ROCK HILL, SC— First place in the Big South Conference standings is on the line when Winthrop men's basketball hosts UNC Asheville Saturday afternoon.

GAME SNAPSHOT 
Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016
Winthrop (19-7, 11-4 BSC) vs. UNC Asheville (18-9, 11-4 BSC)
Game Time: 12 p.m. EST / Site: Rock Hill, SC (Winthrop Coliseum)
Live Video:  none Television: American Sports Network (Evan Lepler-PxP/Dean Keener-color) Audio: 104.1 The Bridge (pregame 11:30 a.m. with Dave Friedman-PxP/Ron Mikels-Color)
Live Stats / Live Video (none)  / Live Audio





Winthrop Probable Starters
G    1      Bjorn Broman (6.5 ppg, 1.8 rpg)
G    5      Keon Johnson (19.8 ppg, 4.2 rpg)
F    12     Xavier Cooks (14.7 ppg, 6.7 rpg)
F    44     Jimmy Gavin (17.1 ppg, 2.8 rpg)
C    25     Zach Price (6.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg)

WHERE CAN I SEE THE GAME?
This matchup will air on the American Sports Network and will not be available on the Big South Network or video stream. For a list of clearances in your area CLICK HERE. It is schedule to be available in the Charlotte/York County area on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN).  
WHAT'S AT STAKE?
Winthrop and UNC Asheville are both tied atop the standings in the Big South Conference with 11-4 league records. A Winthrop victory would put them a game up on the league with two games remaining and it would earn the Eagles a split with Asheville on the season. A win by Asheville would give them a season-sweep of the Eagles and it would have a game up on the Eagles and the tie-breaker with two games remaining in the regular season. A loss by the Eagles could possibly put them in a tie for second place with High Point before heading into their contest on Feb. 25 at 9 p.m. on ESPNU.
SERIES HISTORY
The Eagles dropped the first meeting this season with an 85-84 loss, but have won four of the last five meetings and three straight at the Winthrop Coliseum. This is the 72^nd meeting all-time as Winthrop leads the series 38-33 in all games and 32-29 in regular season meetings.
THE LAST TIME THESE TWO MET
In the first meeting of the season the Eagles built a 55-37 advantage at the half and led by as much as 23 points in the second half, but Asheville mounted a comeback and pulled off an 85-84 victory that handed Winthrop a third straight loss. The Eagles shot an astonishing 73 percent from the floor in the first half on their way to 55 points, the highest point total in a half against a league opponent in the Pat Kelsey era. In the second half the Eagles shot 40 percent and Asheville shot 46 percent but 14 second half turnovers by Winthrop led to a 15-0 advantage in points off turnovers in the second half alone. Keon Johnson scored a game-high 23 points as Jimmy Gavin added 17. Asheville had two 20-point scorers as Sam Hughes scored 21 and Kevin Vannatta finished with 20. A loss like that can sometimes be tough to bounce back from, especially at the end of a three-game skid. However, it had the opposite effect on the team as it has won 10-of-11 games, eight of them by double-figures.

THE MATCHUP
Winthrop leads the league in scoring at 83.1 ppg while UNC Asheville enters the contest fourth in the league at 75.1 ppg. The Eagles also lead the league in field goal percentage and blocked shots while ranking second in free throw percentage and three-point field goal percentage. Winthrop has scored 70 or more points in 12 straight games, which ties a school record. That same feat was accomplished in 2006-07 and 1998-99. Winthrop is riding a three-game win streak and has won seven straight home games. After the win over Coastal the Eagles have now won 19-of-20 at home and 13 of the last 14 against Big South opponents. The Bulldogs had a six-day break before returning to action on Thursday and pulling out a 70-61 road win against Presbyterian College. Asheville has now won four of its last five contests. In all games the Bulldogs are 6-6 on the road this season with a 5-3 road record in league play including the last two at PC and at Campbell. Asheville is the only other team with more free throw attempts in the league than the Eagles as they have attempted 39 more (664).
WINTHROP NCAA RANKINGS
The Eagles rank among the nation's best in several categories this season, most notably scoring offense in which they are 13^th at 83.1 ppg. Winthrop also ranks among the Top 50 in field goal percentage (21^st), blocked shots per game (24^th), total blocks (25^th), free throw percentage (27^th), free throws made (36^th), three-point field goals per game (40^th), win-loss percentage (47^th) and total threes made (48^th).
Keon Johnson ranks 35^th nationally in scoring at 19.8 ppg and is 26^th in free throws made and 46^th in free throw attempts. Duby Okeke is 16^th in blocks per game and 28^th in total blocks.

