Kelsey Postgame w/Dave Friedman
LYNCHBURG, VA— Anders Broman scored a career-high 19 points and Winthrop turned in a strong defensive effort to capture a 61-48 win at Liberty, Saturday evening at the Vines Center.

The win is the 6^th straight for the Eagles, who improve to 15-4 on the year and 7-1 in the Big South. Liberty falls to 11-10 overall and 6-2 in the league. The Eagles remain on the road for their next contest when they travel to Gardner-Webb on Thursday, Jan. 26 at 7 p.m.

The win was also the sixth straight on the road for the Eagles as held the Flames to just 33 percent shooting and are now 4-0 on the road in league play.
Broman scored 12 of his game-high 19 points in the second half while Keon Johnson added 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting. Broman was 6-for-9 from the field with a career-high six three-pointers. Broman led a bench that outscored the Flames 37-10. Winthrop finished the game shooting 38 percent after shooting 46 percent in the second half.

With 16:40 to play in the game, Myo Baxter-Bell scored inside to make it a single-digit game at 31-22, but the Eagles responded by outscoring the Flames 17-6 over the next eight minutes for a 48-28 lead after Xavier Cooks scored inside. Liberty tried on a couple of occasions to trim down the lead but Broman hit a three each time. Liberty pulled within 16 with 7:02 left when Broman hit a three and then the lead was cut to 15 with 5:30 to play when Broman hit another triple. Then with 3:11 left, it was a 14-point game when Broman once again answered with a three.

Cooks finished with just four points in the game as he was 1-for-9 from the floor but he hauled in 11 rebounds, dished out five assists and a block. It is the second straight game with 10 or more rebounds and the 8^th time in the last 10 games.

Liberty was led by Ryan Kemrite's 15 points while Lovell Cabbil added 11 points. Liberty averages 9.1 threes per game and was held to 3-for-24 behind the arc.
Despite shooting just 29 percent from the field in the first half, the Eagles were able to hold a 26-15 advantage at the break. The defense for the Eagles held Liberty to 19 percent shooting in the first 20 minutes and 1-for-15 behind the arc.

Trailing 5-2 early on, Winthrop reeled off seven straight points that started with an Broman three from the corner, two free throws from Joshua Davenport and a reverse layup by Adam Pickett. Liberty battled back to make it a 9-8 Winthrop lead before the Eagles went on an 8-0 run. This run included six points from Johnson that was capped off by him picking the pocket of John Dawson and going to the other end for an easy layup for a 17-8 lead.

Winthrop pushed its lead to double-figures for the first time in the game when Broman hit a three with 1:45 to play in the half for a 24-12 lead. The Eagles led by as much as 13 points with 1:17 left but the Flames cut it to 11 before the break.

EXTRA DRIBBLE
-Winthrop is all alone in first in the Big South standings at 7-1
-The Eagles captured two wins on the week, both over the team they were tied with in first place (UNC Asheville/Liberty)
-Eagles have won 18 of their last 21 games against Big South opponents
-The win over Liberty makes the Eagles 6-0 in the month of January for the first time in the history of the program
-Johnson is now just 124 points away from becoming the program's all-time leader scorer
-With 11 rebounds, Cooks is now 7^th all-time in program history for career rebounds with 575
-This is the first game of the season that Cooks or Johnson didn't lead the team in scoring