ROCK HILL, SC— Winthrop nearly overcame a 19-point deficit but fell 64-60 at Gardner-Webb, Saturday evening at Paul Porter Arena in Big South men's basketball action.
WINTHROP (17-9, 9-4 BIG SOUTH)
STAT LEADERS
GARDNER-WEBB (17-10, 7-5 BIG SOUTH)
STAT LEADERS
- David Efianayi (18 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal)
- Nate Johnson (14 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals)
- D.J. Laster (9 points, 5 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal)
FIRST HALF
- Both team's got off to a slow start shooting the ball but it was Gardner-Webb that broke out of the funk first
- With the Eagles leading 4-2 in the first minute and a half, the two teams proceeded to go scoreless over the next two and a half minutes combining to miss 11 straight shots
- D.J. Laster ended that drought for both teams with a straight away three for a 5-4 lead
- The Eagles got the lead back at 6-5 on a basket inside by Adam Pickett, which ended a drought of nearly four minutes for the Eagles
- Winthrop went cold again over the next three minutes and Gardner-Webb took advantage to build a 12-6 lead with David Efianayi scoring the last four points of a 7-0 run
- Micheal Anumba's three ended the scoring drought for the Eagles, making it a 12-9 deficit with 11:55 to play
- Jose Perez scored right back for the Runnin' Bulldogs only to have Winthrop knocked down another three to trail 14-12
- Winthrop trailed 22-19 with 7:42 remaining in the half when Gardner-Webb started to open the game
- Eagles went nearly six full minutes without a field goal over the final 7:42 as the only two points came at the foul line from Nych Smith
- Perez drove the lane and laid the ball off to Brandon Miller for an easy two in the paint to get the run started
- Gardner-Webb scored 10 straight points to lead 32-19 with 4:15 left, forcing a timeout by the Eagles
- Smith scored the free throws out of the timeout, but Gardner-Webb outscored the Eagles 7-4 in the final two minutes to lead by 17 at the break (42-25)
- Eagles hot just 28 percent from the floor in the first half, 3-for-20 from three while Gardner-Webb shot 56 percent with 24 points coming in the paint
SECOND HALF
- Winthrop came out with a strong defensive effort to start the second half, holding the Runnin' Bulldogs to three points in the first five minutes
- That allowed the Eagles to cut its 17-point halftime deficit to single digits at 47-38 after a Kyle Zunic three with 14:32 to play
- Eagles held Gardner-Webb to just one field goal on its first 15 attempts of the second half
- An Anumba three with 11:49 remaining made it a six-point game, forcing Gardner-Webb to call timeout
- Winthrop used the three ball to get back in the game hitting four threes as part of 12-2 run to get within six
- Out of the timeout Gardner-Webb pushed the lead back to double digits at 52-41 thanks to an Efianayi score at the rim and a transition three from Nate Johnson
- After the team's traded baskets, Winthrop hit back-to-back threes from Adam Pickett and Smith to make it a five point game with just over four and a half to play
- Eagles pulled within four points with just under a minute to play after Anumba hit two free throws
- With 43 seconds left Smith made two free throws and the Eagles were within a possession, 60-57
- After getting a defensive stop, the Eagles pushed the ball and ran a play that got Charles Falden free in the corner and his three went in and out, which would have made it a one point game with around 20 seconds left
- After Gardner-Webb pushed the lead back to five points, Smith made two free throws with 13 seconds left to bring it back to three
- Gardner-Webb's Jaheam Cornwall missed a one-and-one with 12 seconds left as Zunic boarded the miss, dribbled to the other end and pulled up from three to tie the game but it wouldn't fall
- Smith made a three with three seconds to play to cut it to two point, but Efianayi sealed the game with two free throws
- Eagles held Gardner-Webb to just 21 percent shooting in the half to work their way back into the game
- Winthrop shot 36 percent in the second half and was 7-of-20 from three
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- For the game the Eagles shot just 32 percent while Gardner-Webb finished at 40 percent
- Winthrop did reach 10 threes in the game, but was 10-for-40 (25%)
- Eagles had a big advantage on the boards 51-37 and had 15 offensive boards that led to 16 second chance points
- Efianayi led all scorers with 18 points as he was 6-for-15 shooting and 5-for-6 at the foul line
- Smith led the Eagles despite going 4-for-13 as he was 3-for-9 from three and 4-for-4 at the foul line
- Winthrop turned the ball over eight times in the first half that led to 14 points for the Runnin' Bulldogs (finished with 14 points off turnovers)
- In the first half the Eagles had two scoring droughts of over three minutes and a stretch of nearly six full minutes without a field goal
NOTABLES
- Gardner-Webb improves to 11-0 at home this year while the Eagles are now 7-6 (4-2 in the league)
- Prior to the loss the Eagles had won 10 straight over Gardner-Webb and three straight at Paul Porter Arena
- Eagles now have 324 threes made on the year and are 43 away from cracking the NCAA D1 Top 20 for most triples in a single-season (On pace to finish with 373)
- Eagles did reach 10 threes in the game, which is the fourth straight game hitting at least 10 and have now hit 10 or more in 11-of-13 league games
UP NEXT
Winthrop remains on the road as it will head to Radford, VA on Thursday, Feb. 21 to take on league-leading Radford at 7 p.m.
