Highlights From The Voice Of The Eagles (Dave Friedman)
CLEMSON, SC— Sophomore Keon Johnson paced four players in double-figures with 19 points as Winthrop captured its second ever win over Clemson as it handed the home team a 77-74 defeat, Monday evening at Littlejohn Coliseum.

Winthrop trailed by two at the break but used a 9-2 run in just under two minutes to open up a seven-point advantage at 63-56 after a Keon Moore three-pointer and held on down the stretch to improve to start the season 2-0 for the second straight year. Clemson evens its record to 1-1 now as Winthrop is now 2-9 all-time against the Tigers with both wins coming at Littlejohn.

"If you look back in the game there are a ton of guys that made plays throughout," said Winthrop head coach Pat Kelsey. "Andre Smith was just an absolute catalyst at the beginning of the game. He came out and bang, bang, bang he hit some shots that gave us confidence. Keon Johnson had a stretch over the second half where he looked like his old self. He was getting to the rim, making threes and then Keon Moore made those huge shots late."

"It's hard to just point out just three guys in a huge, huge win like that," added Kelsey. "That's not just three guys or a team, that's a program win."

While the Tigers got within a point on a couple of occasions over the final 7:51 of the game, Winthrop held strong and made the plays it needed to hold off Clemson on its home court.

The most interesting play of the game came with 33 seconds to play as Winthrop was working the ball up court with a one-point lead after the Tigers completed a three-point play. Clemson was called for an intentional foul was whistled against Jaron Blossomgame as Jarad Scott stepped up and made 1-of-2 at the line for a 71-69 lead. Winthrop followed that with a stop defensively and then Johnson drained two free throws for a four-point advantage with 30.5 seconds to play.

Rod Hall came down to the other end of the floor and hit an off balance three to make it a one-point lead again for the Eagles but Winthrop continued to beat the pressure off the inbound plays and made its free throws to earn the win.

As a team, Winthrop finished the game shooting 39 percent from the field but the areas that standout are the free throw line where it shot 80 percent (20-for-25) and committed just six turnovers in the game compared to Clemson's 16. The Tigers shot the ball well from the floor at 48 percent, but the Eagles held them to just 3-for-13 behind the arc.

The Tigers jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead, but the Eagles answered with a 10-2 run before the first media timeout saw the Eagles hold a 10-9 lead with 15:25 to play in the half.  Winthrop extended its lead to 15-11 as the Eagles outscored the Tigers 15-6 over a span just shy of three minutes.

Clemson grabbed the lead back and extended it to 21-17 as Landry Nnoko scored inside and was fouled as he completed the three-point play. The Eagles then reeled off five straight points for a 22-21 lead after a Johnson layup with just over nine left in the half.

The two teams went back-and-forth over the next five minutes until Clemson went on an 8-0 run for its largest lead of the half, 36-29 with 1:16 to play after Damarcus Harrison slammed home an offensive board. Winthrop scored the final five points of the half, which was highlighted by a Derrick Henry three at the buzzer. Henry received a pass with just seconds left as he tried to lean in to draw a foul by making contact with Gabe DeVoe but didn't draw a whistle as he launched a shot that found the bottom of the net to make it a one possession game at the break.

"Just like Derrick drew it up," said Kelsey with a chuckle. "He kind of double-clutched, jumped into a body right before he hit the ground he threw a missile at the rim that happened to go in. We really needed that bucket as it gave us a little momentum going into the half."

In addition to 19 points, Johnson also dished out three assists and was 7-for-12 from the field. Moore finished the game with 18 points while Smith had 16 points and Henry chipped in with 10.

Nnoko finished the game with 19 points, nine rebounds and five blocks to lead Clemson while Grantham had 13 points, Blossomgame chipped in with 12 and Hall had 11.

Winthrop will try and make it three straight on Thursday, Nov. 20 at 8 p.m. when it travels to Savannah, GA to take on Savannah State.