ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop men's basketball fell 76-74 to East Tennessee State, Saturday afternoon at the Winthrop Coliseum.
WINTHROP (2-2, 0-0 BIG SOUTH)
SCORING LEADERS
ETSU (2-2, 0-0 SoCON)
SCORING LEADERS
- Isaiah Tisdale (17 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals)
- Kevon Tucker (16 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal)
- Jeromy Rodriguez (9 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks)
FIRST HALF
- ETSU led 6-0 in the early going as the Eagles opened the game 0-for-4 from the floor
- An 5-0 spurt put ETSU on top 11-4 and eventually led by eight points at 15-7
- Nych Smith scored off a drive to spark an 8-0 run by the Eagles to tie the game at 15-15 with 8:48 to play in the half
- Isaiah Tisdale gave ETSU the lead right back but a Smith scored in the lane while getting fouled and completed a three-point play for Winthrop's first lead at 18-17
- Tied at 19 with 6:47 left, Smith buried a three and then Charles Falden hit two free throws to give Winthrop its largest lead at 24-19
- The momentum shifted quickly in ETSU's favor as it finished the half outscoring the Eagles 16-6 (10-0 run) for a 35-30 lead at the break
- Winthrop shot 38 percent from the floor in the first half while the Bucs shot 40 percent
- Kevon Tucker scored 16 first half points for ETSU off the bench to lead the way
- Smith matched him with 16 first half points
SECOND HALF
- ETSU pushed its lead to seven points just over three minutes into the second half but the Eagles responded with a 9-2 run to tie the game at 47-47
- That 9-2 run turned into a 15-2 run with 11 straight points as Bjorn Broman capped off the run with a three-point play with 11:51 remaining
- Kyle Zunic broke the tie with a three that was followed by the three-point play by Broman for a 53-47 lead
- ETSU came back to tie the game at 56-56 with just under nine to play
- Over the next four minutes the game was back and forth until the Eagles pushed it to a three possession game after Zunic scored in the lane with 3:41 to play
- A 7-0 run capped off by a Patrick Good triple gave ETSU a 72-71 lead with 2:29 to play
- Trailing by two, Smith drove the lane and scored while getting fouled and completed the three-point play for a 75-74 lead
- After getting a defensive stop with 24 seconds left, the Eagles turned the ball over from full court pressure and Jeromy Rodriguez scored on a short jumper off glass in the paint
- Winthrop had the ball for the final possession trailing by two but Zunic received a late pass on the wing and had to try and beat the shot clock as his shot behind the arc banked off the board and into the hands of an ETSU player as the horn sounded
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Points in the paint were even at 36-36 while the Bucs took advantage of a 17-3 advantage in offensive rebounds (12-0 on second chance points)
- Smith led all scorers with a career-high 26 points and was an impressive 9-of-12 from the floor
- Zunic chipped in with 10 points off the Winthrop bench, which provided 14 total points in the game
- Winthrop had a season-high eight blocks, led by Ferguson's career-best five
- Winthrop shot 61 percent from the floor in the second half to shoot 50 percent in the game while ETSU finished shooting 43 percent
- Winthrop was 15-of-19 from the foul line while ETSU was 8-of-16
- The two teams combined for 57 points off turnovers as Winthrop committed 20 that led to 31 points and ETSU committed 16 that led to 26 points
NOTABLES
- Loss ended a non-conference home win streak at five games
- Winthrop shot 61 percent from the floor in the second half, 50 percent from three (5-of-10) and a perfect 5-for-5 from the line but committed 11 turnovers that led to 21 points for ETSU
- Adam Pickett entered the game as the team's leading scorer through three games but spent the game in foul trouble and finished with four points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals in 16 minutes
UP NEXT
The Eagles will hit the road for a date with #10/2 Kentucky at Rupp Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 21 at 1 p.m. The game will broadcast live on the SEC Network.
