Box Score
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ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop used a balanced scoring attack and tough defense to pull off a 62-51 victory over Presbyterian College, Wednesday evening in Big South Conference action at the Winthrop Coliseum.

Winthrop ended its four-game losing streak and improved to 7-9 overall and is now 1-3 in the league. PC falls to 3-15 on the year and 0-4 in the Big South.

With the Eagles holding a 42-38 advantage with 9:24 to play, Winthrop used a 9-0 over the course of a three minute span to open up a 13-point lead. PC answered with a quick five points, but the Eagles didn't fold and pushed the lead to 14 points with 3:10 remaining after a Larry Brown dunk after a blocked shot on the defensive end and the Eagles held on for the win.

“Coming off four consecutive losses, it's nice to get a notch in the win column especially in conference,” said Winthrop head coach Pat Kelsey. “You know we've had several stretches over the last couple weeks in a lot of these games where we have lulls in the second half where our intensity, our defensive intensity wanes and teams go on runs where we don't have an answer. I was very proud that in the first half we held them to 39 percent shooting from the field. In the second half we held them to 37 (percent). From that standpoint I was proud of our guys and proud of their effort.”

Gideon Gamble came off the bench to lead the Eagles in scoring at 12 points as he paced three Eagles in double-figures. Andre Smith added 11 points while Steve Johnson finished with 10.

“We got contributions from a lot of guys so it's exciting to see a win where so many guys contributed,” added Kelsey.

Neither team started well offensively in the second half, but Winthrop did manage to push its lead to nine points, 39-30, with 12:29 to play. PC answered with a three-point play by Jordan Downing as he was fouled after a tip-in and converted on the free throw. The lead extended to nine points again with 11 minutes to play, but another three-point play by the Blue Hose cut the lead to six points. This time it was William Truss working his way into the paint and was fouled as he dropped in a hook shot and then completed the play by knocking down the foul shot.

Winthrop clamped down defensively from the start of the game and raced out to a 15-2 lead, connecting on four threes in its first five shots. Smith got it going early offensively as he knocked down two threes for a 6-2 lead. The lead extended to seven points after Brown came away with a steal in the backcourt and went the distance for the lay-up and the foul as he completed the three-point play. Gamble came off the bench and right away asserted himself offensively as he knocked down two three-pointers to extend the lead to 15-2.

On the other hand, Presbyterian College got off to a slow start as it began 1-for-10 from the field before Khalid Mutakabbir knocked down a three on the wing. The Blue Hose had a couple of shots go in-and-out but finally started to get some to fall as Downing knocked down back-to-back threes to make it a 22-11 lead for Winthrop.

The Eagles pushed the lead to 24-11 before a 7-1 run capped off by Downing's third triple of the half cut the lead to single digits (25-18). After starting 1-for-10, PC went 6-for-9 from the field to work its way back within seven points at the 4:54 mark.

Winthrop led 34-26 at the break after shooting 46 percent from the floor and 55 percent behind the arc. PC shot 39 percent for the half as it finished the final 10 minutes 8-for-13 from the floor and was 4-for-8 behind the arc.

Downing poured in a career-best 26 points as he was 10-for-16 from the field and also finished with eight rebounds. He was the only Blue Hose player in double-figures as Mutakabbir added eight points.

The Eagles are back in action on Saturday as they hit the road to Buies Creek, NC for a 1 p.m. contest against Campbell. The game will be live on ESPN3. Presbyterian College will be back in action on Saturday as well as it returns home to take on Liberty at 7 p.m.