By MONTE DUTTON

A hearty band of basketball-playing Blue Hose tacked straight into the coming weather full speed ahead.

At Templeton Center on Wednesday evening, the men’s team withstood a late Charleston Southern rally to defeat the Buccaneers, 87-83. Led by the reliable Jonah Pierce, who scored 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds, five of the seven players Quinton Ferrell sent on court scored in double figures.

Pierce popped 8/12 field-goal attempts and was responsible for three assists and three steals.

Carl Parrish scored 20 points. Josh Pickett had 17 points, Triston Wilson added 12. Jaylen Peterson matched 11 points with 10 rebounds as PC (11-10, 4-2 Big South) won its third game in a row.

“We continue to get better as a team,” Ferrell said. “Every day we try to get one percent better.

“These last few games, we’ve shown improvement. Maybe the game is slowing down for the guys. With time and experience, we’re really getting the hang of what we’re trying to do.”

With 9:38 on the clock, Presbyterian connected on a three from the top of the key, giving the Blue Hose a 62-48 lead. Presbyterian pushed its lead to 15 points a couple of times. With two and a half minutes left in the game, Presbyterian led 78-68 after a free throw from Pickett. Charleston Southern (11-10, 2-4) outscored the Hose,15-8, cutting PC’s lead to 86-83, with two seconds on the clock. Pickett closed out the game with a free throw with one second left.

“Obviously, our defense played pretty well,” said Peterson. “I feel like we could’ve closed it better at the end.

“The energy’s great. We’ve been having great practices. We’ve got to keep going. That’s the plan.

Take a look at the stats here.

Presbyterian senior Pierce is Co-Big South Player of the Week, sharing the award with Radford’s Del Jones.

Pierce, a redshirt from Sanford, Fla., averaged 22 points and 12 rebounds while shooting .621 (18/29) from the field in helping Presbyterian post wins over UNC Asheville at home and Gardner-Webb on the road.In Presbyterian’s 71-70 win over UNC Asheville on Jan. 14, Pierce scored 24 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked three shots)

At Gardner-Webb on Jan. 17, he scored 20 points (9/12 from the field) while grabbing 13 rebounds.

The men’s and women’s programs’ originally scheduled doubleheader at Templeton Center for Saturday has been changed due to the forecast of inclement weather.

The women’s game against Charleston Southern has been moved to Friday evening at 6. The game time for Presbyterian’s men’s basketball team’s game against Winthrop this Saturday has been moved up to 2 p.m.

All fans will receive free admission to both games.

Clinton’s top-ranked girls’ basketball team rolled to its seventh straight victory, trouncing Eau Claire, 58-22.

The Red Devils improved to 19-1, 4-0 in Region 3-2A, while the Shamrocks fell to 2-11 and 1-3.

Clinton, tops in Class 2A, is at home against Mid-Carolina at 6.m. on Friday, followed by the boys’ game at 7:30. Eau Claire, which has lost seven of its last eight, is at home against Columbia.

The Red Devil boys are also atop the Region 3 standings at 4-0 following a 46-29 victory over the Shamrocks. Clinton, 11-8 overall, are led by Nyterian Smith, who averages 14.8 points per game.

Presbyterian College head football coach Matt Rahl hired Caden Coulson as PC’s tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator.

Coulson comes to Clinton from Highland Community College in Kansas. He performed multiple duties there as offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach, offensive line coach, and strength-and-conditioning coach.

Coulson was a student-athlete at Missouri Southern State while Rahl was the associate head coach and offensive Coordinator. Presbyterian will be his third FCS staff since graduation.

“I have known Coach Coulson for a number of years, first as a player, then a student assistant for me. I’ve enjoyed watching his career take off in a short period of time and am extremely excited to add someone with his enthusiasm and work ethic to our staff.

Coulson has also coached at Utah Tech and Northern Arizona.

A native of Dubuque, Iowa, he received his degree from Missouri Southern State in the field of finance.

High Point is preseason baseball favorite by the Big South’s head coaches. In addition, Panthers infielder Landen Johnson (Haubstadt, Ind.) is the conference’s Preseason Player of the Year and Wade Walton (Lithia, Fla.) the Preseason Pitcher of the Year.

The Panthers are the preseason favorite for the third time overall (2017, 2025, 2026).  HPU finished with the conference’s most overall wins last season with 39, and finished second in the league standings at 18-6.  High Point received three first-place votes and 75 total points to win the league title in 2026.

 Defending Big South Champion USC Upstate was second in this year’s preseason poll with 71 points (four first-place votes), while Winthrop finished in the third spot with 60 points (1).  Radford landed in the fourth spot with 51 points and received the remaining first-place nod. Charleston Southern was fifth in the voting with 49 points, while Presbyterian Collegefinished sixth with 35.  Longwood (28), Gardner-Webb (25) and UNC Asheville (11) brought up by the rear.

PC redshirt sophomore Tyrell Williams made the preseason all-conference team as a starting pitcher.

The season begins Friday, Feb. 13, and the first Big South conference weekend is March 13-15. The top six teams in the final conference standings will advance to the Big South Baseball Championship, which will be held May 20-23 at Historic McCormick Field in Asheville, N.C.  The champion receives the Big South’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.

Defending regular-season champion Radford has been voted the favorite in the Big South Conference’s softball poll. League coaches voted USC Upstate outfielder Taliyah Thomas (Iron Station, N.C.) the league’s Preseason Player of the Year, and Radford hurler Dakota Redmon(Stokesdale, N.C.) as the unanimous Preseason Pitcher of the Year. 

The Highlanders received five of the seven first-place votes and 47 of the maximum 49 points to win the conference.  USC Upstate, the two-time defending tournament champion, was second in the balloting with 41 points and collected a first-place vote, while Longwood was third in the poll with 30 points and received the remaining first-place nod.

Winthrop, the Conference Tournament runner-up the past two seasons, finished fourth in the voting with 29 points.  Charleston Southern was fifth with 23 points, followed by Gardner-Webb (14) and Presbyterian (12 points.

The softball season begins Thursday, Feb. 5, while the first conference weekend is scheduled for March 13-15. The 2026 Big South Softball Championship is slated for May 6-9, and the five-team double-elimination postseason tournament will be hosted by USC Upstate in Spartanburg, S.C.

PC had no preseason all-conference honorees.

Much is going on. I’m moving, though not far away for now.  Things should lighten a tad by next week. For now, I apologize for losing in a game of catch-up. I’ll soon have more time to devote to my modest craft.

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