Louisville, Ky. – Winthrop men's basketball opened the 2020-21 season with a 75-67 victory over UNC Greensboro, Tuesday evening at the KFC Yum! Center. It was a game that saw 10 ties and 10 lead changes.

The Eagles are part of the multi-team event hosted by the University of Louisville and will be back in action on Thursday when they face Little Rock at 4 p.m.
 
WINTHROP (1-0)
SCORING LEADERS

• Chandler Vaudrin (14 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals)
• Adonis Arms (14 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal)
• Kelton Talford (12 points, 4 rebounds, 1 block, 2 steals)

UNC GREENSBORO (1-1)
SCORING LEADERS

• Isaiah Miller (19 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal)
• Hayden Koval (17 points, 7 rebounds, 3 blocks)
• Angelo Allegri (9 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal)

 
FIRST HALF

• Eagles jumped out to an early 5-0 lead as Chandler Vaudrin opened up the scoring with a turnaround jumper in the lane and then Vaudrin found Josh Corbin in the corner for a three
• The Eagles led by five on three occasions in the early going of the game with the last one coming at the 15:42 mark after Kelton Talford knocked down two free throw for a 9-4 lead
• Spartans fought back to tie the game at 11-11 about two minutes later as Angelo Allegri's three tied the game
• Winthrop pushed its lead to 15-11 after Talford scored inside and Adonis Arms hit two free throws with under 13 to play in the half
• Following a three by the Spartans to make it a one point game Talford scored inside again off a nice feed from Charles Falden
• Spartans responded with another three as Havden Koval knocked down a straight away three to tie the game at 17-17 with 11:09 left
• UNCG grabbed its first lead of the game with 9:58 left in the half as Mohammed Abdulsalam scored at the rim for a 19-18 advantage
• Isaiah Miller hit an elbow jumper at the 8:43 mark for the Spartans largest lead of the game to that point, 23-19 but then picked up his second foul a minute later that forced him to the bench
• Winthrop answered with an 11-0 run for its largest lead at 30-23
• The run got an early start from Jamal King as he buried a left wing three and Kyle Zunic capped it off with a triple for the seven point advantage
• The Eagles held the Spartans without a point over five and a half minutes during the run as that drought ended with a free throw by Jarrett Hensley with 3:10 left in the half
• That free sparked an 8-0 run by the Spartans to take a 31-30 lead in just over two minutes
• Burns Jr. connected on a jumper at the free throw line with three seconds left a 32-31 advantage at the break
• Winthrop shot 39 percent from the floor while holding UNCG to 34 percent
• Eagles received 20 points from its bench in the first half led by Talford with seven points

 SECOND HALF

• Falden opened the second half with a corner three for a 35-31 lead
• Spartans came right back to tie the game at 35-35 as Miller came away with steal and finished on the other end
• Talford responded for the Eagles with a steal of his own and finished with an emphatic dunk on the other end for a 37-35 lead
• Miller's bucket inside with 10:40 to play put the Spartans ahead 48-46
• A few possessions later King knocked down a jumper to tie the game at 48-48 with 9:14 to play which ignited a 6-0 spurt
• King drilled a three from the corner for a 51-50 lead and Arms capped off the spurt with a left wing three for a 54-50 advantage, forcing a timeout by UNCG
• Out of the timeout the Spartans scored inside from Abdulsalam to make it a one possession game
• From that point the Eagles steadily worked their way to a 64-56 lead with 4:33 to play, mostly at the free throw line going 8-for-10 and a Talford dunk for the eight point advantage
• Hayden Koval came right down following the Talford dunk and drilled a straight away three with 4:25 remaining
• The Eagles held off the Spartans the rest of the way, holding on to a multiple possession lead
• Vaudrin scored seven points over the final four minutes to help seal the win for the Eagles
• Eagles shot 42 percent in the 2^nd half while holding the Spartans to 34 percent and just 3-for-13 behind the arc

 INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Winthrop finished 41 percent from the floor and 40 percent behind the arc (6-of-15)
• UNCG finished at 34 percent from the floor and 24 percent from three (7-of-29)
• Eagles managed 19 points off 20 UNCG turnovers while the Spartans had 10 points off 18 Winthrop turnovers
• Adonis Arms scored 14 of Winthrop's 37 points from the bench, as he tied Chandler Vaudrin for a team-high in points
• Winthrop attempted 37 free throws (25-for-37) while UNCG finished the game 14-for-18 at the foul line
• In addition to his 14 points, Vaudrin also had eight rebounds and seven assists (one turnover)
• UNCG had a 44-41 advantage on the boards and had a 16-5 advantage on second chance points
• Isaiah Miller led Spartans with 19 points while Hayden Koval had 17 points and were the only two in double-figures
• Kelton Talford finished with 12 points and four rebounds in his freshman debut with the Eagles

 NOTABLES

• This was the sixth straight victory for the Eagles dating back to the 2019-20
• This was the first time since 2000 that the Eagles faced UNCG and had dropped two straight in the series before tonight's win
• Vaudrin surpassed 900 career points in his collegiate career and with his seven assists in the game is now just 13 away from 500 in his career
• Eagles are now 7-2 in season openers under Pat Kelsey and 28-16 all-time
• This was a matchup of two Top 15 teams in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 teams with UNCG ranked 12^th and Winthrop 14^th

 
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