PHOTO GALLERY
ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop captured a third straight win with an 85-58 victory over Big South Conference preseason favorite UNC Asheville, Thursday evening in a nationally televised game at the Winthrop Coliseum.
WINTHROP (10-8, 4-3 BIG SOUTH)
SCORING LEADERS
UNC ASHEVILLE (11-9, 4-3 BIG SOUTH)
SCORING LEADERS
- Ahmad Thomas (20 points, 11 rebounds, 1 steal)
- MaCio Teague (14 points, 4 rebounds)
- Raekwon Miller (8 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals)
FIRST HALF
- Winthrop raced out to a 9-2 lead behind a couple of dunks from Xavier Cooks and a three from Adam Pickett
- Eagles made four of their first six shots while the Bulldogs began the game 2-for-8
- Cooks hit a straight away three with 9:18 left in the half to put the Eagles on top by 10 (20-10), but Asheville's Ahmad Thomas answered right back with a three
- Jermaine Ukaegbu's layup with 7:59 left pushed the lead back to double-digits
- The lead grew to 14 points after Josh Ferguson hit a triple in front of the Asheville bench that led to a timeout by the visitors
- Cooks then played a role in pushing the lead to 19 points with 4:17 left
- Cooks found Anders Broman open in the corner for three for a 31-14 lead and then proceeded to come up with a block on the defensive end that led to Cooks scoring on the other end with a drive to the basket
- Asheville went on a 6-0 spurt that forced a Winthrop timeout as the Eagles come out of the break with Josh Ferguson scoring inside to lead 37-20
- Winthrop pushed its lead to 20 points on two occasions with the first coming with 4:05 left with two Anders Broman free throws and then with 1:51 left Bjorn Broman hit a deep three from the left wing
- Winthrop shot 48 percent from the floor while holding Asheville to 30 percent as the Eagles led 41-24 at the break
SECOND HALF
- Adam Pickett was limited to eight minutes in the first half as he picked up two quick fouls but opened the second half scoring for the Eagles with a straight away three
- Both teams were off to a slow start in the half, combining to go 4-fof-14 from the floor (each team was 2-for-7)
- The Eagles used a 7-0 run to extend the lead to 26 points with 12 and a half minutes remaining
- The first four points of the run came off free throws from Anders Broman and Cooks and then Cooks found Austin Awad open in the corner for three
- Winthrop eventually took a 30-point lead and led by as much as 33 with 7:12 to play
- Winthrop shot the ball well in the second half at 46 percent and was 6-for-13 from three
- Asheville was held to 39 percent shooting in the second half
- Anders Broman scored 14 of his team-high 19 points in the second half
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Winthrop shot 47 percent from the floor while holding the Bulldogs to 35 percent shooting
- The battle of the boards was won by the Eagles with a 42-37 edge
- Kyle Zunic led the Eagle bench with 12 points as it doubled-up the Bulldogs bench 24-12
- The Eagles finished with 18 assists on 27 field goals and turned the ball over just 10 times
- Asheville's top two scorers McCio Teague and Ahmad Thomas combined for 34 points but were 13-for-33 from the floor (2-for-10 from behind the arc)
- Thomas led all scorers with 20 points (11 rebounds) while Teague added 14
- Jermaine Ukaegbu had a solid game off the bench for the Eagles with seven points, eight rebounds, and three blocks
- Adam Pickett was the fifth Eagle to score double-figures as he had 10 points as well as four assists
- Winthrop finished with a season-high nine blocks
NOTABLES
- This was the third straight win by double-figures for the Eagles
- In the three wins the Eagles won by an average of 20.3 ppg
- Xavier Cooks recorded his 29th career double-double with 15 points, 11 rebounds
- The Eagles have 40 assists combined over the last two games
- Cooks didn't record a block in the season-opener but has at least one block in the 18 games since as he finished with four against the Bulldogs
- This was the sixth straight win over the Bulldogs at the Winthrop Coliseum
- The victory was the 60th league win for Winthrop head coach Pat Kelsey
- Eagles are 50-8 in their last 58 home games and have won 30-of-36 against league foes at home
ON TAP FOR WINTHROP
Winthrop is back on the road for its next contest as it travels down the road to Clinton, SC to take on Presbyterian College, Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m.