PLAYERS TO WATCH
Keon Johnson leads the team in scoring and also led the team against the Bulldogs in the first meeting with 23 points. He has made 10 or more free throws in four of the last five games (45-for-52 in that span).  Xavier Cooks has been on a tear as he's averaging 18.8 ppg, 7.6 rpg and 2.2 bpg while shooting 56 percent from the floor, 50 percent behind the arc (10-for-20) and 74 percent at the foul line (20-for-27). He failed to reach double-figures in the first meeting as he had nine points, six rebounds, three blocks and three steals. Jimmy Gavin has been fairly silent since he hit seven threes on his way to 25 points in the win over Longwood and is 3-for-11 behind the arc in the last two games. Dylan Smith leads five players averaging double-figures with 13.6 per game. He's the top three-point threat by a big margin on the team with 61 made threes (33%) and is tied for second on the team with 91 made free throws (81%). Dwayne Sutton is averaging 11.7 ppg while Kevin Vannatta is averaging 11.6. Sutton led the Bulldogs in the win over PC with 23 points.

LAST TIME OUT
The Eagles used a second half run to earn a double-figure win over Coastal Carolina behind a double-double from Xavier Cooks (26 points, 10 rebounds). Cooks, who usually does the majority of his scoring near the paint or in it, finished with a career-high six threes in the game (6-for-8). The Eagles only shot 39 percent from the floor in the game but shot 44 percent in the second half and finished the game 20-for-20 at the free throw line. In addition to Cooks, Keon Johnson finished in double-figures with 16 points, Jimmy Gavin had 11 and Adam Pickett scored 10 off the bench.

THE COACHES
Pat Kelsey is in his fourth season at the helm of the Winthrop men's basketball program. He holds a record of 72-50 in four seasons with appearances in the Big South championship game the past two seasons. The Eagles are 39-26 in Big South games under Kelsey. He's currently ranked 15^th nationally for career wins for head coaches 40 years of age and under. During his tenure the team has a couple of the program's notable victories with wins at Clemson and Auburn and has made back-to-back trips to the Big South Conference Tournament Final. Asheville's Nick McDevitt is in his third season with the Bulldogs and has an overall record of 50-40 as he picked up his 50^th win on Thursday at PC. Under McDevitt the Bulldogs are 31-18 in league games.

MILESTONES
Junior Keon Johnson continues to climb the all-time scoring list as he became the 13^th player in the history of the program to reach 1,200 career points. He now has 1,278 and is 11^th all-time and is 13 points away from cracking the Top 10 and 18 points from ninth. In his career he's averaging 14.2 ppg and if he were to maintain that average for the remainder of his career (estimation of at least 34 games to play) he would finish with over 1,700 points, which only one player in school history have achieved.  He is the third player to reach 1,000 career points in Pat Kelsey's four years (Keon Moore/A. Smith). Johnson moved into the Top 10 for free throws made and three-pointers made. He's currently made 329 free throws, which is third all-time and second most by a Winthrop player at the D1 level.  He is among the top free throw shooters in the history of the program as he's currently shooting .841 in his career, which is 4^th all-time. He's currently 8th all-time in made threes with 181. Duby Okeke is averaging 2.6 blocks per game, which leads the Big South and ranks in the Top 16 in the nation. In 23 games he's blocked 59 shots and the program record for blocks in a season is 66 by Josh Grant in 2002-03. Okeke moved into 5^th all-time with 105 career blocks and Xavier Cooks has 88 (ranked 10^th all-time). Billy Houston is the all-time leader in career blocks with 139.  Okeke has a career-high 59 blocks this year, which ranks 2nd best for a single-season.