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ROCK HILL, SC--Central Penn provided Winthrop with the right prescription on Saturday afternoon as the Eagles shot a season-high 62 percent and placed six players in double figures en route to a 107-68 victory, their first win of the season.

Winthrop improves to 1-5 on the year as it now prepares for two Big South Conference road games next week at Presbyterian College on Thursday and Gardner-Webb on Saturday.  Central Penn is now 4-6 overall and 0-2 against Big South schools after losing at Radford on Nov. 16.   The Winthrop win was huge as it kept this Eagle team from becoming the first to ever start the season at 0-6.

The Eagles were led in scoring by Reggie Middleton with 19, followed by Andre Jones with 17; Derrick Henry, 15; Andre Smith, 13; Shola Diop, 12; and George Valentine with 10. Henry and Diop scored all of their points in the second half and did not miss a field goal as the pair combined to connect on 11 of 11 shots.  Central Penn was led by Devon Dorsey with 15 points.

The 107 points are the most by Winthrop since they put up 109 against VMI on Jan. 31, 2007.

"The bottom line is we needed a home game," said Winthrop head coach Randy Peele.  "We haven't been home in two weeks and have played a very tough schedule. When we made out the schedule we thought this would be a good time to play a non-Div. I opponent.  I thought we came out a little sluggish, but what I was most concerned with coming into the game was what our confidence level would be, but it was good.  After the game, it was very business-like in the locker room.  No one was jumping through hoops." he said.  "The first thing we talked about after the game was Presbyterian on Thursday and Gardner-Webb on Saturday." 

Central Penn, a Div. II member of the U.S. Collegiate Athletic Association, kept the game close for the first 17 minutes as they trailed Winthrop 37-32 with 3:12 left in the opening period when Gameel Strange scored on a layup after making a steal on the defensive end. Winthrop called a quick timeout and when play resumed the complexion of the game changed abruptly.  Winthrop scored on a follow shot by George Valentine to go ahead by seven and then swarmed the Knights with a full court press that led to three turnovers and seven missed shots by Central Penn.  The Eagles went on a 19-3 run to end the half with a commanding 56-35 lead that killed any hopes that Central Penn had for an upset.

The Knights scored first in the second half on a jumper by Leonard Chester, but Winthrop responded with a 19-5 run over the the next five minutes and 55 seconds to take a 33-point lead at 75-42 with 13:26 left to play when Henry connected on a 3-pointer. Central Penn cut the deficit to 29 at 82-53 with 10:04 remaining after Kevin Davis converted a three-point play, but Winthrop went on another run outscoring the Knights 18-4 to hit the century mark with a 100-57 lead when Diop scored on a follow of a missed shot.  The 6-9 Diop scored 12 points on 6 of 6 shooting from the floor in just over five minutes of action in the second half. 

Peele was very pleased with the play of Henry and Diop.  "Derrick is a natural born scorer and Shola played incredibly well and one of his baskets was probably a 10 on the scale of difficulty.  He's a guy that we've been trying to play more because of his size."

Winthrop finished the night shooting 62.2 percent on 46 of 74 field goals.  The Eagles were 6 of 14 from behind the 3-point line.  The only negative came at the free throw stripe where they finished 9 of 22.  Winthrop's defense limited the Knights to 32.8 percent shooting from the floor (21-64) and 5 of 21 from long distance (23.8 pct.).  The taller Eagles dominated the boards 54-30 with Valentine leading the way with nine.  Dorsey led Central Penn with seven.

The Eagles will travel to PC on Thursday  for a 7 p.m. tip off.