ROCK HILL, SC—Josh Ferguson scored a career-high 21 points and pulled in a career-best 15 rebounds to lead Winthrop to an 86-61 victory over South Carolina State, Sunday evening at the Winthrop Coliseum.
WINTHROP LEADERS
S.C. STATE LEADERS
- Damani Applewhite (11 points, 12 rebounds)
- Janai Raynor-Powell (11 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 1 assist)
FIRST HALF
- The first six and a half minutes were a one possession game as the teams traded buckets
- Anders Broman hit two free throws with 12:38 left in the half for a 12-8 lead and the Eagles pushed the lead to eight points after a layup by Kyle Zunic and a jumper by Charles Falden
- Those two baskets started a stretch in which the Eagles knocked down 8-of-9 shots
- With 9:56 left the Bulldogs made it a six-point game at 20-14 after David Bottenberg scored in the paint
- Winthrop responded with back-to-back baskets inside from Josh Ferguson for its first double-figure lead of the game
- Donte Wright answered with a triple for South Carolina State, only to see it matched by Zunic to push the lead back to 10 (27-17) with 8:33 left in the half
- Two more free throws by Anders Broman gave Winthrop a 34-24 lead with 5:17 left as the Eagles held the double-figure lead into the break
- Xavier Cooks scored with one second left in the half for a 43-31 lead as he tipped in his own miss
- The Eagles shot 50 percent from the floor (3-for-8 from three) while holding the Bulldogs to 38 percent
SECOND HALF
- The Bulldogs scored the first five points of the second half to cut the Winthrop lead to seven points before Zunic found Ferguson down low for a layup to end the spurt
- Both teams went scoreless for the next two minutes before Austin Awad drained a three for a double-figure lead for the remainder of the game
- Rayshawn Neal hit a jumper in the lane to make it a 14-point game with 11:28 left but the Eagles used a 7-0 run to push their lead to 20 for the first time in the game
- Falden knocked down a jumper in the run and capped it off with two free throws for a 63-42 lead
- Winthrop did push its lead to as much as 28 points with 2:56 to play after a Falden triple
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Ferguson led all scorers and was 1-of-4 Eagles in double-figures as Awad had 16 while Cooks and Falden finished with 12
- The Eagles had 17 assists on 30 field goals made and finished the game shooting 46 percent
- Winthrop held the Bulldogs to 33 percent shooting and forced 19 turnovers that led to 25 points (25-12 advantage in points of turnovers)
- For the 4th straight game the Eagles received 40 or more points from their bench with 46 against the Bulldogs
- Anders Broman led all players with a career-high five assists as he finished the game with nine points (6-for-6 from the line)
- Awad was in double-figures for the third straight game as he posted a career-high 16 behind a career-best five threes
- Falden came off the bench for 11 points, two shy of his career-best as he was 4-for-6 from the floor
NOTABLES
- Xavier Cooks had three blocks in the game and is now two shy of becoming the program's all-time leader (Duby Okeke leads with 165)
- Winthrop hit nine threes in the game, which ends its streak of consecutive games with 10 or more at four games (one shy of tying school mark)
- Eagles are 46-7 in the last 53 home games
- Winthrop is now 36-3 all-time under head coach Pat Kelsey when leading by double-figures at halftime
ON TAP FOR WINTHROP
Eagles turn their focus to Furman as they travel to Greenville, SC on Wednesday, Nov. 29 for a 7 p.m. matchup.
<>
