ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop earned a hard fought 74-70 victory over Presbyterian College at the Winthrop Coliseum Saturday afternoon for a 2-0 start to Big South Conference action.
The Eagles open Big South play at 2-0 for the second time in three seasons as they improve to 6-1 overall while PC falls to 3-5 overall and 0-2 in the league. Winthrop steps away from conference action as it heads to Athens, GA on Tuesday, Dec. 8 for a 7 p.m. matchup at the University of Georgia.
In a game that saw a combined 68 free throw attempts, 15 lead changes and 13 ties, the Eagles were the ones that made plays on the offensive end down the stretch to earn the win. PC cut the Eagles lead in half with 10 seconds remaining at 72-70 after Markus Terry hit two free throws. But Winthrop's
Keon Johnson was able to get open off the full court pressure and was fouled with eight seconds left as he knocked down both free throws to seal the victory for Winthrop.
Winthrop trailed 68-67 with 2:38 to play in the game after DeSean Murray made two free throws. Winthrop's
Duby Okeke had an answer as he dropped in a floater with 2:22 left for a 69-68 lead. The Eagles got three stops defensively before
Xavier Cooks hit a turnaround jumper in the lane for a three-point lead with 38 seconds left. Okeke went 1-for-2 from the free throw line with 17 seconds left for a four-point lead.
The Eagles trailed by four points with 7:51 to play in the game after Austin Venable knocked down a jumper, but Okeke scored in the paint, followed by two free throws by
Bjorn Broman to tie the game with 6:33 left. From that point there were six more lead changes before the Eagles held on in the end.
Johnson led the Eagles with 18 points as he was 4-for-6 from the field, 2-for-2 behind the arc and 8-for-10 at the foul line. As a team the Eagles finished 28-for-41 at the foul line (68 percent). Johnson was one of five Eagles in double-figures as Okeke had 12 points,
Jimmy Gavin and
Zach Price had 11 points while Cooks chipped in with 10. Okeke also had eight rebounds and three blocks.
Murray led all scorers as he was one of two Blue Hose players in double-figures with 24 points. Terry added 13 points as the Blue Hose finished shooting 43 percent from the floor (33 percent in the second half) and were 20-for-27 at the foul line.
The first half didn't have much flow to it as there were 27 fouls and both teams combined to shoot 31 free throws. Each team had small runs and both built four point leads over the course of the first seven minutes of the game. After Winthrop led 8-4 early, PC reeled off six straight points for 10-8 lead with 15:06 left and then pushed it to four points with 13:34 to go (9-1 run).
Winthrop trailed 15-11 with just under 13 minutes left after Darius Moore knocked down a jumper, but a 7-2 run that started with a Johnson triple put them back in front at 18-17 near the midway point of the half. PC came right back with a 7-0 run for the largest lead of the game by either team at 24-18 with 9:01 left.
With 5:39 left in the half the Eagles trailed by four points and used an 11-2 run that was highlighted by a Gavin three and a Price dunk to cap it off. Winthrop scored the first nine points of the run to take a five-point lead with 3:39 left and the Price dunk put the Eagles up six. PC closed out the half by outscoring the Eagles 8-2 to tie the game at 38-38.
The Eagles didn't shoot the ball well from the floor in the first 20 minutes, but were 16-for-19 at the foul line. PC shot 52 percent from the field, scoring 10 points off Winthrop miscues.
