class 2A state championship team was its offensive line, and Gordon was at its center.
“It was a special year,” Gordon said. “The town experienced the hurricane (Helene) and the city fire. This group rallied around that and really put a show for Clinton. We won the state championship in Orangeburg over Barnwell. It was a storybook ending, and it couldn’t have been more special than that. I’ll never forget it.”

Brevard is a Division III school, which means the Tornados do not offer scholarships. It was one of seven schools that contacted him. One wasn’t Presbyterian College, which, while officially in Division I, does not offer football scholarships. In fairness, the Blue Hose’ long snapper last year, Dixon Musgrove, was a redshirt sophomore.
The Tornados, whose head coach is Bill Khayat, went 6-3 last fall, defeated Belhaven, Southern Virginia, Greensboro, Huntingdon, Methodist, and Kentucky Christian. Brevard had enjoyed only one winning season when he took over in 2017 and has had a 42-32 record since.

Bill Khayat’s father, Eddie, once played for and coached the Philadelphia Eagles. He was head coach in 1971-72.
Gordon not only wants to enter coaching. He aspires to coach one day at CHS.
“They told me in my senior year I would go into their GA (graduate assistant) program so I could start coaching there, as well,” he said.
A Red Devil teammate, kicker Lukas Kuykendall, is considering Brevard. Another, Chris Fortman, intends to play soccer for the Tornados.

Catcher Jackson Hugus went 3/4, with two doubles, but his teammates combined for only three other hits as Eastern Michigan defeated Presbyterian, 8-2, in the first of four games this weekend at Elton Pollock Field.
First baseman Devan Zirwas collected three of the Eagles’ 1 hits, and Drew Beckner (2-0) allowed only an earned run in 7-1/3 innings on the hill. PC starter Kyle Mueller (0-1) took the loss.
The teams split Saturday’s doubleheader, with PC winning, 5-2, in the opener and Eastern Michigan taking the nightcap, 5-3.
Evan Cuervo homered in the opener. The Blue Hose were active on the basepaths as Brody Linker stoled three bases and Andrew Albertus swiped two.
The Blue Hose wrap up their series against Eastern Michigan on Sunday at noon. Wofford visits on Tuesday at 4, and Presbyterian (5-6) visits Clemson on Wednesday at the same time.

Clinton High bounced back on Saturday with 13-3 victory over Silver Bluff after falling, 5-3, on Friday to South Aiken as the high-school season opened in Greenwood at Emerald’s tournament.
Camden Finley had two of the Red Devils’ four hits in the opener.
Owen Glenn tripled and scored four runs against Silver Bluff. Luke Young and Finley each had two hits. Clinton scored four runs in the third inning and seven more in the fourth.

Words can ill express my appreciation for the assistance I’ve been getting from lifelong friends and acquaintances in regard to my recent health struggles. I am deeply touched at the concern of people I’ve known for most of my life.
The coming months will bring more change, and I don’t know yet what shape it will take.

From time to time, I have thought it a shame that people don’t often know what others think of them while they are alive. I’ve had a rough go of it recently, but I know that others respect, appreciate and support me.
Thanks for reading my stories, overlooking my flaws and indulging our differences.
My books, most of them fiction, are available at Amazon and on other bookseller sites. I’ve written two novels about stock-car racing, Lightning in a Bottle, and the sequel, Life Gets Complicated, both about fictional young driver Barrie Jarman.
Thanks for putting up with me.