Louisville, Ky. – D.J. Burns Jr. led three Winthrop players in double-figures with 19 points in an 80-75 victory over Little Rock, Thursday evening at the KFC Yum! Center.
The Eagles will wrap-up play in Louisville on Friday, Dec. 4 at 11 a.m. when they take on Duquesne.
WINTHROP (2-0)
SCORING LEADERS
LITTLE ROCK (2-2)
SCORING LEADERS
- Markquis Nowell (25 points, 3 rebounds, 10 assists)
- Nikola Maric (20 points, 11 rebounds, 1 assist)
- Ruot Monyyong (10 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 1 steal)
FIRST HALF
- D.J. Burns Jr. scored inside the paint on the Eagles first two possessions to start the game and the Eagles led 5-0 in the early going
- Little Rock came right back to tie the game as Markquis Nowell hit a three and Ben Coupet Jr. scored at the rim on back-to-back possessions
- That 5-0 spurt turned into a 10-0 run as Nowell scored inside and then Coupet Jr. drilled a three off a turnover
- Eagles responded with a 12-0 run that began with Kyle Zunic assisting on buckets on three consecutive possessions
- It began when Zunic found Josh Corbin for a corner three and then found Adonis Arms open for three
- The run continued as Zunic hit Kelton Talford inside for a layup and the Eagles were on top 13-10
- Burns Jr. hit a turnaround jumper in the lane followed by a Chandler Vaudrin score inside for a 17-10 lead with 12:51 left in the half
- The next four minutes were back and forth with the Eagles maintaining a 6-8 point advantage until the Trojans cut it to four at the 8:53 mark
- Eagles led 35-29 with 5:54 left in the half when Micheal Anumba scored off a Vaudrin pass, but Little Rock answered with a 7-0 run to regain the lead after Nowell hit another triple
- Anumba put the Eagles ahead after scoring off the drive but Nikola Maric scored at the rim for a 38-37 lead with a little over two minutes left
- A Charles Falden jumper in the paint gave the lead back to Winthrop as it held on for a 42-40 lead at the break
- Both teams shot over 50 percent from the floor in the first half, but the difference was Winthrop's 11-3 advantage in points off turnovers and points in the paint (24-16)
SECOND HALF
- Burns Jr. got the Winthrop offense going again early in the second half as he scored six straight points for the Eagles and then Corbin hit a three for a 51-42 lead
- It was the largest lead of the game to that point for the Eagles, who pushed the lead to 12 points with 15:25 left after Arms scored on a drive and Jamal King connected on a three in transition
- A Burns Jr. jumper with 14:12 left put the Eagles up by 10, but Little Rock scored five straight to cut the deficit in half with 10:44 to play
- Nowell connected on another three and Monyyong hit two free throws to make it a five point game
- Burns Jr. boarded a Corbin jumper and scored while getting fouled as he completed the three-point play for a 61-53 lead
- After Nowell scored on a layup for Little Rock, Vaudrin and King scored back-to-back to push the lead back to double-figures
- The lead was 10 with 8:18 to play when Maric scored four straight points trying to trim into the Winthrop lead
- With five and a half to play Vaudrin came up with a steal that led to a bucket on the other end by Arms to push the lead back to eight
- Over the next four minutes, each time Little Rock scored to make it a six point game the Eagles had an answer
- The Trojans were within four points with 39 seconds to play but Falden made 3-of-4 free throwsdown the stretch to keep the lead out of reach
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Winthrop finished shooting 51 percent from the floor and Little Rock shot 50 percent
- Little Rock won the battle on the glass with a 38-27 advantage
- Eagles only committed eight turnovers in the game while forcing 17 and finishing with a 20-5 advantage in points off turnovers
- Neither team shot well behind the arc as Winthrop was just 5-for-22 (23%) and Little Rock was 7-for-23 (30%)
- The Eagles finished with 46 points in the paint and 9-for-13 at the foul line
- For the second straight game the Eagles received over 30 points from the bench as it contributed with 31 and was led by Adonis Arms with nine points
- D.J. Burns Jr. led the Eagles with 19 points while he was joined in double-figures by Charles Falden with 12 and Chandler Vaudrin with 11
- Vaudrin finished with eight assists and just one turnover as he now has 15 total assists and two turnovers through two games
- Markquis Nowell led all scorers with 25 points while Nikola Maric had 20 points
- Nowell finished with a double-double as he also dished out 10 assists
NOTABLES
- Eagles have now won seven straight dating back to the 2019-20 season
- Off to a 2-0 start for the first time since 2016-17
- Winthrop defeats a team ranked in the Top 15 of the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll for a second consecutive game
- Vaudrin is now five assists away from 500 over the course of his collegiate career
To keep up with the latest news on the Winthrop men's basketball program, follow the Eagles on Twitter (@Winthrop_MBB), Instagram (@Winthrop_MBB) and Facebook (/WinthropEagles).
