ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop men's basketball opened Big South Conference action with a 76-60 victory over High Point, Saturday afternoon at the Winthrop Coliseum. The Eagles improve to 7-5 on the year while the Panthers fall to 5-7.
WINTHROP LEADERS
HIGH POINT LEADERS
- Andre Fox (21 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals)
- Jahaad Proctor (12 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists)
- Brandonn Kamga (7 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals)
FIRST HALF
- Both teams got off to a slow start shooting the ball but High Point built a 12-6 lead with 13:21 left
- The Eagles went on an 8-1 run for a 14-13 lead and then outscored the Panthers 13-4 to for a 19-16 lead with a little over eight minutes remaining
- The 8-1 run started with four straight free throws from Nych Smith and Adam Pickett followed by a dunk-follow from Josh Ferguson
- A jumper from Pickett capped off the run as he scored seven points during the 13-4 run
- After taking the 19-16 lead, High Point scored five quick points to get the lead back with seven and a half minutes left on a Jahaad Proctor three
- The two teams combined for 21 turnovers and 20 points off turnovers
- Defensively the Eagles held the Panthers to 25 percent shooting and 8 turnovers, but the Panthers kept the game close at the foul line (11-for-15)
- Winthrop finished the first half shooting 42 percent, but was only 2-for-11 behind the arc
SECOND HALF
- Eagles opened the second half on a 7-2 run for a 37-31 lead as Bjorn Broman opened the run with a triple
- With 15:38 to play, the Eagles led 37-34 and opened up a double-figure lead with a 15-4 run that had them in front 52-38 with just under 10 to play
- The run was highlighted by three-point plays from Smith and Pickett and capped off by an Anders Broman three
- The Panthers got the deficit back to single-digits with 7:47 to play when Andre Fox drilled a three from the corner
- The lead was nine points at the 7:09 mark when Xavier Cooks scored that gave the Eagles a double-figure lead they held to the end
- Winthrop shot 59 percent from the floor in the second half and made 9-of-12 shots over the final 13 minutes of the game
- Winthrop was 16-for-19 at the foul line in the second half alone and also had a +13 advantage on the boards
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Winthrop finished with a season-high 25 turnovers that led to 21 points for the Panthers
- The Eagles were 8-for-20 to start the game and finished making 16 of their final 28 shots from the floor
- In the second half the Panthers shot 39 percent, but the Eagles held them to 32 percent for the game
- From the 6:55 mark of the first half to the 18:41 mark of the second half the Eagles held High Point to 2-for-17 shooting
- Eagles finished just 6-for-21 from three, but finished with a 34-24 advantage on points in the paint
- Andre Fox led all scorers with 21 points as he was 7-for-13 from the floor
- Pickett scored a career-high 14 points as he made just his second career start
- In addition to Pickett and Bjorn Broman, Anders Broman (13) and Cooks (13) were also in double-figures
- Nych Smith scored nine points off the bench and also finished with four rebounds, two assists and two steals
NOTABLES
- Cooks moved into 6th place on Winthrop's all-time scoring list, passing Fred McKinnon (1,427) and now has 1,437
- The 25 turnovers are the most the Eagles have committed in a win during Pat Kelsey's tenure
- Bjorn Broman hauled in a career-high seven rebounds
- During the Kelsey Era, the Eagles are now 26-5 when playing a home game following a road loss
- Winthrop has now won five straight Big South openers, which is a program record
- This was just the second time in the last nine meetings the outcome was decided by double-figures
ON TAP FOR WINTHROP
The Eagles hit the road for two straight beginning with Radford on Wednesday, Jan. 3 at 7 p.m.
