BOILING SPRINGS – Winthrop opened the second half on a 13-2 run and cruised to a 65-45 win over Gardner-Webb Saturday night at Paul Porter Arena.

The Eagles (9-10, 5-4 Big South) led just 26-24 at the break after a sluggish offensive half for both teams.

Center Andy Buechert scored four of the Eagles’ first eight points out of the break, putting the visitors up 34-24 with 17:14 to play on a layup underneath. That lead quickly stretched to 13 points after a steal and dunk by Robbie Dreher with 15:44 to play, and Gardner-Webb (6-13, 3-6 Big South) would not be able to mount a considerable rally.

GWU did cut the lead to five points, 42-37, on a driving layup by Jonathan Moore with 9:55 to play, but Winthrop shook off a brief offensive nap to go back up by 11 points, 53-42, with 4:01 to play on a runner from Dreher. Gardner-Webb would score just three more points the rest of the way, as the Eagles pulled away for good.

Reggie Middleton led all scorers with 17 points, including an important 12 of the Eagles’ 26 points in the first half. Dreher added 15 points, Charles Corbin scored 11 and Buechert had six to pace the Eagles – who shot just 40.7 percent for the game (22-of-54), but made five treys and held a 41-31 edge on the glass.

Moore led Gardner-Webb with 11 points, Auryn MacMillan had nine and both C.J. Hailey and Joshua Henley had eight. Henley added a game-high 12 rebounds for the ‘Dogs, who could not find any offensive rythym in the game – shooting just 36.5 percent (19-of-52) and missing nine of 10 three-point attempts. The ‘Dogs suffered a 10-point deficit at the free throw line (16-6) and scored only two points via the fast break.

Gardner-Webb will be back in action on Thursday night at 7:00 pm ET against defending Big South champion Radford.