Box Score

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ROCK HILL, SC— The Winthrop men's basketball team lost its second straight contest as it fell 74-61 to High Point, Saturday afternoon at the Winthrop Coliseum. It was the Big South Conference opener for both teams.

Winthrop falls to 6-7 overall and is now 0-1 in the league while High Point improved to 6-7 and is 1-0 in the Big South. The Eagles are now 11-17 all-time in league openers while the Panthers improve to 10-4 in openers.

After a first half that saw the Eagles lead for the majority and just two lead changes, the second half started off back-and-forth as there were seven lead changes in the first eight minutes. There ended up being 11 total lead changes and five ties in the game.

The game got away from the Eagles midway through the second half as High Point used a 13-0 run over a three minute span to build an 11-point advantage, 55-44. Derrell Edwards played a huge role in the run as he knocked down three triples to spark the run, his only three baskets of the game. High Point entered the game attempting just 15 threes a game and making just 4.1 but came away with a season-high eight on the day (8-for-19).

“Obviously it's disappointing,” said Winthrop head coach Pat Kelsey. “First and foremost I gotta to give a ton of credit to High Point. They were the better team today. They were the tougher team today. They played harder, with more energy and they executed better. That's a reflection on the job they did preparing. They had 14 offensive rebounds and the guy that taught me to coach says there's no statistic more indicative of how hard a team plays than their ability to crash the offensive glass. Offensive rebounds, that's a hustle statistic and obviously they out rebounded us on the offensive glass.”

High Point had just five second chance points in the first half, but outworked the Eagles in the second half on the glass and scored 11 of their 16 second chance points to help earn the double-digit win on the road.

Five players scored in double-figures for the Panthers led by Allan Chaney and Adam Weary's 13 points. Both also pulled down eight rebounds apiece as the Panthers dominated the glass 46-31. Devante Wallace added 11 points while Dejuan McGaughy and John Brown each had 10.

Winthrop never could get back in the game as shots wouldn't fall and High Point continued to make shots. During the point of the game when the Panthers made their run and after, they connected on four straight three-pointers.

Of the Eagles 17 points over the final 10 minutes, 10 of them were from the foul line as they were 3-for-11 from the field.

Winthrop led 29-26 at the break thanks to 12 first half points from Gamble, who was 5-for-7 from the field and 2-for-2 behind the arc as the Eagles shot 46 percent as a team in the first 20 minutes. High Point shot 39 percent from the floor in the first half.

The first five minutes of the game were even before Winthrop went up five points, 12-7, after a jumper in the lane by Larry Brown and a dunk by Steve Johnson in transition off a nice feed from Joab Jerome. With just under nine minutes in the half, Winthrop built its largest lead of six points after a three-point play by James Bourne.

Gideon Gamble gave the Eagles a six-point lead at 23-17 at the 7:49 mark with his second three of the game. High Point worked its way back to a 23-21 deficit with 5:13 left after back-to-back baskets in the lane but the Eagles didn't relinquish the lead.

Winthrop ended up shooting 40 percent for the game and was led by Gamble's 14 points while Jerome added 13 and Bourne tied his career-best of 10 points. High Point finished at 42 percent from the field.

“All you can do when you have a disappointing game like this and you don't play the way that you hope you play is you go back to work,” added Kelsey. “You keep chopping wood and we're a team that prides ourselves on trying to stay consistent through ups and downs, good times and bad. We had a nice little run where we were playing very well and we gotta go back to doing what we do and the basics and just having an unbelievable practice on Monday. We'll get back after it and get ready to play a very, very good Charleston Southern team.”

Winthrop will hit the road for its next two contests starting with Charleston Southern on Wednesday, Jan. 9 at 7:30 p.m. High Point will be back in action on Wednesday when it travels to Radford, VA to take on the Highlanders at 7 p.m.