Buies Creek, N.C.—Chandler Vaudrin scored a game-high 16 points and Winthrop received 40 points from its bench in an 87-72 win at Campbell, Saturday afternoon in Big South Conference action.
WINTHROP (8-7, 2-0 BIG SOUTH)
SCORING LEADERS
CAMPBELL (9-5, 0-2 BIG SOUTH)
SCORING LEADERS
- Jordan Whitfield (15 points, 1 assist)
- Ja'Cor Nelson (14 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal)
- Cedric Henderson (13 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block)
FIRST HALF
- Winthrop showed it was locked in defensively in the early going, forcing turnovers in five of Campbell's first 10 possessions
- Eagles worked their way to a couple of five point leads in the early going and led 11-6 at the first official timeout
- Chase Claxton's layup off a nice feed from Chandler Vaudrin gave the Eagles a 4-2 lead and Vaudrin followed with a runner off the glass for a four point lead
- After Jordan Whitfield scored off a drive, Jamal King responded as Vaudrin found him in the corner for a three and a 9-4 lead
- Winthrop ended up forcing seven turnovers in the first 15 possessions for Campbell
- A Cory Gensler free throw made it a one point game at 15-14 with 12:44 to play in the half when the Eagles went on a 10-2 run for a nine-point advantage
- The run began with Jamal King's second three of the game and an elbow jumper from D.J. Burns Jr.
- Campbell's Milos Stajcic made two free throws to stop the spurt, but Charles Falden knocked down a triple followed by two Kyle Zunic free throws for the nine point lead
- Back-to-back buckets from Gensler and Whitfield cut the Winthrop lead to five points with 9:33 left
- Winthrop responded again with a 7-0 run in just a minute and a half capped off by a tip-in by King off his own miss for a 31-20 lead
- Hunter Hale, coming off a career-high 29 points, connected on his first bucket with 5:09 left in the half as he gave the Eagles their largest lead of the half with a triple
- Winthrop pushed its lead to as much as 15 points after a three-point play from Zunic and held on to its double-digit lead heading into the half
- Despite missing its final four field goal attempts the Eagles shot 58 percent from the floor while Campbell shot 60 percent
- Eagles forced nine turnovers that led to 11 points
- The Winthrop bench contributed with 31 first half points led by Burns Jr. with 10 points
SECOND HALF
- Both teams came out making shots in the second half as the Eagles pushed the lead to 12 points with 17:17 to play after a Vaudrin layup on a fast break off a turnover
- Campbell answered with a 6-0 spurt to make it a two possession game with just under 16 minutes left
- The lead went right back to 12 points as a 6-0 spurt was finished off with a breakaway dunk from Vaudrin
- Two free throws by Whitfield with 10:53 remaining made it a seven point game but a three from Vaudrin on the left wing put the Eagles back up by double-digits which they held on to for the remainder of the game
- Vaudrin's three was quickly followed by a Ferguson three from the corner for a 66-53 lead
- The Eagles used a 13-2 run to open things up as two Falden free throws with 7:41 to play put the Eagles ahead 73-55
- A Ferguson three with just under seven minutes to play gave Winthrop its largest lead of the game at 19 points (76-57)
- Eagles didn't cool off in the second half as they shot 59 percent from the floor and were 4-for-6 from three
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Both teams were over 50 percent from the floor in the game as the Eagles shot 58 percent while Campbell shot 51 percent
- Rebounding battle was dead even at 28-28, as the teams were also even in defensive (21) and offensive boards (7)
- Eagles dominated points in the paint 42-24
- Campbell committed more turnovers (18) than the Eagles (12) but had an 18-12 edge in points off turnovers
- The Winthrop bench contributed 40 points led by Burns Jr. with 15, Falden added nine points while King and Zunic each finished with eight
- Whitfield paced four Campbell players in double-figures with 15
- Vaudrin (8) and Hale (3) combined for 11 of the team's 14 assist in the game
- Winthrop held the lead for 39:02 of the 40 minutes in the game
- Vaudrin also had a team-high seven rebounds and eight assists
NOTABLES
- Winthrop has now won four straight games, the longest winning streak since non-conference play of last season
- This is the third straight win over Campbell and the fourth win at Gore Arena in the last five trips
- Eagles are 2-0 to start league play for the second straight season and 11th time in program history
- Campbell came into the game ranked 7th nationally in defending the three-point line, holding opponents to 26 percent shooting
- Winthrop finished the game 8-of-16 behind the arc, a season-low in three-point attempts
- The 58 percent shooting in the first half was a season-high for the Eagles as they posted 48 points, the second most in the first half this season (59 vs. Pfeiffer is the season-high)
- It was the third straight meeting with the Camels that the Eagles shot 57 percent or better from the floor in the first half
- Before missing their final four shots of the first half, Winthrop only missed consecutive shots once in the previous 18 minutes of the game
- Eagles have now scored 85 or more points in four straight games
- During the Pat Kelsey era the Eagles are now 109-19 when leading at the half including a 55-4 mark when leading by double-figures and 31-13 when leading on the road
UP NEXT
Winthrop remains on the road as it heads to High Point, NC for the first time since the 2017-18 season when it takes on the Panthers at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 8.
