ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop men's basketball shot a season-low 27 percent as it dropped its first Big South contest with a 75-61 loss to Longwood, Wednesday night at the Winthrop Coliseum. .
 
The Eagles shot just 18 percent in the first half and never got it going in the second half as their winning streak came to end at three straight.  
 
WINTHROP (11-6, 3-1 BIG SOUTH)
SCORING LEADERS
•    Nych Smith (14 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists)
•    Josh Ferguson (14 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 steal)
•    Adam Pickett (6 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals)
LONGWOOD (12-7, 2-2 BIG SOUTH)
SCORING LEADERS
•    Isaiah Walton (30 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal)
•    JaShaun Smith (12 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 blocks, 2 steals)
•    Shabooty Phillips (9 points, 3 assists, 1 steal)

FIRST HALF
•    The teams traded leads early on but the Eagles worked their way to a 10-5 lead at the 17:13 mark after a Bjorn Broman three and Nych Smith knocking down a jumper in the lane
•    After making four of their first five shots, the Eagles missed their next 16 shots
•    Despite moving the ball and getting good looks the ball just refused to fall through the net as the field goal drought lasted a little over eight minutes
•    Charles Falden ended the streak as he drained a corner three, which made it a one possession game as Longwood led 17-14
•    Longwood came right back to take a 19-14 lead on an Isaiah Walton elbow jumper, but Smith drained a three to make it a one possession game again with 6:36 left in the half
•    Over the course of the final 6:36 the Eagles were 0-for-9 from the floor and trailed 31-23 at the break
•    Winthrop shot just 18 percent from the floor but held Longwood to 38 percent too keep the game within reach

SECOND HALF
•    The shooting woes continued for the Eagles at the start of the half, missing their first five shots for a total of 14 straight misses
•    Longwood scored the first seven points of the second half to open up a 15-point advantage
•    A Kyle Zunic three ended the streak of misses and got the Eagles going offensively
•    Longwood benefited from a flagrant foul off a turnover that led to Walton knocking down both free throws and then on the inbounds play the Lancers Sean Flood drilled a three for a 43-26 lead with 16:48 remaining
•    Josh Ferguson scored in the lane as Zunic set him up off a drive to the rim
•    Ferguson then scored on a soft hook in the lane followed by a trail three from Adam Pickett to cut the deficit to 10 points
•    As the Eagles tried to chip away at the deficit, Walton got hot and continued to knock down contests shots and jumpers off the dribble
•    After Pickett's three, Walton scored the next eight points for the Lancers as they pushed their lead back to 16 points at 53-37 with just under 13 minutes to play
•    Following the Zunic three, the Eagles hit 10-of-12 shots
•    Winthrop did get within seven points with 7:01 to play after Pickett kicked the ball to Ferguson for three as he scored five straight points to cut the lead to 62-55
•    Once again Walton had an answer as he knocked down a jumper to start a 6-0 spurt and the Lancers were back on top by 13 points with 5:01 left
•    Winthrop finished the final six and a half minutes just 2-of-14 from the floor

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
•    Smith and Ferguson were the only Eagles in double-figures
•    Winthrop shot 27 percent from the floor in the game and were 9-for-36 (25%) behind the arc
•    Longwood shot 53 percent from the floor in the second half to shoot 46 percent in the game
•    The Eagles finished the game 16-of-18 at the foul line while the Lancers were 11-for-16
•    Winthrop finished with 15 turnovers (9 in the second half) as Longwood took advantage for 24 points off turnovers

NOTABLES
•    The loss ends a 10-game winning streak against Longwood
•    Winthrop's home winning streak comes to an end at five straight
•    The 11 rebounds by Adam Pickett were a career-high
•    Eagles are now 79-19 all-time in the Winthrop Coliseum under Pat Kelsey  
•    Over the last three seasons the Eagles are now 23-6 in the month of January

UP NEXT
Winthrop looks to bounce back as it looks for a third straight road win on Saturday, Jan. 19 when it travels to Spartanburg, SC to take on USC Upstate at 4:30 p.m.