Box Score Box Score
ROCK HILL, SC--Winthrop snapped a two-game losing streak and handed Coastal Carolina its third straight Big South Conference loss with a 67-57 victory on Saturday afternoon at the Winthrop Coliseum.
The win also broke a two-game skid to the Chanticleers who swept the series last year. The two teams will not face one another this year unless they meet in the championship tournament due to the unbalanced schedule format that the league used this season. Winthrop improves to 11-16 overall and 8-8 in the Big South while Coastal, the two-time regular season Big South champions, drops to 17-8 and 10-5.
Winthrop put three players in double figures as
Andre Jones led all scorers in the game with 15 while
George Valentine had 13 and
Matt Morgan added 12. Coastal, which was playing without the services of two starters, Kierre Greenwood and Danny Nieman, was led by Sam McLaurin with 12 while Dexter Moore had 10. The Eagles held the team's leading scorer Anthony Raffa to 7 points.
The Eagles fell behind 9-3 to start the game as Moore scored five of those points. Winthrop then went on a 11-2 run over a four-minute period to go ahead 14-11 with 11:15 left in the first half. Morgan started the run with a baseline jumper and then following a bucket by Chris Gradnigo, Jones answered with a layup and a 3-pointer and
Gideon Gamble connected on a deep three at the 12:12 mark. Valentine closed the run with a free throw.
Coastal answered by outscoring the Eagles 7-0 to go ahead 18-14 as Raffa scored on back-to-back 15-foot jumpers. Middleton made it a two-point game as he scored on a layup and then
Joab Jerome tied the contest at 18-18 with a couple of free throws with 9:01 left in the period. Jones put Winthrop ahead to stay at 20-18 with a jumper and that would be as close as Coastal would get the remainder of the game.
Over the final 5 minutes and 30 seconds of the first half and through the opening 5 minutes of the second half, Winthrop outscored Coastal 23-6 to take a comfortable 47-28 lead heading into the final 15 minutes of the game. The Eagles led 39-28 at halftime thanks to five points in the last three seconds.
Andre Jones nailed a trey to make it 37-28 and then on the ensuing possession Coastal stepped inbounds before throwing the pass and gave the ball back to the Eagles with 1.5 seconds remaining. Morgan took a quick pass in the lane and knocked down a 10-footer to put the Eagles up by 11. Jones scored 10 of his 15 points in the first half despite being hounded defensively by Coastal's "box and 1" strategy.
Winthrop's defense held Coastal scoreless for the first 5:09 of the second half. Winthrop stretched the lead to as many as 22 points at 59-37 with 7:25 left in the game when
Reggie King converted two free throws. The Eagles still led by 21 at 64-43 with 2:42 on the clock, but got outscored 14-3 in the final 2:20.
A key in the game was Winthrop's play on the boards. The Eagles outscored the league's top rebounding team 38-34 behind the effort of Morgan and Jones who grabbed 8 each to tie Coastal's McLaurin and Gradnigo for game-high honors. The Eagles also limited the Chanticleers to 42 percent shooting from the floor (22-52) as they came in averaging 49 percent. Winthrop went 22 for 58 (38 pct.), but knocked down 7 threes in 18 attempts compared to 3 of 11 for Coastal. Winthrop also outscored the Chants 16-10 from the free throw line.
Winthrop will be back in action on Tuesday night when it hosts Presbyterian College on Senior Night. Game time is set for 7 p.m. as Middleton, Jones, Valentine and Morgan will be honored before the game. Coastal returns home on Tuesday night to host league-leading UNC Asheville at 7 p.m.
