Box Score
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ROCK HILL, SC— Sophomores Derrick Henry and Andre Smith hit back-to-back threes with just under four minutes remaining to lift Winthrop to its second straight win as it defeated Hampton 50-43, Sunday afternoon at the Winthrop Coliseum.

Winthrop led the first 15 minutes and 54 seconds of the game when a jumper at the free throw line by Emmanuel Okoroba put Hampton in front 43-42. The lead was short lived as Henry answered on the ensuing possession as he stepped up and drained a three from straight on. It was the first basket of the game for Henry as he had missed his first eight shots. Smith stepped up two possessions later as James Bourne worked hard to haul in an offensive rebound and the ball found its way back into Smith's hands and he came off a screen straight away and drained the shot behind the arc.

The Eagles improve to 6-5 on the year and have won four of the last five games while Hampton falls to 2-9 on the year and has dropped two straight.

“Derrick was 1-for-9 from the field and he's our leading scorer and we count on him to put the ball in the basket,” said Winthrop head coach Pat Kelsey. “But you know a lot of guys shy away from that big shot when they're not having a good shooting night. But he stepped up and made a big one when we needed it.”

Henry finished the night 1-for-9 from the field and with six points and two assists. Gideon Gamble finished with a game-high 13 points and recorded his first career double-double as he snagged a career-best 10 rebounds.

Winthrop led by eight points with 12:20 to play in the game at 38-30 before both teams went cold from the field and failed to record a point over the next 10 combined possessions Larry Brown was whistled for a flagrant-2 foul and was ejected from the game at the 9:44 mark. Ramon Mercado stepped up to take the technical free throws as he knocked down one-of-two. Hampton retained possession of the ball, but the Eagles forced a turnover and kept the Pirates from possibly making it a 4-5 point possession.

That moment still got the Pirates going as they battled back to tie the game at 38-38 with an 8-0 run capped off by a Jasper Williams triple.

The Eagles pushed their lead back to four points with 5:09 left after Smith knocked down a jumper forcing a timeout by Hampton. The Pirates came out of the timeout and scored on a Du'Vaughn Maxwell jumper and he was fouled and completed the three-point play. At that point Winthrop lost its second post player of the game as Steve Johnson fouled out. Hampton forced a turnover on the other end and took the lead on the Okoroba jumper at the foul line. It was the last point the Pirates scored as the Eagles defensive clamped down.

“Obviously it wasn't a thing of beauty or a work of art by any stretch of the imagination unless you're a guy that likes to watch tractor pulls,” said Kelsey. “But I told our guys when you take pride in getting defensive stops, when you take pride in being a team that has a defensive identity which I think the 13 guys in that locker room have you can withstand games like that. A lot of times when you're not scoring the ball it affects your energy on the defensive end. Holding them to 24 percent from the field, I think that's reflective of a tough defensive effort and I'm proud of our guys in that regard.”

Winthrop jumped out to an early 10-1 lead behind back-to-back threes from Gamble to start the scoring. Joab Jerome made a pull up jumper in the lane for a seven-point advantage and that was followed by a jumper by Johnson for the nine-point lead.

Hampton worked its way back into a four-point deficit with 8:56 left in the half after a couple of triples from Mercado. The Eagles responded with a three-point play from Bourne, who worked his way inside and made a jumper while being fouled and hit the free throw to complete the play for a 19-10 lead. The Eagles led by 12 points with 5:25 to play in the half after Jerome scored on a reverse lay-up in transition, forcing a timeout by the Pirates.

After the timeout by Hampton, it finished the half on a 10-1 run to cut the Eagles lead to just 24-21 at the break. The run was sparked by five points from Price and Mercado's third three of the half.

Winthrop shot just 33 percent from the floor in the first half and missed its final six shots of the half as Gamble paced the team with eight points. Hampton's bench played a huge role in the first half accounting for 17 of the 21 points. Mercado came off the bench for nine first half points.

Jerome also finished in double-figures with 10 points as he added six rebounds and two assists. Bourne added six points and pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds.
Mercado led Hampton with 10 points as he paced a bench that had 20 of the team's 43 points in the game. Okoroba added nine points and seven rebounds while Williams had eight points and three assists.

It was a game that featured two defensive minded teams as the Eagles held Hampton to just 24 percent (22 percent in the second half) shooting in the game and won the battle of the boards 52-38. Winthrop shot 33 percent from the floor in the game (33 percent in each half). Winthrop was just 5-for-19 from behind the arc and 7-for-14 at the foul line.  

The Eagles will be back in action in the New Year when they host North Carolina Central on Wednesday, January 2 at 7 p.m. at the Winthrop Coliseum.