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ROCK HILL, SC-- Off to its best start to a season since 2007-08, Winthrop looks to improve to 4-1 as it hosts Virginia Intermont Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. at the Winthrop Coliseum.
 
The game is part of a doubleheader with the women's basketball team that will face William & Mary at 1 p.m.
 
A victory would ensure the Eagles their first winning record in the month of November since the 2007-08 team was 4-2. Winthrop is 79-8 all-time against non-Division I opponents with five of those losses coming in the school's first three years at the Div. 1 level. The Eagles have won 32 straight games against non-Division I opponents.
 
The Eagles are coming off a win at East Tennessee State in which the team ended a nine-game road losing streak. The previous road win was at Auburn on Dec. 22, 2012 (74-67).
 
Winthrop placed four players in double-figures as senior Joab Jerome connected on a career-high four threes and scored a team-high 18 points as he was 7-for-8 from the field. Jerome now leads the team in scoring at 14.8 ppg and is shooting 64 percent from the floor and is 8-for-11 (73%) from three. Over the last 13 games dating back to last season, Jerome is averaging 15.5 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists while shooting 57 percent from the floor and 76 percent from the foul line.
 
Offensively the Eagles are averaging 80.5 ppg and shooting an impressive 47 percent from the floor and 44 percent behind the arc. All this without the team's leading scorer from 2012-13 and the absence of redshirt junior Keon Moore, known for his ability to shoot and score as he tallied over 1,000 points in two seasons at Catawba College. The return of Moore and freshman Duby Okeke in the coming weeks should only strengthen what already looks like a tremendously improved team from a season ago.
 
Jerome is one of three players averaging in double-figures as junior Andre Smith is averaging 14 ppg and has scored 10 or more points in all four games. Freshman Keon Johnson is averaging 12.5 ppg and leads the Big South in free throw percentage (.923) Jerome, Smith and Johnson have been a triple threat behind the arc as they've combined to go 30-for-55 behind the arc (55%).
 
Junior James Bourne had a tough start to the season but has made his presence felt in the post the last two games. He had 11 points at #14 Virginia Commonwealth and followed that up with 12 points and nine rebounds at ETSU. He also had a career-best two blocks against the Bucs.
 
Two players making big contributions off the bench are redshirt junior Brandon Vega and sophomore Tevin Prescott. Vega has averaged 17 minutes off the bench and is averaging 5.8 points and 2.8 assists while shooting 43 percent from the field and 79 percent at the foul line. Prescott is averaging eight points and 4.0 rebounds per game while shooting 70 percent from the floor.
 
Virginia Intermont enters the game at 1-4 and scoring 71.4 points per game. The Cobras have lost three straight and are coming off an 80-74 loss against Asbury (Ky.).
 
Senior forward Joshua Hart leads the team in scoring at 23.8 per game, which also ranks 12^th nationally at the NAIA Division II level. Hart is also averaging 8.0 rebounds and shooting 48 percent from the floor and is 32-for-46 at the foul line. Sophomore guard J.D. Tucker is averaging 17.4 points while junior guard Kris Harris is averaging 17.0 points. Harris is coming off his first appearance of the season as he poured in 17 points off the bench on 6-for-13 shooting and also had 10 rebounds.
 
As a team the Cobras do most of their damage inside the three-point line as they are shooting just 28 percent behind the arc. Not including three-pointers, Virginia Intermont is shooting 46 percent from the floor.