FARMVILLE, VA— Winthrop outscored Longwood 24-2 in a 10-minute span of the first half to help pick up a fifth straight victory as it defeated Longwood 82-68, Sunday evening at Willett Hall.
Winthrop improves to 14-6 on the year overall and 6-3 in the Big South. Longwood falls to 6-15 overall and 2-6 in the league. Winthrop will go for six straight wins on Wednesday, Jan. 27 when it hosts Charleston Southern at 7 p.m.
Xavier Cooks led the Eagles with 19 points as he also pulled down 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season and sixth of his career. He was one of four Winthrop players in double-figures as
Jimmy Gavin added 16 points while
Keon Johnson had 13 and
Zach Price chipped in with 10.
Winthrop turned a 19-9 deficit early on in the first half into a 48-32 lead at the break by going on runs of 11-0 and 13-0 as it outscored the Lancers 24-2 from the 15:24 mark until just over five minutes remained.
Joshua Davenport sparked the run by knocking down a three from the wing and then scored on a layup after coming up with a steal on the defensive end. Gavin then hit back-to-back threes for 11 straight points. Lotanna Nwobgo ended that run with a dunk, but then the Eagles scored the next 13 points behind back-to-back threes from Johnson and
Bjorn Broman.
Longwood tried to close the gap to single-digits before the half as a Kanayo Obi-Rapu three-point played made it a seven-point game with 4:43 left at 33-26. Winthrop didn't let up as it outscored the Lancers 15-6 over the next four and a half minutes to hold its second largest lead at the half in conference action, 48-32.
Over the course of the second half the Eagles maintained a consistent 15-20 point advantage until late in the game as Longwood attempted a comeback. The Lancers made it a 10-point game with 4:41 to play after two free throws from Derrion Allen, but the Eagles responded with a Price dunk on the other end. Again, Longwood made it a 10-point game only to have Cooks answer with a three-point play as the Eagles held on for their fourth straight league win. It was the second straight game the Eagles trailed by double-figures and came back to win by double-figures.
Winthrop shot 53 percent from the floor in the game, which is the fifth time in the last six games. Defensively the Eagles held their opponent under 70 points for a fifth straight game as they held Longwood to 33 percent shooting.
Obi-Rapu led all scorers with 20 as he paced four Longwood players in double-figures. Kris Lane had 15 points and 10 rebounds while Tra'vaughn White added 11 and Allen finished with 10.
