N. CHARLESTON, SC— Keon Johnson scored a game-high 27 points to lead Winthrop to an 84-68 victory at Charleston Southern, Thursday night in the Big South Conference opener for both teams.

Winthrop improves to 9-3 on the year and captures a fourth straight Big South opener for the first time in the history of the program. The loss drops Charleston Southern to 4-8. Winthrop will have a quick turnaround as it will be back in action on Saturday, Dec. 31 at noon when it hosts Radford at the Winthrop Coliseum.

The Eagles opened the second half on an 11-2 run that started with a Roderick Perkins three from the corner. Perkins found Johnson open for three at the top of the key for a 49-39 lead and then drilled a three from the corner again for a 52-39 lead.

Winthrop opened the second half 7-for-9 from the field to help push its lead to 58-4 and maintained a double-figure advantage until the Bucs tried to get back into the game with a 10-0 run to pull within seven points with 8:17 to play, but the Eagles responded. Leading 68-59 Bjorn Broman hit a three and then after a three-point play from Joshua Davenport, Broman hit another three for a 77-61 lead with 4:39 to play. The Eagles finished the second half 7-for-11 behind the arc and were 10-for-22 in the game.

Johnson finished the game 7-for-16 from the field and 10-for-13 from the field as he also dished out a team-high seven assists and pulled down five rebounds. Xavier Cooks recorded a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds while he also had six assists and four blocks. Broman finished with 15 points while Davenport tied his career-high of 11 rebounds as he also had nine points.

Johnson reached a couple of milestones in the game as he moved into third all-time on Winthrop's scoring list with 1,575 points as he passed Greg Washington. Johnson's made three triples in the game and moved into 5^th on Winthrop's all-time three-pointers made list with 216.

Armel Potter led the Bucs with 15 points while Christian Keeling added 13 points and Cortez Mitchell had 11 points.

Winthrop overcame a 10-point first half deficit to claim a 41-37 lead at the break. Winthrop opened the game scoring the first six points of the contest but CSU grabbed the lead with a 12-0 run. The Bucs extended that lead to 21-11 after Potter scoring driving the baseline.

At that point the Eagles reeled off 14 unanswered points that was ignited by a Johnson three-point play. The Eagles continued to go inside as Tevin Prescott followed that with a dunk off a feed from Cooks and then Davenport scoring inside on a layup to force a Charleston Southern timeout. After Johnson made it a two-point game making 1-of-2 at the foul line, Prescott drew a charge on the other end and Johnson tied the game on the other end with two more made free throws. Johnson capped the run with a free throw line jumper for a 25-21 lead with a little over six minutes left in the half.

After CSU tied the game at 25-25, Winthrop went on a 13-3 run for its first double-figure lead of the game as Johnson scored 11 of the 13 points during the run that started and ended with Johnson triples as he moved into 5^th place on Winthrop's all-time three-point field goals made list, passing former teammate Andre Smith.

Winthrop started the game 2-for-13 from the field, but finished the half 11-for-20 to shooting 39 percent. The Eagles were just 3-for-11 behind the arc but a solid 12-for-14 from the free throw line. CSU shot 35 percent in the first half and was 9-for-11 at the free throw line.
 
EXTRA DRIBBLE
-Xavier Cooks recorded his 12^th career double-double and Eagles are 10-2 all-time when he does so
-Cooks had four blocks in the game and now has 120 in his career and is five shy of third all-time
-Duby Okeke also had four blocks and now has 138 in his career as he's one shy of becoming the program's all-time leader (Billy Houston holds the mark at 139)
-Winthrop hit 10 threes for sixth time this season and fourth time in the last five games (Winthrop is 25-4 in last 29 games it has connected on 10 or threes)
-Johnson is 85 points behind second place on the all-time scoring list as LaShawn Coulter has 1,660 career points and is the program leader in points for players during the NCAA D1 Era
-The victory was coach Pat Kelsey's 85^th as he's now 30 games above .500 (85-55)
-This was the third straight Big South opener the Eagles posted 80 or more points