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ROCK HILL, SC— The Winthrop men's basketball team looks for its third straight win as it hosts North Carolina Central, Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. at the Winthrop Coliseum.

The Eagles (6-5) are winners of four of their last five games with the only loss coming at #7 Ohio State. They are also above .500 after 11 games for the first time since the 2006-07 season in which the team started 8-3.

Winthrop is coming off a 50-43 victory at home over Hampton, a game in which it ended the game on an 8-0 run to secure the win.

With Big South Conference play gearing up at the end of the week, Winthrop has one last non-conference (other than the BracketBuster opponent) contest as it takes on North Carolina Central for the first time in school history.

The Eagles hope to continue their winning ways and enter league play playing good basketball.

Defense has been a key to the recent success as the team is allowing just 55.6 points per game in the last five and holding opponents to 34 percent shooting. Opponents are only shooting 23 percent behind the arc.

One of the keys to the recent success has been the balance of scoring the Eagles have gotten. Early on in the season sophomore Derrick Henry consistently led the team in scoring and a few nights was the only player in double-figures and head coach Pat Kelsey noted the team needed more balance to be successful. It seems the players have heard his call loud and clear.

During the last five games Winthrop has three players averaging in double-figures led by junior Joab Jerome's 11.2 points while Henry is averaging 10.8 points and Gideon Gamble is scoring at 10.4 per game. Over the last five games there have been six different players to reach double-figures at least once.

Gamble has scored 13 points in each of the last two games and got the Eagles off to a good start as he opened up the scoring with two threes against Hampton.

The bench has been productive over the last three games with an average of 20.1 points. Christian Farmer is averaging 8.3 points per game in his last four games played and is 9-for-20 behind the arc in that stretch.

The Eagles have also hit the boards relentlessly and have a 37.2-35.8 advantage over opponents in the last five games, including outrebounding #7 Ohio State (the first team to do so against OSU at that point and just the second team to do so all season).

North Carolina Central makes its first ever visit to the Winthrop Coliseum with a 6-7 record on the year and coming off a competitive loss at Marquette on Dec. 29.

NCCU has lost three of the last four games after winning two of three games. Three of the team's last four games have been on the road, where they picked up a 73-67 victory at Utah Valley.

Offensively the Eagles are averaging 68.1 points per game and have also been tough defensively allowing just 61.2 points.

So far this season the Eagles have played six road games and are allowing 70 points per game with four of the six teams scoring 70 or more.

Junior Jeremy Ingram leads the team in scoring at 16.1 points per game and is coming off a 20-point performance at Marquette. Junior Stanton Kidd had 19 points against Marquette and is averaging 14.8 points per game and 7.0 rebounds. Senior Ray Willis also averages double-figures at 12.2 points.

NCCU shoots the ball well at 44 percent, 33 percent behind the arc and 74 percent (ranked 42nd nationally) from the foul line. Willis is one of four players that have attempted 40 or more free throws and leads the team at 88 percent. Ingram is shooting 79 percent at the line and Kidd shoots 77 percent.

Winthrop is 9-9 all-time against the current members of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and has lost six of the last eight meetings with schools from the MEAC.