AUBURN, AL— Winthrop couldn't overcome to big runs by Auburn in the second half as it fell 80-62, Wednesday night at Auburn Arena.

The loss drops the Eagles to 4-5 on the year as they will look to get back to .500 on the season on Friday, Dec. 19 at Southeast Louisiana at 8 p.m. Auburn improves to 4-5 on the year.

The Eagles trailed 47-44 after Xavier Cooks beat the Tigers down the floor to finish a long pass from Andre Smith, but Auburn responded with a 9-0 run for a 56-44 lead with 10:42 remaining in the game. That run was almost immediately followed by an 11-4 run that put the Tigers ahead, 67-50. The second run was highlighted by back-to-back dunks by Antoine Mason and Cinmeon Bowers that put Auburn up 16.

Tevin Prescott scored a career-high 17 points as he was 7-for-10 from the field and pulled down seven rebounds. Andre Smith finished with 12 points on 5-for-14 shooting and also had six assists to one turnover in 38 minutes of action. Keon Moore managed 12 points but struggled from the floor going 4-for-21 and was just 2-for-11 from three. As a team the Eagles were 4-for-27 behind the arc (15%).

Bowers led four Auburn players in double-figures with 19 points as he also hauled in 17 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the year. KT Harrell added 14 points while Mason had 13. The Tigers shot 44 percent from the field and were 19-for-34 at the foul line.

Trailing by eight points at the break, Winthrop found itself down by 10 in the first minute of the second half after a Bowers basket inside. Prescott boarded a missed three by Keon Moore and scored to start an 8-0 run by the Eagles to pull within 42-40 with 17:18 on the clock. Joseph Lopez missed two free throws for an opportunity to tie the game and just a couple of minutes later the Tigers went on the 9-0 run.

Winthrop got off to a slow start making just three of its first 14 shots as it trailed 23-9 after a lay-up by Mason, which capped off a 14-3 run by the Tigers. After a Cooks runner in the lane made it a four-point contest at 13-9 with 14:40 left in the half, the Tigers scored the next 10 points to build the 14-point advantage.

Prescott ended the Auburn run as he got a baseline jumper to fall as the Eagles scored six straight points as Derrick Henry scored on drives to the basket the next two Winthrop possessions to cut the deficit to 23-15 just over 10 minutes left.  Auburn immediately pushed the lead back to 10 points and led 28-18 after a Bowers basket inside with 7:53 remaining.

A response by Winthrop came from Smith as he drove the lane and was fouled as he completed the three-point play to make it a seven-point game. That ignited a 12-5 run by the Eagles as they pulled within a point at 31-30 after Prescott knocked down an elbow jumper. Winthrop got stops defensively that it needed to get back in the game and make it a one possession game.

The Eagles were outscored 9-1 by the Tigers to end the half after they pulled within a point and trailed 40-32 at the break. The Eagles shot just 35 percent from the floor in the first half and were just 4-for-10 at the foul line and 2-for-14 behind the arc. Auburn was 43 percent from the field, 43 percent behind the arc and 61 percent at the line in the first 20 minutes.
 

Post-Game Comments From Pat Kelsey

Winthrop head coach Pat Kelsey Opening statement… "I told our guys in the locker room that I was proud of their effort. I look at a stat sheet and certain things scream effort. We had a 21 offensive rebounds. A little bit of that is we missed a lot of shots so there was a lot of that to have, but I was proud of our guy's effort. We were right there in the second half. I think our guys had the right mentality to try and win the game. It got away from us in the second half when they went on that little spurt. They made a couple of big shots, got a couple offensive rebounds and a stick back. At the end of the day that was it. For a team like us that really relies on the 3- point shot to be good, we shot 4-for-27 from (3-point), and 10-for-23 from the line. That 4-for-27 is a tip of the cap to Auburn. Obviously their game plan coming in was to try and run us off of the 3-point line and try and make us beat them at the basket and in the box and attacking the paint and obviously we did not do that tonight." On Auburn's offensive balance… "On tape you look at their pieces and they have some very potent offensive players. In my mind, those guys on the wing, with KT Harrell and Antoine Mason. Cinmeon Bowers is a load inside. Obviously our starting five man is 6-5, 185 pounds. He has to run around the shower to get wet. I told our guys if he gets an angle, he is like SpongeBob. He is as wide as he is tall. He takes so much attention and we are trying to front him in the post and pressure the ball and then they skip the ball and make open threes. That makes it really hard. Early on he was really getting his, so we morphed our defense a little bit to take away him and front a lot and that opened up a lot for other guys." On the improvement of Auburn's program from two years ago… "We watch a ton of tape. When you watch tape at two or three in the morning your mind starts playing tricks on you and you start noticing other stuff and you start looking away from the X's and O's on the court. You start looking around at the atmosphere of the building. I know the students are not here right now and are on break so it is a little bit different, but the energy and the vibe in the place is electric. That is what I saw watching tape in the games building up to this game tonight. That is a credit to Coach Pearl. I think he has that "it" factor about him, that sort of energy that permeates through the fan base and student body. I noticed that a little bit. I do not want to compare the two, but those are some tough dudes now. Everybody hangs their hat on something, and I think they have really tough kids in their locker room. I think that is a culture that coach Pearl creates. You know if you come in you better be ready to play tough because they are going to come right at you." On if missing Keon Johnson affected his team… "Our mentality is next man up. All I can do is credit the young men who put on the Winthrop jersey today and I think made the Winthrop tradition that we have, which is a great tradition, proud by how hard they played. I am proud of those young men who put on their jersey and took charges and fought their rear-ends off against guys who were bigger, faster and stronger. I am proud of those guys that were on the floor. We make no excuses and no explanations. You credit Auburn for beating us tonight.