Box Score Box Score

NORTH CHARLESTON, SC--Andre Jones scored 26 points and connected on a career-high 11 field goals, but that was not enough to offset the performances of freshmen Saah Nimley and Arlon Harper who combined for 43 points to lead Charleston Southern to a 77-66 Big South Conference victory over Winthrop on Saturday afternoon at the CSU Fieldhouse.

With Harper bombing away in the first half with three 3-pointers and 13 points, CSU built a 38-30 lead at intermission.  Nimley kept the Eagles at bay in the second half as he scored 20 of his team-high 24 points, which included a 12 for 14 performance from the free throw line.

The loss drops Winthrop, which was playing its fifth game in 10 days,  to 8-13 overall and 5-5 in the conference while CSU improves to 13-7 and 7-3 as they won their third straight league game.  It was the Bucs third straight home win over Winthrop which still leads the overall series 34-22 and has won 24 of the last 27 meetings.

CSU set a faster pace at the game's outset than Winthrop would have preferred as the Buccaneers jumped to a 19-8 lead before the first media timeout occurred.  The closed Winthrop got after that in the first half was six points at 24-18.  With Jones scoring on a variety of drives to the basket for 10 first half points and Gideon Gamble's 7 points off the bench, the Eagles managed to stay within striking distance at halftime despite turning the ball over 13 times and CSU's 63 percent shooting performance (15-24).   The Eagles shot the ball well in the first half thanks to Jones and connected on 52 percent (13-25).

Winthrop came out of the locker room in the second half determined to hold down Harper which it did.  His only field goal in the final period came on an alley oop dunk in the final seconds.  But it was Nimley's 20-point second half performance that prevented the Eagles from making a serious run.  With just over 10 minutes, CSU took its largest lead of the game at 62-44, but over a span of five minutes, Winthrop outscored the Bucs 17-5 to cut the deficit to five points at 67-62.  That would be as close as the Eagles would come.

Winthrop will be in action again on Thursday, Jan. 26, when it hosts Liberty for a 7 p.m. game.  The Eagles defeated the Flames 64-61 in overtime just last Saturday.