ROCK HILL, SC— Jimmy Gavin paced four Winthrop players in double-figures with 19 points in an 81-63 victory over Ferrum College, Monday evening at the Winthrop Coliseum.
The win ends a three-game skid by the Eagles as they improve to 10-6 on the year while Ferrum College falls to 7-5. The Eagles will be back in action on Thursday, Jan. 14 at 7 p.m. when they host league-leading High Point on ESPNU.
Gavin tied for the game-high with his 19 points as he was 7-for-9 from the field and 5-for-7 from three and also finished with four assists.
Joshua Davenport,
Zach Price and
Keon Johnson all finished with 10 points as the Eagles had nine different players in the scoring column. Winthrop finished the game shooting 56 percent from the floor (68 percent in the first half) and was 9-for-18 from three.
The Eagles led by 23 points at the half as Ferrum College tried to cut into the lead a couple of times but could never get any closer than 17 points in the second half. That moment came with 13:33 left in the game after R.J. Turner drilled a three, but the Eagles answered with a 15-2 run. Price got the run going with a dunk inside as he was set up off a nice feed from
Xavier Cooks. Cooks then tipped in a miss by Price on the next possession to put the Eagles back up by 21.
During the 15-2 run the Eagles had three dunks as
Duby Okeke had two of them on back-to-back possessions as the Eagles worked the ball down low a majority of the game for a 44-24 points in the paint advantage. Gavin scored five of the final nine points of the run as he capped it off going coast-to-coast after a
Bjorn Broman steal landed in his hands.
The Panthers knocked down four threes over the final six and a half minutes of the game, which helped cut it to less than a 20-point game in the end. Josh Grimard tied Gavin with a game-high 19 points as he was also 7-for-9 from the field (5-for-6 from three). Grimard was joined in double-figures by Rashawn Speas as he added 12 points.
Defensively the Eagles held the Panthers to 35 percent shooting for the game (32 percent in the second half) and had six steals and eight blocks. Okeke led the team with four blocks while Cooks had two.
Ferrum grabbed an early lead and were ahead 9-4 after a Marvin Wilson basket in transition with just over three minutes into the game. Johnson, who didn't start the game, subbed into the game shortly after and ignited an 8-0 run that turned into a 21-1 run over a span of five minutes that pushed the Eagles into a 25-10 lead.
Johnson started the run by driving to the basket and scoring on a layup followed by a three that tied the game at 9-9 and then Cooks gave Winthrop its first lead at 12-9 with a three-point play. Johnson followed that with another three-pointer as Winthrop hit five triples during the run. The Eagles ended up outscoring Ferrum 26-2 from the 16:08 to 10:22 left in the half.
Winthrop led 53-30 at the break as it shot 68 percent from the floor (7-for-10 behind the arc) and turned six Ferrum turnovers into 12 points. Ferrum shot 38 percent from the field, including 2-for-8 from three.
