Box Score

LEXINGTON, VA--Reggie Middleton led a second half comeback as Winthrop claimed a 88-82 overtime victory over VMI in the Big South Conference opener on Thursday night victory in Cameron Hall.

The victory improves Winthrop to 4-3 overall while VMI drops to 6-2.  Winthrop is now 13-7 all time in the series against VMI and has won 10 of the last 12 meetings between the two schools.  The Eagles will face Liberty at 7 p.m. on Saturday to close out the two-game road trip. The Flames opened conference play with a 70-61 win over Presbyterian on Thursday night.

Fans who attended the game were expecting a track meet, but what they got was a traditional-style basketball game between the nation's top scoring team in VMI and the conference's perennial defensive leader in Winthrop.  The Eagles held VMI to 34 percent shooting (23-67) and held the Keydets to just 8 of 32 from 3-point distance (25 percent).  VMI was coming off a 151-92 win on Monday night in a game that saw it connect on 21 treys against Div. II Central Pennsylvania.  Winthrop finished the game shooting 38 percent (28-73).  Both teams shot extremely well from the free throw line.  Winthrop was 26 of 32 (81.3 pct.) while VMI was a bit better with 28 of 34 (82.4 pct.).   Winthrop won the rebounding battle 50-42 behind George Valentine's career-high 16 boards.  He finished with 11 points to record his second double-double of the season.

Just when everyone thought Middleton was not going to return to action after leaving the game with a first half injury to the same left leg that had kept him out of the starting lineup, he re-entered the game with the Eagles trailing 42-38 and  14:45 remaining in regulation. He scored 11 points and dished out five of his team-high 8 assists after returning to the court..  

Robbie Dreher and Andre Jones combined for 49 points with Dreher scoring a career-high 28 and Jones finishing with 21.  Dreher scored 13 of Winthrop's 28 points in the first half as the Eagles trailed the Keydets 32-28 at the break.  The Eagles had three other players in double figures as Matt Morgan scored 13 and Valentine joined Middleton with 11.

VMI, which came into the game as the nation's top scoring team with a 99.7 average, did not reach the 70-point mark until Austin Kenon's free throw with 33 ticks left on the clock in regulation.  Kenon, a preseason Big South All-Conference selection finished the night with a game-high 29 points, including a 10-11 performance from the charity line.

Winthrop trailed by as many as nine points at 49-40 with 12:45 left in regulation when it began its comeback.  A layup by Dreher gave the Eagles their first lead since the score was 20-18 as he scored on a baseline drive to give Winthrop a 62-61 lead at the 6:13 mark.  Following two ties and two lead changes, Winthrop reclaimed a lead on a 15-foot jumper by Dreher with 1:27 on the clock to put the Eagles up 70-68. Jones added a free throw 56 seconds later to make the score 71-68, but Kenon was fouled and connected on two shots to cut the Eagles' lead to one point.  Middleton then gave Winthrop a 73-70 lead as he converted two charity tosses with 18 seconds left, but Kenon answered again with a layup six seconds later.  Middleton was fouled and had a chance to push the lead back to three with six seconds left, but made one out of two setting the stage for the game-tying free throws by Keith Gabriel with 4 seconds left.

Winthrop had one last shot to win it in regulation as Middleton took the inbounds pass, drove past mid-court and let a shot go that rattled in and out as the buzzer sounded. In overtime, the Eagles got the tip and drew first blood as Middleton connected on two free throws to give Winthrop a 76-74 advantage.  Dreher followed with a layup to put the Eagles ahead by four with four minutes left in overtime. VMI could get no closer than two the rest of the way.