Charleston Southern didn’t need style points — it needed a win. The Buccaneers got it Monday, outlasting Gardner-Webb 75-66 to improve to 13-15 on the season and stabilize after a choppy stretch.

Against a Gardner-Webb team that entered 3-25 and in a prolonged slide, Charleston Southern did what it had to do: kept the game from turning into a scramble late and finished possessions well enough to close.

What happened

The story was simple on the scoreboard: Charleston Southern won the night 75-66 and never let the margin slip into the kind of one-possession chaos that can invite an upset. With no quarter-by-quarter splits available, the clearest signal is the final margin — a controlled, nine-point win in a game Charleston Southern consistently kept on its terms.

Turning point

Charleston Southern’s separating stretch came in the closing phase, when the Buccaneers maintained enough offensive pace to prevent Gardner-Webb from stringing together stops and turning the game into a late-possession coin flip. The nine-point cushion at the horn reflected a finish built on steadiness rather than volatility.

Records and form: what it means

The win moved Charleston Southern to 13-15 and offered a needed result after a mixed run (WLWLL entering the game). For Gardner-Webb, now 3-25 and still searching for traction (LLLLL entering the night), the loss reinforced how thin the margin has been all season — even when the score stays within single digits.

Up next

Charleston Southern carries a 75-point outing and a nine-point win forward as it looks to build momentum from a results-driven performance. Gardner-Webb, meanwhile, remains in urgent need of a breakthrough to stop the slide and turn competitive stretches into complete games.