Box Score
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ROCK HILL, SC— The Winthrop men's basketball team moved to 5-1 on the season after a 69-57 victory over James Madison, Wednesday evening at the Winthrop Coliseum.
It is the first time the Eagles have started a season 5-1 as they will be off for the next few days before traveling to Blacksburg, VA on Tuesday, Dec. 3 to take on Virginia Tech at 7 p.m. The game can be seen live on ESPN3.
Andre Smith scored a team-high 13 points as he also added four rebounds and three assists to help the Eagles earn their fifth win of the season. He nine of his 13 points in the first half to help spark the run that pushed Winthrop into the lead after falling behind 7-0 early.
With 4:16 left in the game, JMU had pulled within six points but
Joab Jerome stepped up and drained a three from the wing for a nine-point lead with 3:18 to play.
Winthrop led by 14 points in the second half after
Keon Johnson drilled a three with 17:24 remaining, but the Dukes worked their way back to within four points over the next eight minutes. JMU used an 8-0 run following Johnson's three as Tom Vodanovich scored four points during the run to make it a six-point deficit.
Smith responded with a jumper after JMU pulled within four points and Winthrop used an 8-2 run to push the lead back to double-figures with just over seven minutes remaining.
Larry Brown scored inside for an eight-point advantage and then
Keon Moore came up with a steal and fed Brown on the other end for a 58-48 lead.
The Dukes continued to try and battle their way back into the game but the Eagles made enough plays to maintain a 3-4 possession lead the rest of the way.
Winthrop fell behind 7-0 as James Madison scored on its first three possessions. The Dukes came out in a zone defense that disrupted the Eagles for a few possessions before sophomore
Tevin Prescott got the ball in the post and scored on a turn-around jumper off the glass.
James Madison led 8-2 before the Eagles lifted their play defensively and got hot behind the arc. It started with an Smith three-pointer in the corner as the Eagle used a 13-1 run to take a 15-9 lead with 13:52 left in the first half. Smith followed with another three as Vega found him open in the corner and then Moore's three from the corner completed the run.
The Eagles moved the lead to eight points with just under 10 minutes left after
Keon Johnson boarded a long rebound and knocked down a baseline jumper for a 22-14 lead. Over the next three and a half minutes the Dukes worked their way back to within a possession at the 5:52 mark after Charles Cooke converted two free throws.
At that point the Eagles used a 9-2 run for a 31-22 lead with under two minutes left as Smith fed
James Bourne in the lane for a reverse lay-up to cap off the run. Winthrop outscored JMU 13-6 over the final six minutes of the half for a 35-26 lead at the break.
Winthrop defensively held JMU to 33 percent shooting from the floor and 20 percent behind the arc as it forced 19 turnovers. The Eagles had 11 steals in the game with nine different players coming up with a theft.
Jerome added 11 points and five rebounds while the third Eagle in double-figures was
Tevin Prescott as he had 10 points and two steals. Winthrop shot 50 percent in the first half and finished the game at 39 percent, but equaled the Dukes at the foul line with 17 makes.
Kent Jackson led JMU with a game-high 16 points while Ron Curry had 15 points and Cooke finished with 12.
