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ROCK HILL, SC— Andre Smith scored 20 points and Joab Jerome recorded his second career double-double to lead Winthrop to a 70-65 victory over Charleston Southern, Wednesday night in Big South Conference men's basketball action.

The Eagles improve to 11-13 overall and 5-7 in the league while Charleston Southern falls to 13-9 and 8-3 in the Big South.

Charleston Southern nearly rallied from a 17-point deficit, but Winthrop went 14-for-16 from the foul line over the final four minutes to secure its victory that ended a two-game skid.

The Bucs made it a three-point game, twice under a minute to play but each time the Eagles were able to answer back with made free throws to keep it a two possession game and hold on. One of the biggest plays down the stretch came with 58.8 seconds left on the clock when Reggie King crashed the boards on a missed jumper by Jerome driving the lane. As Jerome drew a lot of defensive attention, King followed the shot and scored on a put back for a five-point lead.

The Eagles defensive effort held the nation's leader in three-point field goals made to just 3-for-27 behind the arc and 32 percent shooting in the game. Saah Nimley led the Buccaneers in scoring with 24 points and recorded a double-double pulling down 10 rebounds. Arlon Harper added 14 points while Mathiang Muo had 13.

The lead started to dwindle as Winthrop committed turnovers on five of seven possessions beginning with just over eight minutes to play. It began when Smith came off a screen for a wide open look at a three as the show clock was winding down and the ball slipped from his hands as he was pulling up. From there the Eagles turned the ball over on four-of-six possessions and Charleston Southern slowly worked its way back into the game, previously trailing by 17 with just under 10 to play.

Back-to-back three-point plays by Muo and Harper cut the deficit to seven points at 53-46 with 4:49 left. Winthrop extended the lead back to double-figures with 3:19 remaining after a couple of Steve Johnson free throws made it a 10-point advantage and two free throws by Jerome gave Winthrop a 58-46 lead with 3:07 left.

Charleston Southern forced turnovers on the next two Winthrop possessions and cut the deficit down to seven points after Nimley converted a three-point play and then scored on a reverse layup by Nimley.

Jerome put Winthrop ahead by eight points with just over two minutes to play with two free throws but a Muo three-pointer off an offensive rebound by Nimley and kick-out to Muo for the three made it a five point game. The Buccaneers forced a turnover on the inbound play and Muo scored on a short jumper as the lead was cut to three with 1:41 to play.

The lead extended to double-figures quickly into the second half as Gideon Gamble came out and buried a three on the Eagles first possession and a bucket inside at the 17:09 mark by James Bourne made it 31-20. After a turnover led to an easy basket on the other end for Nimley to cut the deficit back to single digits at 31-22, Winthrop's Smith answered with his third three of the game for a 12-point advantage with 15:02 left. The lead extended to as high as 17 with 9:52 to play in the game.

Winthrop led 26-20 at the break thanks to a strong defense effort that held Charleston Southern to just 27 percent shooting that included 1-for-12 behind the arc.

Both teams struggled to score early as the game was 2-2 until a Cedrick Bowen jumper five minutes it gave the Buccaneers a 4-2 lead. Jerome gave Winthrop a 5-4 lead after knocking down a three, but Charleston Southern took the lead right back on a baseline dunk by Bowen. After each team couldn't convert on their next possessions, King scored on a layup off a nice feed from Jerome on a backdoor cut. That gave the Eagles the lead for the remainder of the half.

The Eagles pushed the lead to six points in the first half on four different occasions and the Buccaneers answered each time until the end of the half as Bowen's long jumper hit the front of the rim and bounced out as the Eagles led by six at half.

Smith and Jerome were the only Eagles in double-figures as Gamble finished with seven points and nine rebounds. Steve Johnson had nine points off the bench and was 7-for-8 from the foul line as he also snagged five boards. James Bourne had eight points and drew a charge with 54 seconds left after the Eagles had taken a five point lead on King's tip-in.

Winthrop finished the game with a season-high 23 made free throws as it was 23-for-28 while Charleston Southern was 20-for-27 from the line. Winthrop finished the game shooting 44 percent from the floor, but had 19 turnovers that led to 25 points for the Buccaneers.  

Winthrop is back in action on Saturday, Feb. 16 when it heads to Clinton, SC to take on Presbyterian College at 7 p.m. Charleston Southern remains on the road as it heads to Asheville, NC to take on UNC Asheville at 2 p.m.