Box Score
www.winthropphotos.com

DURHAM, NC— Winthrop came up just short in a hard fought battle as it suffered a 72-66 loss at North Carolina Central, Wednesday night in non-conference men's basketball action.

The loss drops the Eagles to 6-3 on the year as they will head back to Rock Hill for their next contest when they look to head into the holiday break on a positive note against Wofford College on Saturday, Dec. 21 at 2 p.m. at the Winthrop Coliseum. NCCU, ranked 31^st in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-major Top 25 and improve to 7-2 on the year and remain unbeaten at home at 4-0.

"A tip of the cap to them," said Winthrop head men's basketball coach Pat Kelsey. "I think they are a very good team with senior laden guards. They are tough to prepare for and tough to play against. Our kids showed a lot of resiliency and bounced back. They jumped out on us after the half and got us in a double-digit deficit. Our kids dug down and found a way to claw back and actually took the lead. Once we did that it would have been nice to get 2-3 stops in a row and grow that lead to 6-7. We couldn't do that and had a couple of ill-advised plays and turnovers down the stretch back-to-back that hurt us as well."

The start of the second half saw NCCU take a nine-point advantage after a Jeremy Ingram jumper with 18:35 to play in the game as the Eagles fought back and took a 53-51 lead with 10:51 remaining as Keon Moore found Andre Smith open for a three-pointer. Freshman Josh Davenport helped the Eagles fight back and take the lead as he scored eight points as they outscored NCCU 21-10 over the eight-minute span.

The Eagles held the lead until a Reggie Groves three-pointer put NCCU back in front with 7:25 to play. Davenport had an opportunity to tie the game, but connected on just 1-for-2 at the foul line with 6:57 left and every time the Eagles pulled within a single-possession NCCU had an answer. A big possession came with six and a half minutes left as the Eagles forced a turnover with a chance to either tie or pull within a point, but Winthrop turned the ball back over to NCCU and it converted on an Ingram lay-up for a 62-57 lead.

Joab Jerome pulled Winthrop within two points on a basket inside with 2:26 to play but that was as close as the Eagles would get the rest of the way as NCCU made 6-of-8 free throws down the stretch.

Winthrop worked its way to an early 11-3 lead behind three-pointers from Smith and Keon Johnson, but NCCU fought back by outscoring the Eagles 12-4 to tie the game at 15-15 with 11:03 to play in the first half. Groves and Jordan Parks connected on back-to-back threes to tie the game as the Parks basket came off a Winthrop turnover. NCCU took its first lead of the game at the 10:17 mark of the first half but Brandon Vega knocked down a jumper to take the lead right back at 17-16 that was followed by a Jerome basket off a turnover for a 19-16 advantage with just over 10 to play in the first half.

With over six minutes to play in the first half, Parks rebounded a miss from Christian Farmer and then ended up with a layup on the other end for 23-22 advantage for NCCU. Winthrop fought back to tie the game at 25-25 with 4:59 on the clock after a Smith triple, but two three-point plays and a make from behind the arc from Jeremy Ingram down the stretch helped NCCU stretch a decent lead into the break. The first one came with 2:21 left in the first half and then another with just over a minute left in the half. After Davenport pulled the Eagles within four points with 16 seconds left in the half on a three-point play, Ingram knocked down a three with eight seconds left as NCCU led 39-32 at the break.

NCCU shot 52 percent from the floor over the first 20 minutes while Winthrop shot 50 percent but a big difference came at the foul line as Winthrop shot just two free throws in the first half while NCCU shot 15. Winthrop also committed 10 turnovers that led to 16 points for NCCU while Winthrop managed eight points off seven turnovers forced.

Davenport led the Eagles with a career-high 15 points as he was 5-for-8 from the field and a perfect 3-for-3 behind the arc. Johnson scored in double-figures for the third straight game as he finished with 12 points while Jerome added 11 points. Winthrop finished the game shooting 45 percent from the field and 40 percent from three, but NCCU shot 50 percent from the field and 44 percent from three and had a 28-12 advantage at the foul line in attempts.  

Ingram led all scorers with 24 points while Parks added 18 and Groves chipped in with 12.