Box Score Box Score
ST. THOMAS, USVI--So far this season Winthrop seems to bring out the best in its opponents' long distance shooting.  That was the case once again on Monday afternoon as the Drexel Dragons connected on 11 three-pointers en route to a 68-45 win over the Eagles in their final game of the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam.

The loss drops Winthrop to 0-5 while Drexel, the preseason favorite to win the Colonial Athletic Association title, evens its record at 2-2.

Drexel came into the contest connecting on just 18 percent from behind the 3-point arc,  but came out firing from the outset and connected on three treys in the opening six minutes and 21 seconds to take a 14-1 lead and the Dragons were never seriously threatened thereafter by the Eagles.  Drexel finished the game connecting on 11 of 23 long range shots (52.4 pct.) and finished the game with an overall shooting percentage of 48 percent (23-48).  Winthrop, with the exception of Andre Jones, had trouble shooting the ball the entire game and finished at 37 percent (17-46).  Jones bolstered that figure with his 7 for 13 performance as he finished the game as Winthrop's only double figure scorer with 18 points. 

Reggie Middleton, who was coming off a career-tying 26-point effort against Drake, had a tough day as he connected on just one of 13 field goals and finished with four points.

Drexel placed four players in double figures led by point guard Frantz Massenat who scored 23 and connected on 6 of 8 field goals from behind the arc.  Samme Givens and Derrrick Thomas had 12 each while Dartaye Ruffin came off the bench to score 10.

Following the game, Winthrop head coach Randy Peele was not pleased with his team's defensive effort.  "It will be fixed," he said.  "We need to work on attention to detail and doing a better job of guarding the ball and handling dribble splits."

After falling behind 29-12 on a Massenat 3-pointer with 6:57 left in the first half, Winthrop ran off 10 unanswered points to cut the deficit to seven points with 1:42 remaining in the half.  Middleton started the run with two free throws, followed by a layup by Larry Brown, back-to-back buckets by Jones, and a layup by Matt Morgan.  The Eagles had two chances to make it a five point game, but had a turnover and missed layup.  Drexel closed the half out with a layup by Givens with four seconds on the clock.

Winthrop was never able to make a run in the second half as it quickly fell behind 39-25 in the opening 2:24 when Ruffin scored on a tip-in.  Drexel built the lead to as many as 25 points at 63-38 with five minutes left and then cruised the final minutes as the Dragons emptied their bench.  

Regarding the offense, Peele said, "We are playing hard, but we are not playing with purpose.  We need to stay with our stuff on offense in order to get better shots.  What we are doing is going to get better.  We certainly aren't going to scrap what we do, but we are going to work harder to make what we are doing get better."

Winthrop will return home Saturday afternoon to host Central Penn at 4 p.m.