Thrilling First Day in the Big South

The Big South tournament marched on Tuesday evening with a pair of match ups that did not disappoint. The first match up featured a struggling Campbell Camels squad, who were the third seed from the North, and the sixth seed from the South the Presbyterian Blue Hose.

Although this was the biggest seeding differential of the day, Presbyterian has been a scrappy squad all year and just won't quit on their season. That perseverance was certainly exhibited Tuesday when the Blue Hose found themselves down 35-22 at halftime.

PC is known for their slow pace of play, so being down 13 at the half was a tall order for Gregg Nibbert's squad. The Blue Hose was able to storm back behind a 19 point effort from Khalid Mutakabbir and tied the game at 67 at the end of regulation.

The Blue Hose finally ran out of gas in OT, as the Camels pulled away for a 81-73 victory and earned a match up with Gardner-Webb on Thursday. Trey Freeman, who has been carrying the Camels since Darren White left with injury in January, had another stellar night scoring 22 points and adding 5 assists.

The second game of the evening, was the most controversial coming into the tournament since it was originally scheduled for the afternoon but was moved so the host, Coastal Carolina, could play in primetime.

Apparently all the talk about home court advantage didn't really matter as the Liberty Flames throttled the favored Chanticleers 78-61. Davon Marshall had a fantastic game with 28 points and six rebounds.

It was the second win of the year for Liberty against Coastal and now the Flames will move on to play High Point, a team that will be playing without their best player John Brown.

The most interesting thing about the first day of the tournament in Myrtle Beach is that three coaches came in on the hot seat (Robbie Laing (CU), Dale Layer (Lib), and Mike Gillian (Longwood)) and now those seats may be a lot cooler.