ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop men's basketball heads to Buies Creek, NC Thursday night for its final regular season road game as it will face Campbell at 7 p.m. in Gore Arena.
The Eagles have won three straight as they enter the contest with a 16-11 record overall and 11-5 mark in the Big South. Campbell is 9-20 on the year and 3-13 in the Big South as it looks to end a five-game skid.
The game will be live on the Big South Network while Dave Friedman will bring you the play-by-play on 104.1 The Bridge.
Winthrop has assured itself of back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2006-07/2007-08 and has 11 league victories for just the seventh time in the program's history.
A win on Thursday night and the Eagles will clinch one of the Top 5 spots for next week's VisitMyrtleBeach.com Big South Conference Championship. Should the Eagles suffer a loss at Campbell, they can still clinch a top five spot with a loss by Gardner-Webb and UNC Asheville. Winthrop remains a game and a half out of first place heading into the final two games (Coastal Carolina is 2
nd with 12-5 record and finishes the regular season Thursday night at Presbyterian College).
Winthrop and Campbell met on Jan. 24 at the Winthrop Coliseum as the Eagles rallied from 13 points down in the first half to earn their second consecutive win. It was the third time on the year the Eagles had come back to win a game when trailing at the half. It is also the last time the Eagles trailed a game at the break as they've led the last eight games after 20 minutes.
This will be the 32
nd meeting between the Eagles and Fighting Camels as the all-time series favors Campbell at 18-13 but Winthrop has won the last two meetings (both at the Winthrop Coliseum). The Eagles are 0-2 all-time in Gore Arena, which opened in November of 2008.
In the 83-59 win at Longwood last Saturday, the Eagles received one of their more balanced scoring nights as five players finished in double-figures as the team captured its largest margin of victory on the road since Feb. 4, 2010 when it defeated Liberty by 24 points in the Vines Center (67-43).
Leading the way for that balanced attack was sophomore
Keon Johnson with 16 points while seniors
Keon Moore added 15 and
Derrick Henry had 13 points. Freshman
Xavier Cooks added 11 points and junior
Tevin Prescott had 10 points.
Johnson scored double-figures for the third straight game and fourth time in the last five as he's tied for second on the team in scoring at 11.1 points per game. Johnson has hit multiple threes in four straight games (9-for-17) after going 1-for-14 the previous three games.
The Eagles are still led in scoring by Moore, who surpassed the 500 point mark at Longwood and now has 513 on the season, which ranks 7
th in the program's history overall and are the second most points by a player since the school's move to the NCAA Div. I level. He's only four points behind that mark set by Eddie Gay in 1992-93 as he scored 517 points and averaged 17.2. Moore's scoring average of 19.0 is fourth best all-time in the program's history but the highest scoring average of an Eagle at the D1 level. Ted Houpt holds the mark for best scoring average at 17.6 and the top scoring average all-time is Charlie Brunson at 22.4. The all-time record for threes made in a season is held by Michael Jenkins as he hit 100 in 2006-07, but Moore is closing in on that number as he's moved into second with 90.
Henry stepped up for the Eagles in the win over Longwood with his fourth double-figure game of the season. His first basket put the Eagles up 11-9 early and two of the next three baskets he hit gave the Eagles a two point lead while the other one tied the game. Henry scored six points in a minute and 30 second span. The Eagles are now 9-0 when Henry scores six or more points in a game this season.
The Camels are looking to end a five-game skid and send their seniors out on a high note. Over the last five games Campbell has allowed 75.2 points per game, but still rank third in the league in scoring defense allowing 66.6 points. The Camels are also third in the league in defensive rebounding.
D.J. Mason leads the team with 11.9 ppg, 5.4 rpg and 28 blocks as he's a 51 percent shooter from the floor. Andre Ryan is second on the team and the only other player averaging double-figures at 11.3 as he's one of the top three-point shooters in the league with 2.5 per game and a percentage of .412 behind the arc. Ryan is third on the team in assists as well and second in rebounding at 4.7 per game. Ryan tied for a team-high 14 points in the first meeting with the Eagles and has averaged 16.0 ppg over the last two games. Reco McCarter, who had 14 points against the Eagles on Jan. 24, is averaging 9.8 points and 4.4 rebounds while shooting 45 percent from the field.
In eight league games at home, Campbell is averaging 61.5 points while allowing 64.8. Winthrop has averaged 71.5 points while allowing 64.9 in its eight road games.
