RADFORD, VA— Keon Johnson scored a game-high 32 points including a buzzer beating jumper to lead Winthrop to an 86-84 victory at Radford, Saturday afternoon at the Dedmon Center.
With the victory the Eagles have won two straight and improve to 18-7 overall and 10-4 in the Big South. The loss drops Radford to 14-12 overall and 7-7 in the league. The Eagles will be back in action on Thursday, Feb. 18 when it hosts Coastal Carolina at 7 p.m.
The game was tied at 84-84 with 19.4 seconds remaining as the Highlanders went to Brandon Holcomb in the paint out of a timeout. Holcomb made a move to the middle and his shot fell short and into the hands of
Joshua Davenport, who quickly put the ball into Johnson's hands. Johnson took a pass from Davenport about 10 feet from the base line and flew up the court. Johnson crossed midcourt with 3.9 seconds left and got inside the arc as he let a 15-foot jumper go in front of the Winthrop bench with 1.7 on the clock and the ball swished through the net as time expired.
Johnson led all scorers as he was one of four Winthrop players in double-figures as
Zach Price finished with 14 points while
Jimmy Gavin and
Xavier Cooks chipped in with 13. Gavin finished with a team-high five assists while Cooks finished with seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks.
With his 32-point performance, Johnson moved into 11
th place on Winthrop's all-time scoring list as he passed Tyrone Walker and Michael Jenkins and is now 30 points away from 10
th. It was his fifth 30-point game of the season.
Winthrop trailed the Highlanders by as much as nine points in the second half with 16:48 on the clock and were down 74-67 with seven and a half to play after YaYa Anderson drained a three as Holcomb kicked the ball out to Anderson for the open look from the wing. Johnson scored the next six points to pull the Eagles within a point at 74-73 with a little less than six and a half to play. Then Cooks scored on an open layup as
Bjorn Broman found him cutting to the basket as Radford pressured the ball and Winthrop led 75-74. The lead changed hands seven more times before Broman's three in the corner with 1:40 left put the Eagles up 84-82. Cameron Jones tied the game at 84-84 with 54 seconds left as he knocked down a jumper at the free throw line.
In a game that had 20 leads changes and eight ties the Eagles came out on top as they finished the game shooting 60 percent from the floor (63 percent in the second half) and were 17-for-21 at the line. Radford, which scored 27 points off of 18 Winthrop turnovers, shot 55 percent from the floor and was 13-for-17 at the line.
Radford was led by Jones, who finished with 21 points on 10-for-16 shooting while Rashun Davis added 17 points and dished out nine assists. Anderson finished with 15 points on 5-for-9 shooting.
The first half saw 11 lead changes and three ties but it was Radford that led at the break as Davis knocked down a jumper at the free throw line the clock expired in the half for a 46-41 lead.
Winthrop led 28-27 with 8:31 left in the half after
Keon Johnson came up with a steal and scored on the other end. That's when Radford was able to get some separation as it went on an 11-3 run to lead 38-31 after Anderson drilled a three from the wing. Winthrop did get within three points two more times before halftime with the last time at 44-41 with 28 seconds left after Cooks came up with a steal and dribbled to the other end to score on a layup.
Prior to the Highlanders run that put them up seven, the Eagles worked their way to a four-point lead at 26-22 after Davenport came up with a steal and led the fast break as he scored while getting fouled and completed the three-point play.
Winthrop shot 59 percent from the floor in the first half while Radford shot 55 percent. The Eagles were just 3-for-9 behind the arc while Radford was 5-for-10. The Highlanders doubled-up the Eagles in points off turnovers 14-7.
