Box Score Box Score

ROCK HILL, SC--Winthrop snapped a four-game losing streak with a 70-54 Big South Conference home victory over Radford Thursday night as Reggie Middleton set a career-high with 11 assists and the Eagles shot 57 percent from the floor.

Winthrop improves to 5-10 overall and is now even in the Big South at 2-2 while Radford lost its 13th straight game to fall to 3-14 overall and 0-5 in league play. The Eagles dominated the paint throughout the contest as they outscored RU 42-12 and the Winthrop bench outscored Radford's 32-8.

"I thought Reggie Middleton played like a true point guard tonight," said Winthrop head coach Randy Peele.  "He was a pass-first point guard tonight."

After a rocky start that saw Winthrop fall behind 12-4 in the first five minutes, 44 seconds,as Radford connected on three 3-pointers, including two by Kyle Noreen.  After Peele called for a switch in defenses, the Eagles got things rolling offensively and outscored the Highlanders 20-11 over the next 10 minutes to take a  24-23 lead on a baseline jumper by Matt Morgan off one of Middleton's nine first half assists which equalled his previous career best.  The Eagles led 32-26 at halftime as they dominated the inside game outscoring RU 18-2 in the paint. 

Radford stayed within earshot of Winthrop in the opening 3:08 of the second half as it trailed 38-33 after freshman T.J. Price connected on one of his five 3-pointers. He led all scorers in the game with 19, but it wasn't enough to offset a balanced Winthrop attack that featured four players in double digits led by Morgan with 14, which tied his season high set earlier this year in the opener against Eastern kentucky.  Andre Jones extended his streak of double figure games to 17 straight as he finished with 11 points.  George Valentine finished with a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds, and Joab Jerome scored a career-high 10 points. 

Winthrop led by as many as 21 points twice in the final period, with the last lead of 67-46 coming on a layup by Jerome with 2:47 remaining to play. 

Thanks to its domination of the inside game, Winthrop's 57 percent field goals percentage (29-51) marked the first time this season the Eagles have shot better 50 percent against a Div. I opponent.  On the defensive end, Winthrop held Radford to 32.7 percent overall  (17-52) and 33 percent from behind the arc (10-30).  The Eagles also dominated the boards 38-22.

Winthrop will return to action on Saturday when it hosts VMI at 4 p.m.  Jones and Valentine will be recognized prior to tip-off for recently joining the Winthrop 1,000 Point Club and 500 Rebound Clubs, respectively.