ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop men's basketball picked up its 12^th straight home victory as it defeated the University of Rio Grande (OH) 116-84 thanks in large to 63 percent shooting from the field, Monday night at the Winthrop Coliseum.

The Eagles have won three straight and improve to 9-3 on the year while the RedStorm are now 10-5. Winthrop will look to continue its home winning streak when it welcomes Big South Conference foe Campbell to the Winthrop Coliseum on Thursday, Dec. 31 at 1 p.m.

Junior guard Keon Johnson was 1-of-3 Winthrop players with 20 or more points as he posted a game-high 25 points and in the process reached 1,000 career points. Johnson's 18^th point of the game, which came on a straight away three, gave him 1,000 in his career as he becomes the 23^rd player in the history of the program to join the 1,000-point club. Sophomore Xavier Cooks scored a career-high 24 points while Jimmy Gavin hit the 20-point mark for the third consecutive game with 21. Freshman Adam Pickett joined them in double-figures with 10 points as he also had career-highs with two blocks and three steals.

Leading by 10 points at the break, the Eagles rushed to a 22-point advantage just two minutes and 16 seconds into the second half with a 15-3 run behind six points from Johnson and five points from Gavin. The Eagles were able to maintain a 20-point or more advantage for all but 34 seconds the remainder of the game and led by as much as 33 points midway through the half. The big lead allowed head coach Pat Kelsey to go deeper into the bench as 14 total players saw minutes and 13 of them got in the scoring column.

The Eagles finished the game shooting 63 percent from the field (66 percent in the second half) as they were 12-for-29 behind the arc. The 116 points were the third most in the history of the program and just the third time an Eagle team has scored 110 or more points. Rio Grande finished the game shooting 48 percent after shooting 55 percent from the field and 54 percent behind the arc (7-for-13) in the first half.

The first half of action saw eight ties and seven lead changes as both teams came out shooting well. The Redstorm raced out to a 5-1 lead but the Eagles answered with a 10-2 run for an 11-7 advantage at the 17:26 mark. Rio Grande came right back with four straight points to tie the game and over the next five and a half minutes the teams went back-and-forth before the Eagles made a 17-3 run to open up a double-figure with a little under 10 left in the half. Rio Grande closed the gap to eight points with 47 seconds left in the half, but, but two Johnson free throws put the Eagles up by 10 at the break.

Rio Grande was led by Dwayne Bazemore's 18 points as he led four players in double-figures. Matt Rhodes added 16 points off the bench while Travis Elliott added 15 points (5-for-5 behind the arc) and Kevonta Black had 10 points and six assists.