ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop turned in a strong defensive effort to earn a 66-45 win over UNC Asheville, Monday afternoon in the Winthrop Coliseum.
WINTHROP (13-6, 5-1 BIG SOUTH)
SCORING LEADERS
UNC ASHEVILLE (2-18, 0-6 BIG SOUTH)
SCORING LEADERS
- Tajion Jones (17 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal)
- Stephen Edoka (11 points, 4 rebounds, 1 block)
- Jeremy Peck (6 points, 1 rebound)
FIRST HALF
- Both teams were scoreless over the first 1:31 of the game when Micheal Anumba fed Josh Ferguson inside for a dunk
- Nearly two minutes later Bjorn Broman knocked down a three for a 5-0 lead as the Eagles went on to score the first 13 points of the game
- Charles Falden's three put the Eagles up 13-0 with 12:25 to play in the half
- DeVon Baker knocked down a short jumper just outside of the lane to end the drought for the Bulldogs
- Winthrop held Asheville scoreless in the first seven and a half minutes on 0-for-11 shooting
- Broman's three with 8:40 to play but the Eagles up by 19 points at 23-4
- The Eagles defense held the Bulldogs under 10 points until the 5:45 mark when Tajion Jones drained a three as the Eagles led 23-12
- Winthrop was 1-of-8 from the 9;45 mark to the 3:12 mark of the half, which allowed the Bulldogs to make it a six-point game
- Stephen Edoka's dunk off a turnover pulled the Bulldogs within 25-19 with 3:31 left
- Falden answered with his second three followed by a Nych Smith jumper in the lane and the lead was back to double-figures at 30-19
- Kyle Zunic scored with two seconds left in the half as he came away with a steal and went the distance for a 32-21 lead at the break
- Winthrop shot 38 percent from the floor and 33 percent behind the arc
- Asheville shot 28 percent from the floor and 20 percent from three
- In the first 20 minutes the team's combined for 16 offensive rebounds
SECOND HALF
- Zunic then opened up the scoring in the second half when Smith found him open for a 35-21 lead
- The lead extended to 16 points when Ferguson dropped in two free throws with 17;33 to play
- Back-to-back baskets by Baker and Jones at the rim made it a 12-point game but Adam Pickett buried a corner three
- The Eagles continued their hard work defensively and maintained a steady 16-19 points lead over the final 14 minutes and even pushed the lead to as much as 24 points
- After Jeremy Peck drove down the right side of the lane and scored the Eagles hit back-to-back threes with Austin Awad hitting the first and Anumba hitting the second in transition
- The back-to-back threes put the Eagles up 64-40 with 2:09 to play
- Winthrop improved its shooting in the second half at 46 percent and held Asheville to 36 percent
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Smith led Winthrop in scoring at 15 points as he finished 5-for-11 from the floor and led the Eagles with four assists (no turnovers)
- Smith was 1-of-4 Eagles in double-figures as Broman had 12 on 4-of-10 shooting, Adam Pickett added 11 points and Zunic chipped in with 10
- Jones scored a game-high 17 points for Asheville, but Baker (team's leading scorer) was just 2-of-12 and finished with four points
- Winthrop hit 13 threes in the game as seven different players contributed with at least one
- Winthrop won the battle on the glass 41-34 and finished with 14 offensive rebounds for 16 second-chance points
- Both team's entered the contest as two of the top free throw shooting team's in the league but Winthrop finished 9-of-16 (60%) and Asheville was 7-of-11 (64%)
NOTABLES
- Winthrop has won back-to-back games and five of the last six
- Eagles sweep the regular season series with Asheville for the first time since the 2014-15 season
- Defensively the Eagles have held their opponents to under 30 points in the last three halves and did so in the same game for the first time this season
- The 45 points allowed are the fewest by the Eagles this season and lowest since holding Hampton to 43 points on Dec. 30, 2012
- Eagles have now won seven straight meetings with Asheville in the Winthrop Coliseum
- Over the last three seasons the Eagles are now 25-6 in the month of January
- Broman became the 7th player in program history to reach 200 three-pointers in a career as he hit four on the day and now has 200
- It was also the 100th career start for Broman
UP NEXT
Winthrop stays home for its next contest when it hosts Gardner-Webb on Thursday, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. as the game will air live on ESPNU.
