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CONWAY, SC— Joab Jerome's bucket with 1.5 seconds to play in the first overtime, lifted Winthrop to a 60-58 victory over #4N Radford in the opening game of the 2013 VisitMyrtleBeach.com Big South Basketball Championship.

The game was tied at 58-58 and the Eagles boarded a three-point attempt from R.J. Price and were able to hold for the final shot. After a Winthrop timeout, the ball found its way into the hands of Jerome with just under 10 seconds to play. Jerome backed in his defender, drove to the lane and gave a pump fake and was able to slip through the two defenders and finger roll the ball into the basket with 1.5 seconds left.

Jerome's final basket gave him a career-high 22 points as he also pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds for the double-double. For the second straight game, Reggie King set a new career-high in points with 11 as he was 4-for-8 from the field while Steve Johnson had nine points off the bench and Andre Smith also finished with nine.

The win was the second straight for the Eagles as they improve to 14-16 on the year and it is the second straight season with a win in the conference
tournament first round game. Radford finishes the season with a 13-19 record.

“I think more than anything else I was proud of our guys resolve and their resiliency when we got down five in overtime,” said Winthrop head coach Pat Kelsey. “I was proud of our guys effort. Jerome had the heart of a lion today. He was a monster. We just kept going to him and he kept producing. It was a great team win. My goodness, I kept looking out there and saying how in the heck can we get the ball to Joab Jerome and he really stepped up for us.”

Winthrop led by four points with 2:02 to play in the game when Rashun Davis brought the Highlanders back with two free throws at the 1:39 mark and then tied the game at 52-52 with 38 seconds left with a floater in the lane. Jerome had a chance to win the game in regulation as he faked a dribble penetration and pulled up for three with about five seconds to play and the shot rimmed in-and-out.

It was a game that saw 17 lead changes and 13 ties as 12 of the lead changes came in the second half alone. After Shola Diop put the Eagles up 33-31 with 13:09 to play, the lead changed hands 10 times over the next six and a half minutes.

Things didn't start off well for the Eagles as they fell behind 8-2 early and sophomore James Bourne had to leave the game at the 17:21 mark with a knee injury after a Radford player fell on him as the team's scrambled for a rebound.

On the play Bourne got hurt going for the rebound, the Highlanders collected the ball and Kyle Noreen scored in transition with an easy lay-up. That was followed by back-to-back baskets off Eagles turnovers as Davis capped off the 8-2 start with a steal and lay-in. The Radford pressure was forcing the Eagles into turnovers the first eight minutes of the game.  Winthrop had seven turnovers in the first half that led to seven points for the Highlanders, most of them in the first eight minutes of the half.

Reggie King drilled a three-pointer from the wing to make it a 12-10 game in favor of Radford with 11:19 to play in the half. That was answered with a Radford three by Ya Ya Anderson for a 15-10 lead. Winthrop used a 7-0 run to take its first lead of the game at 17-15 after King crashed the boards and was able to stick back a missed jumper by Gideon Gamble.

The game was tied at 23-23 with 3:24 left as the Eagles finished the half with a 6-0 run for a 29-23 lead at the break.

Radford was led by Davis' 18 points while Javonte Green chipped in with 12 points as Radford shot 37 percent for the game and was 0-for-3 from the field in overtime. Winthrop shot 39 percent in the game and committed just 10 turnovers in the game after seven miscues in the first half.

Winthrop advances to the quarterfinals of the tournament and will face the #1 seed from the South Division, Charleston Southern, on Thursday, Mar. 7 at noon.