ASHEVILLE, NC—Winthrop built a 17-point halftime advantage and never gave in as it capped off a three-game road trip with an 84-69 victory over UNC Asheville, Wednesday evening at Kimmel Arena.

Winthrop evens its record to 8-8 on the year and improves to 3-2 in the league while Asheville falls to 7-8 and hand the Bulldogs their first league loss as they are now 3-1. It was the third straight win over the Bulldogs by Winthrop as it will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 17 at 1 p.m. when it hosts Radford at the Winthrop Coliseum.

Keon Johnson scored a game-high 22 points as he was 6-for-13 from the field and 4-for-8 behind the arc. He was joined in double-figures by Derrick Henry with 15 points while Keon Moore added 13 (all in the second half) and Duby Okee added 12 points.

The Eagles shot 58 percent in the second half to shoot 53 percent for the game and finished with 42 points in the paint. The Eagles were 7-for-16 behind the arc and turned in a strong performance at the foul line at 84 percent (21-for-25). Asheville was held to 40 percent shooting in the game, including 7-for-24 behind the arc.

"I was just really proud of our guys that they responded today in the second half after having a really, really tough gut-wrenching loss the other day on Saturday at Gardner-Webb," said Winthrop head coach Pat Kelsey, referring to the Eagles' losing a 16-point halftime lead at Gardner-Webb in a 65-64 loss last Saturday. I challenged our guys to focus on those four-minute wars and to not look at the scoreboard and to keep playing on the aggressive and keep playing on the attack and they did it. I think that's a sign of growth for this team."

The Eagles used a strong defensive effort over the final nine minutes of the first half to build a 17-point advantage at the break and held strong in the second as they didn't allow the Bulldogs to get within single-digits. Asheville got within 13 points on a couple of occasions and made it a 10 point game late but Winthrop always had an answer Winthrop ends the three-game road swing winning two of the three.

The first time the Bulldogs got within 13 was at the 16:00 mark of the second half after Andrew Rowsey capped off a 9-0 run with a three-point play. Over the next couple of minutes the Eagles pushed their lead to 15 a couple of times only to see the Bulldogs hang in there and respond each time to stay within 13 points. Sam Hughes scored inside to make it 49-36 with 14:08 to play when the Eagles scored on back-to-back possessions with a Johnson drive and score followed by an Xavier Cooks dunk set up by a dish from Moore.

With 6:46 left Moore drilled a three for an 18-point advantage that the Bulldogs responded with eight straight points with back-to-back threes from Rowsey and David Robertson that made it a 10-point game with 5:44 left. Asheville had a chance to cut the deficit to double-figures but Okeke came up with a block on a lay-up attempt from Hughes that led to a Henry three-pointer to put the Eagles back up by 13 with just over five minutes remaining. Winthrop increased its lead back to 19 points after a steal and score by Moore to all but seal the game.

"You knew they were going to make a run," said Kelsey. "They're a good team. They're very well coached, have very good players and they're in their home gym and they were not going to lay down and they were going to make a run or two and they did and we answered it."

Early on in the first half the game went back-and-forth as the Bulldogs built a 7-4 lead after a Kevin Vannetta three on the wing but the Eagles responded and tied the game at 10-10 with 14:49 left in the half after a drive and score by Andre Smith, who finished the game with seven points and seven assists.  Winthrop fell behind again after Kem Ubaru scored inside but Jarad Scott hit a short jumper in the lane to tie the game again.

Winthrop then went on a 10-2 run including eight straight at the end of the run to build a 22-14 advantage with 11:52 on the clock. The run was highlighted by back-to-back threes as Smith found Johnson wide open on both possessions and the run was capped off by a Joshua Davenport layup off a steal that forced an Asheville timeout.

Chad Thomas knocked down a jumper to stop the run by the Eagles, but that was temporary as Winthrop outscored the Bulldogs 16-4 over the next nine minutes for a 20-point lead. Winthrop turned the ball over late that led to an Rowsey three with 18 seconds left to cut the Winthrop lead to 38-21 at the break.

The Eagles shot 48 percent from the floor in the first half and were 4-for-8 from three as they managed 21 points in the paint. Defensively the Eagles held the Bulldogs to 29 percent shooting and just 3-for-12 behind the arc.

Rowsey led the Bulldogs with 16 points, three assists and three steals while Hughes added 11 points and Corey Littlejohn had 11 as well.