ROCK HILL, SC—With sole possession of first place in the South Division of the Big South Conference on the line, the Winthrop men's basketball team heads to Asheville, NC to take on UNC Asheville, Wednesday evening at Kimmel Arena with the tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m.
Winthrop is 9-7 overall and 3-1 in the Big South after an overtime victory at Coastal Carolina last Saturday. Asheville enters the game at 9-9 overall and 3-1 in the league and has won eight of its last 10 contests.
The Eagles are 2-0 on the road in the Big South earning a tough victory at Presbyterian College in the league-opener and then holding on for a 73-72 victory at Coastal Carolina. This is the first 3-1 start since the 2007-08 season for Winthrop.
The duo of
Keon Moore and
Keon Johnson paced the Eagles offensively as Moore poured in a career-high 26 points and is averaging 21.3 points per game in the Big South so far. Johnson broke out of his four-game slump with 19 points, his best offensive game in four league games.
The hero of the night against the Chanticleers was junior
James Bourne as he knocked down a 15-foot jump shot on the baseline with four seconds to play that put the Eagles ahead by one point. It was the only basket of the game for Bourne. Bourne is 5-for-10 from the field in the last two games and averaging 5.0 rebounds. On the season he's averaging 6.2 points and a team-best 5.0 rebounds.
Moore moved into first on the team in scoring after his third straight game scoring 20 or more points and is averaging 12.8 per game. He is 24-for-47 from the field and 13-for-24 behind the arc over the last three games.
Saturday marked the return of senior
Joab Jerome as he missed the previous two games with an ankle injury. The Eagles were 1-1 in his absence as he scored six points, grabbed three rebounds and dished out four assists in 24 minutes of action. His only steal of the game came on Coastal's second-to-last possession as it looked to go up three points on a drive to the basket. Jerome stole the ball and as he drove on the other end looking to score the go-head basket, dished the ball out to Bourne for the game-winning shot.
Junior
Andre Smith had to leave the game late in Saturday's win over Coastal but before he managed 12 points on 4-for-6 shooting and 3-for-4 behind the arc. Smith is now averaging 2.7 threes per game and is 34
th nationally in three-point field goal percentage (42 percent).
Winthrop and Asheville split the series last year with each team winning on its home court. This game will be the 67
th meeting between the two schools with Winthrop holding a slight edge in the all-time series, 34-31. The Bulldogs have won three of the last four meetings and four of the last six. The Eagles are searching for their first road win against Asheville since Jan. 28, 2009.
The Bulldogs began the season with eight games away from Kimmel Arena and posted a 1-7 record over that stretch. Since then, they have won 8-of-10 games and are coming off an 80-76 victory at Charleston Southern on Saturday in which it overcame an 11-point deficit midway through the second half to win.
Freshman guard Andrew Rowsey, the reigning Big South Conference Freshman of the Week, leads the team in scoring at 17.2 points per game and is one of the top three-point threats in the league with 55 made on the year (3.1 per game). He is coming off a 35-point performance in which he was 10-for-16 from the field and 6-for-9 behind the arc against the Buccaneers. He was also 9-for-10 at the foul line where he is shooting 80 percent on the season (55-for-69). During the current streak of eight wins in the last 10, the Bulldogs are 5-0 when Rowsey leads the team in points.
Redshirt senior Jeron Lane is second on the team in scoring at 12.8 points and leads the team in free throws made (67) and attempted (88). Asheville also has one of the best big men in the league in D.J. Cunningham. Cunningham is a redshirt senior averaging 10.5 points and 9.9 rebounds along with 3.3 blocks per game. He is coming off nine points and 13 rebounds in the win over CSU.
The Bulldogs are 5-1 at home on the year and 1-0 in the Big South having played three of their first four league games on the road.
Last year the Bulldogs made more free throws than the Eagles attempted in the matchup at Kimmel Arena going 28-for-32, which included 23-for-24 in the second half alone. Winthrop was just 11-for-19 and ended up losing the game 69-56. Once again Asheville is a strong free throw shooting team averaging 22.5 trips to the line and shooting 74 percent as a team. The Bulldogs are ranked 38
th nationally in free throw percentage and lead the Big South.
