Box Score Box Score

KALAMAZOO, MI--Winthrop finished its game at Western Michigan in a flourish, but the Eagles came up short in more ways than one in a 60-55 non-conference loss Tuesday night.

The Eagles fall to 4-8 while WMU improves to 4-7 as the Broncos won their fourth straight game thanks to a decided size advantage against Winthrop. Western Michigan dominated the boards 41-29 as 6-9, 290-lb center Matt Stainbrook pulled down 14 rebounds.

"Their size bothered us," said Winthrop head coach Randy Peele. "They are just big! We battled but it was just hard to do anything inside against their big guys."

Winthrop trailed by two points at intermission, 25-23, but came out in the second half to score the first two baskets on a bucket inside by George Valentine and a 3-pointer by Andre Smith to put Winthrop up 28-25 with 18:33 left in the game. After the Eagles took the 28-25 lead, it went nine straight possessions and more than eight minutes without a field goal and opened the door for WMU to overtake them. It was during this drought that WMU reclaimed the lead, 35-29, with 12:00 left in the game. WMU eventually took its largest lead of the game, 48-36, with 5:50 left in the game as Mike Douglas converted three-of-four free throws.

Over the next 4:37 Winthrop outscored the Broncos 13-4 to get within three points after a tip-in by Joab Jerome. On Winthrop's next possession Andre Jones was fouled going to the basket by Stainbrook with 21 seconds left in the game and then Stainbrook was slapped with a technical foul that sent Jones to the foul line where he made 3-of-4 free throws to bring the Eagles to within two points, 54-52. Winthrop fouled Douglas on the inbounds pass and he went to the line and converted both foul shots to put the Broncos up by four with 20 ticks left on the clock. Jones' jumper from the right corner rimmed out with 10 seconds left. WMU Austin Richie grabbed the rebound, was fouled with eight seconds left, and made two free throws to put the Broncos up 58-52. Reggie Middleton, with four seconds left, drilled a 3-pointer to bring Winthrop to within three, but the Eagles were forced to foul again on the inbounds pass sending Richie to the line again where he sealed the game by making both foul shots with three seconds left.

Jones and Middleton, the leading scorers on the year for Winthrop, had tough shooting nights as they combined for 4-of-21 field goal shooting. Jones did reach double figures for the 12th time this season as he finished with a team-high 13 points. Valentine scored eight and grabbed five rebounds to become the 11th player in Winthrop history to reach 500 rebounds for his career.

For the game, Winthrop shot 18-of-53 (34 pct.) from the floor, including 7-of-22 from behind the arc. The Eagles defense held WMU to 37 percent shooting on 18-of-49 field goals. The Broncos connected on 5-of-22 three-pointers, but their performance from the free throw line played a major role in the outcome as did the rebounding advantage. Western Michigan connected on 19-of-22 free throws compared to 12-of-16 for the Eagles.

Winthrop will now take a 7-day break for Christmas before closing out its four-game road swing at Georgia on Dec. 27.