Box Score
WinthropPhotos.com
ROCK HILL, SC – The Winthrop men's basketball team was unable to stall the hot-shooting Rams of Virginia Commenwealth Saturday as the Eagles fell 90-54 inside the Winthrop Coliseum.
Winthrop (1-1) took the first two points of the game and VCU followed with a 14-2 run to get its offense going. The Eagles got a quick bucket and then a steal and a layup to get back within six which excited the Winthrop faithful, but it was short-lived as VCU quickly turned the tempo back up.
The Rams (2-1) shot just shy of 60 percent in the first half, holding as much as a 25-point cushion over Winthrop. The Eagles didn't have a terrible offensive performance, knocking down 43 percent of their shots, but Winthrop's 12 turnovers were costly, turning into 19 Ram points.
“Everything they wanted to do they did in the first half,” head coach Pat Kelsey said. “You always have to give your opponent respect, but you never want to give them too much and that's what we did in the first half.”
The Eagles came out with a new spark to start the second half, grabbing the first eight points of the half and cutting the VCU lead down to 14 with 18:41 to play. Winthrop had a chance to get close but were called for a charge on the offensive end followed by a block on the end which took some wind out of the Eagles.
“To start the second half we played with a fearlessness that was missing in the first half,” Kelsey said. “We started getting key defensive stops and that led to big plays on offense to get us back in the game.”
The two teams traded buckets for the next eight minutes and Winthrop was able to stay within striking distance. James Bourne's free throw with 10:49 remaining brought the Eagles within 15, but then the Eagles went cold, not scoring for the next 5:51 while the Rams went on a 19-0 run to open up a 34-point lead before taking the contest 90-54.
Derrick Henry led the Eagles with 23 points on 6-for-15 shooting from the floor including going 4-for-8 from beyond the arc. James Bourne was the leading rebounder for the Eagles with eight boards.
Winthrop shot 36 percent from the field including 33 percent from three-point range. The Eagles converted 70.6 percent of their attempts from the charity stripe. VCU shot 54.5 percent from the field including 52 percent from beyond the arc.
The Eagles will return home on Tuesday when they host Division II opponent Lenoir-Rhyne University. The tip against the Bears is slated for 7 p.m.
