ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop men's basketball nearly pulled off one of the biggest comebacks in program history, but Xavier Cooks' game-tying three-point attempt as time expired fell just short and off the front rim as Winthrop fell 78-75 to Charleston Southern, Saturday afternoon.
 
WINTHROP (18-11, 12-6 BIG SOUTH)
SCORING LEADERS

• Adam Pickett (21 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 3 steals)
• Josh Ferguson (15 points, 7 rebounds, 1 block)
• Xavier Cooks (9 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 block, 1 steal) 

CHARLESTON SOUTHERN (14-15, 9-9 BIG SOUTH)
SCORING LEADERS

• Phlandrous Fleming (26 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals)
• Christian Keeling (22 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 4 steals
• Cortez Mitchell (10 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists) 

FIRST HALF

• Charleston Southern led 4-0 early and pushed that lead to 14-9 with 12:47 left
• Kyle Zunic scored to make it a 14-11 as he hit a floater in the lane
• The Bucs then reeled off six straight points as starting with an alley-oop by Jordan Jones from Christian Keeling followed by two jumpers from Cortez Mitchell
• Adam Pickett ended the run with a jumper in the lane followed by another jumper in the paint by Charles Falden to make it a five-point game with 9:28 left
• Another dunk by Jones ignited a run for the Bucs as they scored eight straight to lead 28-15 with 7:26 remaining in the half
• The Bucs stretch the lead to as much as 16 points with 6:25 left in the half and again with 3:42 on the clock
• Winthrop went on a 5-0 run to cut it to 11 points as Pickett capped off the run with a tough jumper in the lane while being fouled as he completed the three-point play
• The Bucs held steady to lead 41-27 at the break
• Winthrop shot 42 percent from the floor, but was just 1-for-9 behind the arc (11%)
• Charleston Southern shot 50 percent from the floor and had 15 points off 12 Eagle turnovers 

SECOND HALF

• Christian Keeling opened the second half scoring a minute and five seconds in as he buried a three for a 17-point lead
• The Eagles got back-to-back baskets from Josh Ferguson and a free throw from Pickett to cut the deficit to 12 points
• The Buccaneers lead hovered between 12-15 over the next 3-4 minutes before they scored five straight points for a 20-point lead with 10:13 to play
• Over the next three and a half minutes, the Eagles chipped away at the lead, outscoring the Bucs 10-3 behind threes from Pickett and Zunic
• Pickett cut the Buccaneers lead to under 10 at 64-55 with a three-point play with 4:45 left
• The Eagles trailed 66-58 with 3:35 to play after Ferguson knocked down 1-of-2 free throws
• The Eagles got a stop defensively and then Anders Broman buried a three in front of the Eagle bench on a kick out by Pickett to make it a two possession game
• With 41 seconds to play Phlandrous Fleming made two free throws for a 70-62 lead
• Winthrop ran a play for Bjorn Broman on the wing and he buried a three and was fouled as he completed a four-point play to cut the deficit in half with 35 seconds remaining
• Fleming again hit two free throws to make it a six point game but a three-point play on the other end by Cooks cut the deficit to three
• Bjorn Broman missed a three, but Cooks leaped up to grab the miss and on his way down banked in a shot while being fouled
• Pickett scored on a drive to the basket to make it a 75-73 game with 10 seconds left as Keeling went to the line and made just 1-of-2 to make it a three-point game
• Pickett raced down the court and drove the lane to score and make it a one-point game with two seconds left
• Fleming made two free throws to put the Bucs up 78-75 with 1.4 seconds left
• Anders Broman took the inbound and tossed a pass down court to Cooks at the top of the key as he caught the ball, turned and his game-tying attempt was just short off the front of the rim 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Shooting percentages were pretty even for the game as the Bucs shot 48 percent and the Eagles shot 47 percent
• Winthrop finished the game 16-for-24 at the foul line while Charleston Southern was 18-for-23
• The Eagles dominated on the boards with a 40-27 advantage and had 13 second chance points
• Charleston Southern was 6-for-15 behind the arc (40%) while the Eagles struggled going 5-for-25 (20%)
• Winthrop had just four points off turnovers at the half and finished the game with 18 while Charleston Southern finished with 19
• The Bucs had a big advantage in fast break points (13-2)
• Kyle Zunic scored 12 points off the bench as he was 5-for-9 and had a three-point play that played a part in the Eagles getting back in the game 

NOTABLES

• The senior class has been part of three straight Big South Championship game appearances, 76 victories, the 2016-17 Big South Championship and NCAA Appearance
• History nearly had a chance to repeat itself as the Eagles rallied from a 23-point halftime deficit to defeat Charleston Southern 57-52 on Feb. 24, 2009 in the Winthrop Coliseum
• Eagles lose back-to-back games for the first time since losing three in a row to start 2018
• This was the first time the Eagles lost to the Bucs in 18 meetings as they had won 17 straight in the Winthrop Coliseum (14 straight in regular season)
• The Eagles also ended a home winning streak at six games
• The team that has led at the half has won the last 18 meetings in this series
• Another streak that came to an end is the Eagles had won 17 straight home games in the month of February and are now 18-2 under Kelsey in those games
• With the loss the Eagles are now tied for second place in the league standings with Radford, who won at Longwood on Saturday

 
ON TAP FOR WINTHROP
The Eagles along with many of the other schools from the conference will head to Asheville, NC next week for the Big South Conference Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday, Mar. 1. Seeds for the tournament will be announced on Sunday after the RPI is updated.