By MONTE DUTTON

Would’ve. Could’ve. Should’ve.

Presbyterian (14-17, 7-9 Big South) outshot the Eagles (.463-.368) and outrebounded them (39-36).

Presbyterian went cold down the stretch and fell, 74-70, to Winthrop (21-10, 13-3) in the final regular-season men’s basketball game on Saturday at Winthrop Coliseum.

The Blue Hose missed seven of their last eight shots after leading, 70-69, on Jonah Pierce’s layup with 1:59 remaining.

Pierce, a senior from Sanford, Fla., led PC with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Presbyterian hit only 1/13 three-pointers and committed 13 turnovers to the Eagles’ sen.

“I was very proud of their effort,” head coach Quinton Ferrell said. “They wanted to win very badly, and it wasn’t from any lack of effort that they came up short.

“They next climb that gets them to the top is going to be the hardest thing they’ve ever done. Just effort and planning is not going to be enough to be the program we want to be. Now the execution and discipline have to kick in.”

PC had three double-figure scorers paced by Pierce. Carl Parrish went 9/9 from the free-throw line on his way to 19 points. Triston Wilson rounded out Presbyterian’s double-figure scorers with 12 points. Jaylen Peterson paired eight points with nine rebounds.   

The Blue Hose return on Friday at 8:30 p.m. the quarterfinals of the Big South Conference Tournament against the Radford Highlanders (16-15, 9-7) at Freedom Hall Civic Center in Johnson City, Tenn.

Presbyterian lost its last three regular-season by a total of 12 points. Last season the Blue Hose, also 7-9 in conference play, lost in overtime, 74-69, in the first round. It’s a long shot to win the tournament, but stranger things have happened.

“We have to benefit from the lessons we’ve learned from the regular season,” Ferrell said.

Take a look at the stats here.

Winning the women’s bracket would be significantly stranger.

Presbyterian (3-26, 1-15) played its final game of the regular season on Saturday afternoon, suffering an 89-57 defeat to Longwood (20-9, 11-5) at Templeton Center.

Before the game, the Blue Hose honored three players for Senior Day: Aminata, Shelby Fiddler and Morgan Boyd.

Longwood shot .460 from the field and forced 36 Blue Hose turnovers Daniela Velez led the team with 17 points on 7/11 shooting. Her 17 points and seven made field goals are career highs.

Krystal Haddock and Yolanda Floyd scored 12 apiece. Floyd’s 12 points were a career high. The Blue Hose forced 20 Longwood turnovers and recorded 10 steals.

Malea Brown led the Highlanders with 19 points. Radford forced 36 turnovers and collected 26 steals.

Take a look at the stats here.

Forced to delay an extra 24 hours in beginning the Mercer Invitational due to weather complications, the Presbyterian College softball team proved that the wait was more than worth it by shutting out both Columbia (8-0) and Tennessee State (4-0) on Saturday afternoon.

Taking their winning streak to four games while allowing only three combined hits, the Blue Hose were nearly perfect on the defensive end and never committed a single error over 12 innings.

This is the first time since February of 2023 that Presbyterian has won via shutout in back-to-back meetings (IUPUI and Appalachian State were the opponents back then).

PC’s offensive numbers were more than enough to get the Saturday sweep, as freshman Cierra Grice and senior Molly Mattas each homered.

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