ST. LOUIS, MO— Winthrop men's basketball captured its fourth straight win after a 66-55 victory at St. Louis, Thursday evening at Chaifetz Arena.

Winthrop is now 8-3 on the year as it will turn its focus to Big South Conference action in seven days when it travels to N. Charleston, SC to take on Charleston Southern on Dec. 29 at 7:30 p.m. The loss drops St. Louis to 4-8 on the season.

Winthrop didn't have its best night shooting from the field finishing at 38 percent, but played aggressively and finished the game 21-for-28 at the free throw line. Keon Johnson led the Eagles with 16 points as he was 7-for-10 at the free throw line while Joshua Davenport was the only other Winthrop player in double-figures with 10 points.

The Eagles pushed their halftime advantage to 10 points at 42-32, when the Billikens went on a 10-2 run to pull within two points with 12:59 to play. But the Eagles responded with four straight points behind two free throws from Davenport and Adam Pickett. Winthrop never let the Billikens any closer than four points the remainder of the game.

The free throw line was key for the Eagles, who went nearly nine minutes without a field goal starting with 15:05 left in the game. Winthrop went 16-for-23 at the free throw in the second half alone. In addition to the advantage at the free throw line, the Eagles outscored the Billikens 21-0 in points off turnovers. Winthrop finished with just seven turnovers while forcing St. Louis into 14.

Winthrop had just two players in double-figures but nine different players scored as it received nine points from Pickett off the bench while Xavier Cooks and Anders Broman also had nine points. Cooks finished the game with a career-high 14 rebounds.

St. Louis was led by Davell Roby's 17 points while Jalen Johnson added 13 points. The Billikens shot 34 percent in the game and were 10-for-17 at the foul line.

It was a good start to the game for the Eagles as they scored the first nine points behind Roderick Perkins providing a three and a layup. The Billikens battled back to tie the game at 12-12 after Neufeld scored inside, but a 5-0 spurt put the Eagles back in front as they held the lead the remainder of the half.

Keon Johnson's first basket of the game gave the Eagles a 20-14 lead as they continued to work their way to a 10-point advantage with 1:50 to play after Davenport hit two free throws. An Anders Broman three with 46 seconds to play put the Eagles up 11 but the Billikens cut it back to single-digits before the half to trail 35-26 at the break.

Winthrop was just 4-for-14 behind the arc in the first half as it shot 41 percent from the field while St. Louis shot 43 percent from the field and was 2-for-9 behind the arc. Winthrop forced 11 first half turnovers by St. Louis and turned that into 14 points. Winthrop's offense was supported by eight different players in the scoring column in the first half.