Box Score
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N. CHARLESTON, SC— Winthrop overcame an eight-point halftime deficit to take a two-point lead with 13:32 to play in the game but an 11-1 run by Charleston Southern opened the game back up for good as the Eagles fell 75-63, Wednesday night in Big South Conference men's basketball action.

Sophomore Larry Brown scored 10 of his 12 points to spark an Eagles comeback to start the second half as they took a 45-43 lead with 13 and a half minutes to play. Winthrop outscored the Buccaneers 18-7 over that span as Brown converted two three-point plays and his reverse lay-up on the baseline off a feed from Joab Jerome put Winthrop in front and forced a CSU timeout.

Charleston Southern (7-6, 2-0 Big South) responded with five straight points and that sparked the 11-1 run behind three-pointers on three of four possessions for a 54-46 advantage with 10:41 remaining. The Eagles came out of the timeout with an answer as Derrick Henry buried a three in the corner, but Charleston Southern didn't cool off from behind the arc as Saah Nimley answered right back with a three to get the lead back to eight. Another three, this time by Paul Gombwer in the corner, put CSU up 11 after the Eagles turned the ball over on an illegal screen. Henry hit another triple with 8:46 left to try and keep the Eagles within reach. At that point the Eagles were whistled for two more offensive fouls on two of four possessions and the Buccaneers answered each time to keep the lead in double-figures.

Over the course of the game Charleston Southern was pretty flawless, especially in the second half as it finished with just four turnovers and ended the game 15-for-19 from the foul line. CSU didn't shoot the ball well in the first half, but shot 59 percent in the second half (6-for-14 behind the arc).

Winthrop (6-8, 0-2 Big South) finished the game shooting 44 percent, including 8-for-16 behind the arc and 13-for-18 at the foul line. Gamble led Winthrop with 13 points and seven rebounds while Brown also had seven rebounds to go with his 12 points (5-for-5 from the field). Sophomore James Bourne scored a career-high 11 points while Andre Smith added nine points.

“I just think the resiliency of our guys,” said Winthrop head coach Pat Kelsey. “I told them in the locker room that I was proud of them. This is a championship program, hanging banners is what we talked about since the day I got the job and I thought our guys fought. They punched us in the mouth right before the half and went up eight with a big time run and nobody in that locker room hung their heads as they came out storming in the second half. I think our offensive execution in the second half was as good as it's been all year long. We established an inside presence as James Bourne and Larry Brown were guys that we could throw it in to today and they were giving us productive offense. I think from that aspect I was proud of our guys.”

CSU finished with five players in double-figures as Mathiang Mou led all scorers with 19 points while Gombwer had 13 points, Arlon Harper had 12 points and Cedrick Bowen added 11 points. Nimley finished with six points and 10 assists.

The first half saw 12 different lead changes before Harper banked home a three-point basket for a 26-25 lead with 4:39 remaining. The lead extended to 28-25 before Henry had a chance to tie the game with 3:31 left after he scored on a put back and was fouled. Henry missed the free throw and the Eagles still trailed by one. Those were the last points by Winthrop in the half as Charleston Southern ended the half on a 7-0 run to lead 35-27 at the half.

Winthrop held the Buccaneers to just 3-for-15 from the field in the first 10 minutes of the game, but were only able to build a one-point advantage at 14-13. Charleston Southern ended the half shooting 38 percent and just 25 percent from behind the arc. Winthrop was 3-for-7 behind the arc and shot 35 percent from the floor.

The Eagles largest lead of the first half was four points at 21-17 with 6:56 left after Andre Smith knocked down two free throws, but a Mathiang Mou three in the corner sparked the CSU offense to outscore the Eagles 18-6 over the final six and a half minutes.

"On the defensive end, Charleston Southern is good,” added Kelsey.  “They've got good players. And no matter what defense you play, you better guard the ball. You have to guard the ball and it's something that we stress and focus on every single day. It's not that our guys weren't trying. Saah Nimley is as quick and elusive a guard as there is in the entire country. They made some big time, big time shots during that stretch when they answered our run and credit them.”

Winthrop will remain on the road for its next contest as it heads to Lexington, VA to take on VMI on Saturday afternoon. Tip is set for 1 p.m.