Rock Hill, S.C.— Another strong defensive effort with 14 steals and 26 forced turnovers in a 72-57 victory over Presbyterian College for a 10
th straight win, Saturday afternoon at the Winthrop Coliseum.
WINTHROP (14-7, 8-0 BIG SOUTH)
SCORING LEADERS
PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE (8-13, 5-3 BIG SOUTH)
SCORING LEADERS
- Chris Martin (13 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals)
- C.J. Melton (6 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals)
- Sean Jenkins (8 points, 1 block, 1 steal)
FIRST HALF
- Winthrop opened up the game 4-of-18 from the floor as PC led 17-11 with 8:16 left in the half
- Burns Jr. started a 10-0 run with a jumper with 7:39 to play in the half
- Hunter Hale followed with four straight points at the rim and the run was capped off by a Chase Claxton second chance bucket for a 21-17 lead with 4:23 remaining in the half
- With the game tied 24-24 with 2:20 left the Eagles managed three points down the stretch for the three-point halftime lead at 27-24
- Both teams shot 33 percent from the floor in the first half and combined for 29 turnovers
- Winthrop scored 15 points off turnovers while PC had 12
SECOND HALF
- Chandler Vaudrin scored the first points of the second half to give the Eagles a five point advantage, but the Blue Hose answered right away with a three from Zeb Graham
- After a Hale jumper Owen McCormack drained a three to make it a one point game at 31-30 nearly a minute and a half in
- A three-point play by Michael Isler made it a one point game with 17:08 left
- Anumba worked his way into the lane and scored inside to start a 14-0 run to open up the game
- On the next possession Burns Jr. drained two free throws for a 41-36 lead
- The teams went scoreless over the next two minutes before Kyle Zunic hit a three
- Winthrop forced a turnover and on its ensuing possession Hale drilled a three for a double-figure lead at 47-36
- Another forced turnover led to free throws as Hale stole the ball and ended up with two free throws on the other end as he made both for a 13 point lead
- Hale then finished the run off with two more free throws
- Ben Drake ended the run with a layup off a pass from Chris Martin, but the Eagles answered with five straight points
- PC pulled with 13 points after a three-point play from Martin with 8:48 remaining but the Eagles used an 11-2 run for a 22-point advantage on a Russell Jones Jr. triple
- Winthrop shot 52 percent from the floor in the second half while the Blue Hose shot 46 percent
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Winthrop finished the game shooting 42 percent from the floor and PC shot 40 percent
- Eagles forced 26 turnovers in the game they turned into 32 points and had 14 steals
- Eagles hit 21 free throws in the game (21-for-27) as they were 78 percent at the line while PC was 16-for-22 (73%)
- The rebounding edge went to the Eagles 34-29 but they dominated second chance points 18-4
- Hale led all scorers with 19 points and was 1-of-5 Winthrop players with two or more steals in the game
- Chase Claxton led the Winthrop bench in scoring with seven points
NOTABLES
- The win is the 10th straight for the Eagles and they are now 8-0 in league play
- It is just the 5th time in program history that a team has won 10 or more consecutive games
- The 14 steals tied for a season-high
- The win is the 153rd for Pat Kelsey as he's now just seven victories behind Nield Gordon for 2nd all-time Winthrop history
- This is the third straight game the Eagles have held their opponents to 57 or fewer points
UP NEXT
Winthrop will be back on the road on Thursday, Jan. 25 as it heads down to North Charleston, SC to take on Charleston Southern at 7:30 p.m.
