Clinton, S.C.— Winthrop men's basketball hung for an 89-88 victory over Presbyterian College to end its two-game skid, Saturday afternoon at the Ross E. Templeton Center.
 
WINTHROP (19-9, 13-2 BIG SOUTH)
SCORING LEADERS

• Josh Ferguson (17 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assists, 2 blocks)
• Hunter Hale (14 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal)
• Chase Claxton (14 points, 7 rebounds, 1 block, 2 steals)

 
PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE (9-18, 6-8 BIG SOUTH)
SCORING LEADERS

• Chris Martin (26 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals)
• Cory Hightower (18 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals)
• Michael Isler (13 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal)

 
FIRST HALF

• Eagles opened the game with a turnover, but came right back with a steal from Micheal Anumba that led to the basket on the other end by Hunter Hale
• After Cory Hightower tied the game at 2-2, Chandler Vaudrin swished a three for the three point advantage
• The team's exchanged buckets over the first three and a half minutes as the game was tied 10-10 after a Chris Martin basket at the rim
• Kyle Zunic buried a three to put the Eagles up 13-10, a lead they did not lose the remainder of the half
• With 11:46 left in the half Kody Shubert drained an open trey to make it a one point game at 18-17
• Russell Jones Jr. found Chase Claxton cutting to the basket for a slam, which started an 11-1 run by the Eagles
• Following the Claxton dunk, Josh Ferguson drilled a three for a 23-17 lead
• Hightower made 1-of-2 free throws with 8:59 left but Zunic hit a three while beind fouled and completed a four-point play for a nine point lead
• Then Ferguson capped the run as he was fouled after an offensive rebound and made both free throws for a 29-18 lead with just over eight minutes left
• Winthrop held on to the double-digit lead over the next five minutes when a three-point play by Michael Isler cut the lead to single-digits
• PC used a 7-0 run to make it a two possession game with 2:40 to play
• Eagles outscored the Blue Hose 7-2 the rest of the way for a 45-35 lead at the half
• Both teams were comparable from the floor (Winthrop 45%, PC 46%), but the Eagles were 7-of-16 from three and the Blue Hose 2-for-8

 
SECOND HALF

• Baskets were traded over the first few minutes of the second half but PC worked the Winthrop lead down to six points with just under 17 minutes to play after Hightower made two free throws
• Winthrop responded with a 5-0 spurt by Jones Jr. that started with a score off the drive and then he buried a triple to lead 54-43
• Eagles pushed the lead to 12 points with 15:38 remaining after a three from Hale and led by 11 with 14:15 remaining
• At this point the Blue Hose started to chip away at the Winthrop lead
• It started with a 7-0 run in less than a minute to cut the Winthrop lead to 58-54 with 12:56 left
• Vaudrin hit 1-of-2 free throws to interrupt the run that eventually stretched to 14-1 run for a 61-59 lead with 11:18 left
• Over the final 10 minutes there were seven ties and four lead changes but neither team could pull away
• Winthrop held an 85-82 lead with 1:04 after Vaudrin made two free throws, but PC tied the game with a three 13 seconds later
• Winthrop countered that with a three of its own as Hale drained a triple with 30 seconds to play
• The Eagles got a stop and pushe the lead to four points with 15 seconds left as Micheal Anumba made 1-of-2 free throws
• Shubert went to the foul line with eight seconds left to try and cut the deficit in half but missed both
• PC boarded the second missed free throw and C.J. Melton found Shubert open for three with 3.5 seconds left
• Hale was fouled with 2.8 and missed both free throws but PC was unable to get a shot off
• Winthrop shot 56 percent from the floor in the second half while PC shot 65 percent
• The Blue Hose made 13-of-18 from the floor in the final 13:09 of the second half

 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• For the game PC finished shooting 56 percent while the Eagles hit 50 percent from the floor
• Eagles were 11-of-31 from three while PC was 5-for-15
• The two teams combined for 67 free throw attempts as Winthrop was 18-of-30 and PC finished 25-for-37
• PC had an advantage of 22-13 in points off turnovers
• Winthrop was +11 on the glass and had 13 offensive rebounds leading to 16 second chance points
• The bench for Winthrop contributed 41 points led by Claxton's 14 while Jones Jr. added 11
• Vaudrin also reached double-figures, giving the Eagles five players with 10 or more points

 
NOTABLES

• With the win the Eagles have now won 12 of the last 13 meetings with PC
• Pat Kelsey coached in his 250^th game and now has 158 victories, which is two shy of Nield Gordon for second most in program history
• The victory also gives Kelsey 91 league wins, two behind 7^th all-time (Scott Cherry – High Point)
• Eagles now have 19 wins for the sixth time under Kelsey and the 16^th time in program history
• It is the 6^th time in program history the Eagles have won at least 13 league games, 3^rd time under Kelsey
• Ferguson moved into 3^rd all-time in career rebounds with 697, passing Chad Steele's total of 692

 
UP NEXT
Winthrop will be back in action in a week when it hosts Hampton on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 1 p.m. The game is part of a doubleheader with the women's basketball team who plays Gardner-Webb at 4 p.m.