ROCK HILL, SC— Keon Johnson led four players in double-figures with 21 points as Winthrop celebrated "Senior Day" with an 80-53 victory over Presbyterian College, Saturday afternoon at the Winthrop Coliseum.

The victory improves the Eagles to 17-12 overall and 12-6 in the Big South as they clinch a first-round bye for next week's VisitMyrtleBeach.com Big South Conference Championships. They will find out their seed late Saturday evening after the remaining league games have been completed. With the loss, PC falls to 10-21 on the year and 6-12 in the league.

Johnson missed his first shot attempt just over a minute into the game but then knocked down his next seven as he scored 15 of his 21 shots in the second half to help the Eagles open up the game. PC cut the Eagle lead eight points with 13:27 remaining after Markus Terry hit a three, but five straight points by Johnson put Winthrop up 13 points and then pushed the lead to 17 points to cap off a 9-0 run with a Joseph Lopez basket inside.

Winthrop pushed its lead to 20 points at 61-41 as Derrick Henry completed a three-point play with 9:06 remaining. Andre Smith came up with a steal and as he tracked the ball down near midcourt he pushed it ahead to Henry who finished a layup while getting fouled and then knocked down the free throw.

Smith finished the game with 14 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals while fellow senior Keon Moore finished with 13 points, five rebounds and four assists. Tevin Prescott added 15 points while Xavier Cooks had nine points, nine rebounds, a career-high five assists and three blocks. With his three blocks, Cooks set a new program record for blocks by a freshman as he now has 46, passing Chris Malcom's mark of 44 set in 2008-09.

Winthrop, which earned its fourth straight win over the Blue Hose, turned in a strong defensive effort in both halves as it held the Blue Hose to 29 percent shooting in the second half after holding them to 31 percent in the first 20 minutes. The Eagles finished the game shooting 54 percent after shooting 57 percent from the floor in the second half. The defense allowed just 16 points in the paint and held PC to 3-for-13 shooting behind the arc.

Downing led PC with 15 points as he also had four rebounds and two steals. William Truss finished with 10 points and seven rebounds while DeSean Murray had seven points and 13 rebounds.

The Eagles fell behind early as PC led 7-4 after Davon Bell scored on a reverse layup but the Eagles answered with the first of three big runs that gave them a 14-point lead at the half. Smith got the run started by knocking down two free throws and then Smith set up Moore for a straight away three for a 9-7 lead. Ruben Arroyo-Felix knocked down a jumper with 13:01 left for the point points during the Eagles run, which made it a 13-9 lead for Winthrop. Then Johnson capped off the run with a three from the corner.

After a Downing jumper at the free throw line made it a five-point game, the Eagles used a 7-0 run to open up a 12-point lead at 23-11 after Cooks whipped a pass into the post for an easy two by Prescott. With 6:20 to play in the half, PC got a 6-0 run from Downing as he started it with two free throws, scored on a jumper in transition and then dropped in a long jumper to cut the lead to 27-21 with 5:32 left.

Winthrop finished off the half outscoring the Blue Hose 11-3 highlighted by two threes from Moore, including one with just over four seconds left for a 38-24 lead at the break. Smith ignited this run as well when he knocked down a midrange jumper followed by a three from the wing.

The Eagles shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half while holding Presbyterian College to 31 percent.