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WINSTON-SALEM, NC--The Belmont Bruins jumped on Winthrop early and withstood an early second half run by Winthrop before cruising to a 71-44 win in the final game of the 2010 NIT Season Tip-off held Tuesday afternoon at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Less than 24 hours after knocking off Wake Forest, Winthrop ran into a Belmont team that played like a well-oiled machine on offense and manhandled the Eagles on the boards by the count of 54-36. The 27-point losing margin was the most since Florida defeated Winthrop 74-45 on Dec. 30, 2008. The Eagles are now 2-3 while Belmont, the defending Atlantic Sun Conference champions, improves to 3-1.
Belmont took command early by outscoring the Eagles 14-4 in the in the opening four minutes. Winthrop's defense was the only saving grace in the first half as it held the Bruins to 37.5 percent shooting (15 of 40 overall and 5 o f 20 from 3-point distance), but Belmont still took a commanding 36-21 lead to intermission thanks in large part to its work on the offensive boards where it had 13 second shots.
Winthrop came out in the second half with a purpose and cut the deficit to six points at 36-30 by outscoring Belmont 9-0 in the first 4:06 of the period.
Matt Morgan scored four of his game-high 14 points during that stretch. But Belmont ended any thought of a Winthrop comeback as it went on a 25-5 run over the next nine minutes to take a commanding 61-35 lead with 6:33 left in the game.
Morgan earned a doiuble-double as he grabbed 10 rebounds to go along with his 14 points. He was the only Eagle player to score in double figures with his 14 points Belmont had just one player in double figures as J.J. Mann came off the bench to score 12 points, but the Bruins had 11 players get into the scoring column.
"This Belmont team is outstanding," said Winthrop head coach Randy Peele following the game. "I knew they were a difficult team to play with just one day to prepare. We came here this week and got a split with a quality win last night, but now we just have to move forward."
Winthrop will return home on Saturday to face Div. II Lander at 7 p.m. in the nightcap of a women's and men's doubleheader.
