CLINTON, S.C. ? A first-half eruption behind the three-point line by the Presbyterian College men's basketball team helped the home team knock off visiting Gardner-Webb in a critical Big South Conference match-up Wednesday evening by a 72-60 score.

The Blue Hose improve to 8-11 on the season and 5-3 in Big South play while the Bulldogs drop to 8-10 on the year and 4-4 against conference competition.

Bryan Bostic connected for 19 points, 14 of which came in the first half, to pace the winning squad. He led a contingent of Blue Hose players that reached double figures as Josh Johnson was near perfect, hitting for 16 points. Travis Sligh netted 15 while Al'Lonzo Coleman added 14. Coleman recorded his second straight double-double performance after pulling down a game-high 17 rebounds.

Coleman dropped home a free throw to open the scoring at the 18:26 mark and Johnson drained a deep three-pointer 3:09 into the contest for a 4-0 lead. Just over three minutes later, the Blue Hose had widened the margin to eight, gaining a 12-4 advantage on Pierre Miller's three-ball.

It was a sign of things to come as four of PC's first five shots made were from behind the arc en route to a 17-8 lead at the 11:40 mark. The three-point barrage continued for the Blue Hose as Bostic's three-point shot made the lead 14 at 9:39 in the half.

After the teams traded buckets, Johnson's shot from downtown gave PC its largest lead of the night at 29-14 with a tick under seven minutes to play in the half. The Bulldogs sliced the deficit to nine with 6:03 to go, but the Blue Hose held the team off in the stanza, taking a 13-point advantage into intermission after Sligh connected on two foul shots to close the half.

In the second half, GWU cut the margin to eight after embarking on 9-4 run to start the half, most of which came at the free throw line. The Blue Hose did an outstanding job of challenging the three-point attempts, but made contact after the release on a couple of shots, allowing the visitors to hit five charity tosses in the first 2:15 of the period.

The Bulldogs slowly chipped away at the lead, pulling within seven, 54-47, with 9:17 to go on a lay-up by Jonathan Moore. A minute later, Sligh slashed to the bucket and dropped through a tough shot and connected on a free throw for an old-fashioned three-point play.

GWU wasn't done, cutting the margin to five with 4:19 to go, but Coleman's lay-up propelled a 10-0 run by head coach Gregg Nibert's squad over the next 2:44, which essentially put the game out of reach. The Bulldogs eventually dropped back, deciding not to foul, assuring PC would get the win.