ROCK HILL, SC— Jimmy Gavin's 26 points paced five players in double-figures as Winthrop downed Hampton 102-95, Saturday afternoon in the season opener for both teams.

It's the fourth straight season the Eagles have won their season opener and they will be back in action on Tuesday, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. when they host Truett-McConnell.

"I'm proud of our guys as I told them in the locker room," said Winthrop head coach Pat Kelsey. "They cut the lead to one, there was a timeout and those guys regrouped, responded and extended the lead back out so I think that showed a lot of growth and maturity on our team's part."

Despite trailing by as much as 20 points in the first half, Hampton opened the second half on a 13-3 run to make it one-point game with 12:09 left. Winthrop responded with a 15-6 run that pushed the lead back to double-figures over the next three and a half minutes behind nine points from sophomore Xavier Cooks and four from redshirt junior Roderick Perkins.

Hampton did cut the lead down to five points with 1:18 to play after a free throw from Kalin Fisher, but the Eagles were strong at the foul line over the final minute going 7-for-8 and sealing the win.
Cooks finished the game with a career-high 22 points as he also chipped in with nine rebounds and four blocks. Freshman Bjorn Broman was impressive in his collegiate debut as he scored 18 points with four rebounds and no turnovers in 36 minutes. Also in double-figures were junior's Keon Johnson and Joshua Davenport with 11 each.

Gavin, who was 9-for-11 from the field, paced the Eagles with five made threes as he was perfect behind the arc. The Eagles knocked down 13 in the game, going 13-for-27 for 48 percent. Cooks, who made two threes all of last season, was 3-for-6 from three and Broman finished the game 2-for-7. His 26 points were the most in a season opener since Derrick Henry had 26 points against St. Andrews on Nov. 10, 2012.

"It's nice to be 1-0, "said Kelsey. "Hampton has a lot explosive pieces that worried me greatly on film. I think offensively we played together, we shared the ball and had multiple guys in double-figures. It's fun to play that style, there's a lot of possessions in our game and we play downhill. The disappointing thing is they scored 95 points and 22 offensive rebounds which are both things that we're going to have to clean up."

Gavin and the Eagles came out firing from the opening tip and built a 60-49 advantage at the break behind 64 percent shooting from the floor that included nine made threes.

The Eagles never trailed in the game and it was only tied once at 2-2 as the team opened the first four and a half minutes outscoring Hampton 20-9. Broman, Cooks and Gavin all had threes during the run. After a layup by Perkins made it 27-17, the Eagles held a double-figure lead for the rest of the half and even increased the lead to 20 points with 5:07 left in the half after a Davenport three-point play.

Cooks put the Eagles up 18 with 2:28 left in the half with a three, but the Pirates ended the half on a 9-2 run to cut the deficit to 11 at the break.

Winthrop finished the game shooting 53 percent from the field, 48 percent from three and 75 percent at the foul line (27-for-36). Hampton shot 44 percent from the floor but snagged 22 offensive rebounds it converted into 28 second chance points that helped keep the game within reach.

Quinton Chievous led all scorers with 29 points as the senior guard also grabbed 23 rebounds (10 offensive). Lawrence Cooks added 22 for the Pirates and Brian Darden finished with 13.