Kelsey Post Game With Friedman
Big South Network Wrap-up
ROCK HILL, SC—Xavier Cooks scored a career-high 30 points but Winthrop fell 65-60 to New Hampshire, Sunday afternoon at the Winthrop Coliseum.

The loss drops the Eagles to 3-2 on the season and ends a streak of 10 straight wins at home against non-conference opponents. New Hampshire improves to 4-2 on the year. Winthrop will be back in action as it remains at home for a Wednesday contest against Furman at 6:30 p.m.

Cooks led all scorers and was the only Eagle in double-figures while Keon Johnson added eight points and Bjorn Broman had seven. Johnson moved into 5^th on Winthrop's all-time scoring list as he now has 1,434 and now trails Tyson Waterman by 21.

The teams were tied for the 12^th time in the game at 58-58 with three minutes to play as Cooks made two free throws out of a timeout to give Winthrop the edge. After getting a stop the Eagles looked to add to the lead but David Watkins stole the ball from Johnson as he drove to the basket and the Wildcats took the lead with 1:40 to play as Daniel Dion hit a three, which was the 12^th triple of the game and 10^th of the second half.

A stick back by Tanner Leissner with 54 seconds left put the Wildcats up three. Johnson tried to tie the game on the ensuing possession, but couldn't get this three to fall. Jaleen Smith hit a runner with 19 seconds left for the 65-60 lead. The Eagles were

New Hampshire had four players in double-figures with three of them recording double-doubles. Leissner led the way with 22 points and 14 rebounds while Smith had 20 points and 11 rebounds. Dion finished with 12 points while Watkins had 11 points and 11 rebounds off the bench.

Winthrop held the Wildcats to 24 percent shooting in the first half, but that improved to 44 percent in the second half. That included a 10-for-22 performance behind the arc in the final 20 minutes (46 percent). New Hampshire was 12-for-38 from three in the game.

Winthrop shot 58 percent from the field in the second half and 42 percent for the game but the team was just 3-for-11 from the foul line.

On the season the Eagles average 14.8 turnovers per game and were below the average with 11, but the Wildcats took full advantage of when they did turn it over with a 20-2 advantage in points off turnovers.

The largest lead by any team came midway through the first half as the Eagles led by seven at 19-12. The lead was erased by a 7-0 run by the Wildcats, but answered by the Eagles with a 5-0 spurt and a 24-19 lead with 6:34 to play in the half. Winthrop hit a cold stretch from the field as it didn't score again the remainder of the half but was able to hold a 24-23 lead at the break.
 
EXTRA DRIBBLE
-This was just the second loss in the last 22 home games
-Joshua Davenport played in his 100^th career game
-Cooks surpassed 800 career points and now has 812 in 69 career games and is closing in on 500 career rebounds (451)
-Duby Okeke had three blocks in the game and now has 123 in his career which is two shy of 2^nd on Winthrop's career list (Eagles were 16-4 all-time in games Okeke had 3 or more blocks)
-Eagles finish the NIT Season Tip-Off with a 2-2 mark
-This game is the first of three for the Eagles in a seven-day span