Box Score Box Score

ROCK HILL, SC--Despite a tough night shooting the ball, Winthrop led Campbell for all but 99 seconds of the game before losing 54-51 in a Big South Conference battle on Tuesday night.

The loss evens Winthrop's conference record at 4-4 while the Eagles drop to 7-12 overall.  Campbell improves to 6-2 in the Big South and 12-8 overall and leads the series with Winthrop 16-10 as the two teams met for the first time in 13 years.

"Our guys gave a gutsy performance tonight and deserved to win," said Winthrop head coach Randy Peele.  "To hold a very good Campbell team that came in averaging nearly 80 points to 54 and to limit the league's leading scorer to just eight shot attempts and eight total points was an unbelievable effort. But we didn't make shots and when you shoot just 30 percent from the floor and 23 percent from behind the arc, it makes it tough to win."

Winthrop finished the game making just 17 of 57 field goals and were 5 of 22 from long distance.  To make matters harder, the Eagles converted just 12 of 22 free throws and got outrebounded 47-36.  But it was the Eagle defense that kept them ahead for most of the game as it forced Campbell into 18 turnovers that resulted in an 11-2 advantage in points off turnovers.

Andre Jones looked like he was going to have another big scoring night as he had 16 in the first half, but he was unable to connect from the floor in the second half and only had one free throw to his credit as he finished with 17 points and was the only Eagle to reach double figures.  He went 6 of 16 from the field and was 2 of 7 from the three.  On a night when Reggie Middleton was honored before the game for joining the 1,000 Point Club, the senior guard went scoreless for the first time in 75 games going back to Nov. 30, 2009 at Applachian State.

Campbell got 14 points from its big man Eric Griffin who also had a double-double with 11 rebounds.  Lorne Merthie came off the bench to play a key role late in the game and finished with 14 points.  He connected on the go ahead 3-pointer in the final two minutes.  Marvelle Harris pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds for the Fighting Camels.

Winthrop's defense held Campbell which came into the game as one of the nation's top shooting teams to 44 percent (22-50), nearly seven percentage points below their season average.  The Fighting Camels also struggled from the free throw line and made just 5 of 15.

Winthrop jumped out to an early 22-9 lead in the first ten minutes of the game behind the scoring of  Jones who had nine of his team high 17 points during that run.  Winthrop led 31-26 at halftime and were able to maintain the lead until Campbell's Griffin tied the game at 48-48 on a bucket in the paint with 3:38 left in the game. 

The Fighting Camels claimed their first lead on a 3-pointer by Merthie with 1:39 left that made the score 51-48.  Following a 3-point attempt by Jones to tie the game, Merthie was fouled on the rebound and knocked down two free throws with 58 seconds left that gave Campbell a five-point advantage at 53-48.

Winthrop answered with a 3-pointer by Gideon Gamble to cut the deficit to 53-51 with 43 seconds remaining, but Winthrop would not be able to get the big basket at the end after Merthie put Campbell up 54-51 with 17 seconds on the clock by making one of two free throws.  Gamble was able to get off two 3-point attempts in the final 10 seconds, but came up empty.

Winthrop will remain at home on Thursday night when it hosts Gardner-Webb at 7 p.m. as the Eagles look to split the regular season series following a 62-60 road loss on Dec. 3.