Box Score

ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop junior guard Andre Jones scored 20 points, including his team's first 12 of the game, to lead the Eagles to a 65-46 win over Lander on Saturday night at the Winthrop Coliseum.

The contest was tight for nearly 29 minutes before Winthrop outscored the Bearcats 27-8 over the final 11 minutes.  A 15-0 run fueled by sophomore guard Robbie Dreher was the deciding blow as Winthrop broke out of a 38-38 tie to take a commanding 53-38 lead with 7:49 left to play.  With the win, Winthrop improves to 3-3 while Div. II Lander drops to 3-2.

Dreher finished the game with 12, including 10 in the second half when the Eagles went on its run.  Winthrop finished the night shooting 51 percent (26-51) while holding Lander to 33.3 percent (19-57).  With George Valentine leading the way with 8 rebounds, Winthrop won the battle of the boards 42-27.  The Eagles enjoyed a 24-10 rebounding advantage in the second half.

“We started to rebound the ball better in the second half and that allowed us to get out in transition and get easy baskets,” said Winthrop head coach Randy Peele.  “We actually rebounded the ball better after we switched to zone defense there before the run.”

Playing without starting point guard Reggie Middleton who sat out for precautionary measures after suffering a lower leg injury on Tuesday night, Winthrop found itself in a dogfight from the outset of the game and was never able to pull away from the small and quick Bearcats.  The two teams had met just once during the past 25 years and that game turned out to be a struggle for the Eagles who claimed a 60-58 overtime win in 2001-02 opening game.

With Jones' hot start, Winthrop took a 16-10 lead with 13:37 left in the first half, but Lander battled back to take a 22-20 lead when David Pruett connected on two free throws at the 7:29 mark.  The Eagles then ran off 8 unanswered points to again go ahead by six at 28-22 on a dunk by Matt Morgan. Winthrop went to intermission holding a 30-28 lead.

After being stuck in a 38-38 tie for nearly two minutes Dreher fueled the 15-0 run in less than a three-minute period. Dreher's two free throws followed by his fast break assist to Jones started the run.  Lander to was forced to take its final two timeouts to try and stop the Winthrop outburst.  Dreher and Burton drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to push the lead to 10 at 48-38 with under nine minutes left and Jones scored again off a fast break pass from Dreher.  Dreher then ended the run with another trey from the left corner.

Lander placed two players in double figures as Jermel Kenney scored 12 and Tovi Bailey added 10.

Winthrop hits the road next week as it opens Big South Conference play with a Thursday night game at VMI and a Saturday night contest at Liberty.