ROCK HILL, SC— Senior
Keon Moore scored 28 of his career-high 30 points after halftime in helping the Winthrop rally from a 13-point deficit but in the end it was High Point that held off the Eagles 90-87 in double-overtime, Saturday afternoon in a wild Big South Conference contest at the Winthrop Coliseum.
The Eagles fall to 6-7 overall while its conference record evens up at 1-1 and will look to rebound on Thursday, Jan. 8 at 7:30 p.m. when it travels to Clinton, SC to take on Presbyterian College. High Point captures its first league game and is now 1-1 in the Big South and 10-4 overall.
Haiishen McIntyre came up with a big defensive play as he blocked
Keon Johnson's three-point attempt at the top of the key and got the ball from Devante Wallace quickly down court as he went to the other end for a layup and a 87-85 lead with 41 seconds left in the second overtime. Winthrop sophomore Josh Davenport drove the lane but his runner wouldn't fall and the Eagles were forced to foul, sending Adam Weary to the line as he knocked down both for a four-point advantage with 7.7 seconds left.
"That's what conference play is all about," said Winthrop head coach
Pat Kelsey. "Was an unbelievably heated game that was back-and-forth. Obviously we had plenty of opportunities to pull out a W but credit High Point. Credit coach (Scott) Cherry. Credit their players for finding a way to get it done."
Moore started off the game 1-for-8 from the field and 0-for-3 behind the arc before finishing the game 8-for-18 from the field and 5-for-10 from three. Moore was also 9-for-10 at the foul line and had two assists and two steals. Freshman
Xavier Cooks was in double-figures as he had another big game recoding his first career double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Johnson finished the game with 14 points and a career-best six assists.
Winthrop finished the game shooting 43 percent, but was just 6-for-24 from three (25 percent). High Point finished the game shooting 45 percent from the field and 6-for-12 behind the arc. The Panthers were just 1-for-5 from the foul line in regulation but combined to go 11-for-12 in the two overtimes.
After Moore scored with 2.7 seconds left the Eagles fouled again, sending McIntyre to the line trailing by two. McIntyre made the first, but the second did not fall as Davenport boarded the miss and pushed the ball to senior
Andre Smith running up court but his prayer three from beyond midcourt was short. Winthrop had won five straight at home against league foes.
The Eagles trailed 59-50 a little over six minutes remaining when it used an 11-2 run to tie the game at 61-61 with 2:15 to play. The run was highlighted when bodies were flying to the ground in a scramble for a rebound as Johnson came up with the ball and quickly dished it to
Duby Okeke, who was wide open in the lane for the flush to make it a four point game. After John Brown missed two free throws, Johnson converted a three-point play to make it 59-58 in favor of High Point with 2:44 remaining. Brown scored inside on the next possession but the Eagles answered right back to tie the game. Moore missed a one-and-one but the rebound came to Johnson who whipped the ball out to Moore for the open three and he buried it.
Moore hit another three with 1:02 left as Johnson penetrated the lane and kicked it out to Moore in the corner for a 65-63 lead. Brown tied the game at 65-65 with a jumper off glass and then made a good defensive play as the Eagles looked to win the game on its final possession of regulation. Johnson drove the lane, but Brown came to help and turned away the shot with five seconds left. Devonte Wallace's jumper didn't fall the game went to overtime, which is the second straight overtime game for the Eagles.
In the first overtime, the Eagles held a three-point lead on four occasions but Weary's free throws with 2.3 seconds left tied the game at 77-77, forcing a second overtime. Johnson went 1-for-2 at the line with 5.6 seconds left for a 77-75 lead, but Weary was fouled at midcourt and was able to tie the game.
The first 10 minutes of the game were back-and-forth with five lead changes and four ties. A Moore baseline jumper tied the game at 16-16 with 10:04 left in the half, but High Point responded with a 13-0 run over the next four and a half minutes to lead 29-16 with 5:32 left after K.J. James scored on a reverse layup.
John Brown ignited the run as he beat everyone down the floor following the Moore jumper and dunked the ball for an 18-16 advantage. During the run the Eagles were 0-for-7 from the floor with one turnover.
The run came to an end as
Jarad Scott drained a corner three for the Eagles first basket of the game behind the arc. Davenport followed that with back-to-back baskets to spark a 7-0 response from the Eagles, cutting the deficit to 29-23 with 3:32 left.
Winthrop was just 1-for-10 from three in the first half and shot 37 percent from the floor while High Point was 50 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes and 3-for-5 from three.
Brown was one of three Panthers in double-figures as Weary finished a perfect 8-for-8 at the line on his way to 15 points while Brian Richardson added 13 points.
