BOILING SPRINGS, NC— Xavier Cooks scored a career-high 36 points and pulled down 16 rebounds to lead Winthrop to a 90-71 win at Gardner-Webb, Thursday evening in Paul Porter Arena.
WINTHROP (17-9, 11-4 BIG SOUTH)
SCORING LEADERS
GARDNER-WEBB (12-16, 7-8 BIG SOUTH)
SCORING LEADERS
- Liam O'Reilly (24 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals)
- David Efianayi (20 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals)
- D.J. Laster (14 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists)
FIRST HALF
- Winthrop led 4-1 early on and had a 7-4 advantage after Xavier Cooks buried a three from the wing
- Gardner-Webb went on a 7-0 run to take an 11-7 lead as Liam O'Reilly capped off the run with a three
- Cooks ended the run with another three from the wing but once again the Runnin' Bulldogs responded with a 6-0 run
- Winthrop again stopped a Gardner-Webb run with a three as Anders Broman drained a corner three and was fouled as he completed the four-point play to cut the deficit to 17-14
- Gardner-Webb continued to shoot the ball well and took a seven point lead again at 21-14, but the Eagles hit back-to-back triples by Adam Pickett and Anders Broman to make it a one-point game with 9:46 left
- The Eagles weren't done as they grabbed the lead on a tip-in by Cooks and then he buried a three from straight on for a 25-21 lead with 8:28 left
- Winthrop scored 11 straight points in less than two minutes
- The run ended at 13-0 as the Eagles hit three triples and held Gardner-Webb scoreless for nearly three minutes
- The Runnin' Bulldogs pulled within one with 6:42 to play in the half, but six straight points by the Eagles put them back on top 33-26
- Two free throws from O'Reilly with 31 seconds left made it a two-point game, but Ferguson put the Eagles up by five at the break as he scored inside while getting fouled and completed the three-point play for a 44-39 lead
- Eagles hit just four of their final 12 shots of the half as they shot 40 percent while Gardner-Webb knocked down 53 percent of its shots
- Cooks had 13 points at the half while Ferguson and Anders Broman each had 12
SECOND HALF
- Gardner-Webb scored the first points of the second half as David Efianayi stole a Cooks pass and went the distance for the lay-in
- Cooks answered for Winthrop with four straight points for a 48-41 lead
- After D.J. Laster scored inside, Ferguson put the Eagles up eight with a three-point play
- Gardner-Webb tried to dig into the lead but Austin Awad put the Eagles ahead by eight once more with 13:47 left after hitting a three from the wing
- O'Reilly scored six straight points to pull the Runnin' Bulldogs within two points at 58-56
- Eagles worked their way back to a nine point lead with 8:30 and pushed the lead to double-figures on three-pointer by Cooks
- Gardner-Webb cut the Eagle lead to single-digits and down to seven, but two free throws by Ferguson with 6:09 to play put the lead back to double-figures the rest of the way
- Winthrop made nine of its final 12 shots in the game and finished the half shooting 53 percent
- Cooks scored 23 of his 36 points in the second half
- Eagles held Gardner-Webb to 32 percent shooting in the half
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Winthrop shot 47 percent from the floor while Gardner-Webb finished at 42 percent
- Winthrop made seven threes in the first half and finished 9-for-26 (35%) while Gardner-Webb was just 5-for-22 behind the arc
- The rebounding battle went to the Eagles as they dominated the glass 46-31 (12 offensive rebounds)
- Points in the paint favored the Eagles 36-32 while Gardner-Webb had a slight edge in second chance points (10-9)
- Anders Broman finished the game with 15 points and four assists
- Aggressive play on the offensive end paid off for the Eagles as they were 25-for-34 at the foul line while Gardner-Webb was 12-for-15
NOTABLES
- Cooks became the third player in program history to reach 1,700 career points and the 25th player in Big South history
- Pickett's 10 rebounds were a career-high and he the double-double was the first of his career
- Cooks posted his eight of the season and 31st of his career
- Winthrop has now won four straight and 10-of-11 games
- Cooks is the 11th player in the history of the program to score 36 or more points in a single-game
- It's also tied for the 8th most points scored against a Big South opponent
- Winthrop has now won eight straight over the Runnin' Bulldogs and three straight at Paul Porter Arena
ON TAP FOR WINTHROP
Eagles will return to the Winthrop Coliseum for its next contest when it hosts Longwood on Sunday, Feb. 18 at 2 p.m.
