ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop earned a third straight win and improved to 6-1 in the Big South Conference with a 97-88 victory over Gardner-Webb, Thursday evening at the Winthrop Coliseum.
 
WINTHROP (14-6, 6-1 BIG SOUTH)
SCORING LEADERS

• Bjorn Broman (20 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists)
• Adam Pickett (19 points, 11 rebounds, 1 block, 2 steals)
• Charles Falden (19 points, 5 rebounds, 1 block) 

GARDNER-WEBB (12-8, 2-3 BIG SOUTH)
SCORING LEADERS

• David Efianayi (26 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal)
• D.J. Laster (16 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal)
• Jose Perez (14 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist)

FIRST HALF

• For the second straight home game the Eagles jumped out to a big lead in the early going
• It didn't start off that way with the Eagles committing turnovers on their first three possessions
• Gardner-Webb led 2-0 after two free throws from D.J. Laster but Adam Pickett quickly tied the game at 2-2 and that started a big run
• On the ensuing possession Bjorn Broman drilled a three followed by a three from Pickett for an 8-2 lead
• Winthrop went on to score 18 straight points, capped off by a Charles Falden three for an 18-2 lead with 13:13 left in the half
• Jaheam Cornwall ended the run with a runner off the glass
• Winthrop continued to contest shots and defend with energy as it held the Runnin' Bulldogs below 10 points for the first 11 minutes and 51 seconds
• David Efianayi followed his own miss for a tip-in to score the 10^th point as Winthrop led 26-10
• Shots continued to fall for the Eagles as they pushed their lead to as much as 22 in the half before leading by 21 at the break, 47-26
• The Eagles shot 49 percent from the floor while holding Gardner-Webb to 30 percent
• Pickett and Falden came off the bench to lead the way offensively for Winthrop in the first half with 12 points and 10 points respectively

SECOND HALF

• The second half was a different story for the Gardner-Webb offense as it shot 70 percent from the floor in an attempt to come back
• In the early going each time Gardner-Webb tried to chip away the Eagles had an answer
• Jose Perez knocked down a jumper to start a 7-0 run for Gardner-Webb that made it a 15-point game with 17:32 left
• Micheal Anumba stopped the run as he buried a straight away three
• Over the next six minutes the Eagles maintained a lead of 16-20 points
• After Nych Smith scored at the rim, Gardner-Webb reeled off six straight points to cut the Winthrop lead down to 12 with 10:02 remaining
• The lead was 12 again with 9:15 left when Anumba hit a jumper near the free throw line followed by a pull up three from Falden to push the lead back to 17 points with just over eight minutes left
• Gardner-Webb's Perez made it a 14-point game with 7:15 to play when Winthrop responded with a 7-0 run for a 21-point lead with 4:35 left
• The lead was down to 10 points with 2:31 left after Efianayi hit a three and a jumper while Perez hit 1-of-2 free throws
• At that point Gardner-Webb began to foul to stretch the game out and the Eagles hit 10-of-12 free throws down the stretch for the win
• Winthrop shot 52 percent from the floor in the second half and was 17-of-23 at the foul line

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Winthrop finished the game shooting 50 percent while Gardner-Webb shot 51 percent
• Eagles dominated the glass 41-30 and held Gardner-Webb to just five offensive boards
• Efianayi led all scorers with 26 points and was 1-of-4 Runnin' Bulldogs in double-figures
• Perez had a double-double with 14 points, 10 rebounds while Nate Johnson nearly had a double-double of his own with 15 points and eight rebounds
• Broman tied his season-high of 20 points to lead the Eagles while Pickett and Falden each had 19
• The 19 points for Falden were a career-high as he was 8-for-10 from the floor and 3-of-5 behind the arc
• Josh Ferguson chipped in with 11 points and six rebounds
• Winthrop held Gardner-Webb 0-for-10 in the first seven minutes of the game
• Gardner-Webb opened the game 2-of-18 from the floor
• Runnin' Bullodgs hit their last three shots of the first half and were 11-of-12 over a nine minute stretch
• Gardner-Webb hit 10-of-13 field goals over the final 4:22 to dig into Winthrop's big lead
• Winthrop hit 15 threes in the game, which tied for the most against an NCAA D1 opponent this season (15-of-36 / 42 percent)

NOTABLES

• Winthrop has now won 10 straight against Gardner-Webb and leads the all-time series 22-9
• Eagles have now won three straight and five of the last six
• After hitting 15 threes the Eagles now have made 250 on the season, which ranks 8^th in program history for most in a single-season
• Nych Smith led the team with seven assists (ties career-high) and the Eagles are now 9-0 this season when he leads the team in that category
• This was the third straight meeting with Gardner-Webb in which the Eagles have scored 90 or more points

UP NEXT
Eagles will hit the road on one day's rest as they'll travel to Clinton, SC to take on Presbyterian College at 4 p.m.