Posted at 11:00 AM EST. Odds subject to change.

Pinnacle +7 -112 BET365 +7 -110 Sportsinteraction +7 -110 888Sport +7 -110

Nido and Mariana Qubein Arena, High Point, NC

Longwood +7 over High Point

Streaming: ESPN+

12:00 PM EST. Yesterday, we targeted the hosts of this Big South Tournament, the Panthers of High Point, in their quarterfinal matchup with Radford, where the Panthers were an -11-point favorite. On the surface, it was another win and cover for High Point, as it continues to overachieve this season, but a closer look shows that the game was much more hard-fought than the 77-63 final would suggest. Perhaps most significantly, the Panthers went down 18-4 six minutes into that game, before having to claw all the way back. High Point was down 36-34 at halftime before pulling away and keeping Radford at bay late in that game to cover the double-digit spread.

That was the first game of the day at the brand-new Qubein Arena, hotel, and conference at High Point, and later on, the #5 seeded Lancers of Longwood took the court to battle #4 seeded Winthrop for the right to play the top-seeded Panthers this afternoon. That was a very competitive game from gate to wire, with the Lancers scoring the final six points to seal a 69-56 win. With both Longwood and Winthrop shooting well, the charity stripe was where the game was won, with the Lancers going 16-of-18 from the free-throw line, while Winthrop was just 5-of-7.

Perhaps the Panthers were given a proper scare yesterday and will be focused to start this semifinal matchup today, but if they aren’t, Longwood is not Radford, and the Lancers are very capable of hanging around with Longwood, as they proved to close out the regular season when they beat High Point 74-72 in Longwood. The Lancers were a +2½ point underdog in that game -and now, a week later, they are a +7-point pooch today at High Point. That is just too many points for a team with the weight of the world on its shoulders to win this tournament on its home court, especially after having to play from behind the 8-ball yesterday. The pressure cooker gets turned up a little higher today, and if the Panthers respond in kind, so be it, but they take a big step up in competition here and will be hard-pressed to make a fool of a team that is far closer to them in talent than this line would suggest.

Sherwood

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------