Rock Hill, S.C.— Senior's Hunter Hale and Josh Ferguson combined for 36 points to help Winthrop men's basketball to an 84-76 victory over High Point, Saturday afternoon at the Winthrop Coliseum.
 
WINTHROP (21-10, 15-3 BIG SOUTH)
SCORING LEADERS

• Hunter Hale (22 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals)
• Josh Ferguson (14 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 steals)
• Chandler Vaudrin (8 points, 8 rebounds, 15 assists, 1 block)

 
HIGH POINT (9-22, 6-12 BIG SOUTH)
SCORING LEADERS

• John-Michael Wright (24 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals)
• Jamal Wright (24 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal)
• Caden Sanchez (5 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block)

 
FIRST HALF

• Both teams were hot from the floor in the early going as Winthrop hit four of its first six shots and 8-of-13 while High Point made its first three shots and 12-of-16
• Jamal Wright scored the first bucket of the game off the drive and Micheal Anumba answered right back with a score at the rim
• The teams traded baskets for the next few minutes and the game was tied 10-10 after Caden Sanchez found Bryant Randleman down low for two
• Eagles reeled off back-to-back baskets starting with a dunk from Josh Ferguson and followed with Russell Jones Jr. hitting a jumper
• The lead went back to one but the Eagles were back on top 19-15 with 13:56 left in the half after a Charles Falden three
• High Point went on an 8-0 run to take a 23-19 lead with 12:29 left as John-Michael Wright scored the final five points of the run, including a three-point play at the end
• Winthrop connected on back-to-back threes from Anumba and Kyle Zunic to tie the game with 9:56 remaining
• Panthers and Eagles continued to trade leads the remainder of the half but five straight points by the Eagles in the final 1:07 put them ahead 46-42 at the break
• The first half saw 11 lead changes and seven ties and the Eagles never relinquished its lead
• Winthrop shot 46 percent in the half while High Point finished at 60 percent

 
SECOND HALF

• Eagles opened the half on a 7-0 run forcing an immediate timeout by the Panthers
• Ferguson started the run with a jumper in the lane followed by a Hunter Hale three
• Chase Claxton boarded a missed and fed Hale for layup and a 53-42 lead just 1:38 into the half
• Eagles weren't done as Hale scored two more off a steal and layup to make it a 9-0 run
• Panthers answered with 10 straight points to cut it to 55-52 with 14:49 to play
• Jamal Wright and John-Michael Wright highlighted the run with a three each
• Winthrop quickly pushed the lead back to nine points after back-to-back threes from Falden
• Eagles continued to push their lead back to double-figures only to have the Panthers cut the lead in half and with 5:19 to play made it a four-point contest following a jumper by Emmanual Izunabor forcing a Winthrop timeout
• Out of the timeout Hale drilled a three, Jamal Wright answered with a three and then Hale again buried a three for a 77-70 lead with 4:20 left
• After a couple of stops Hale pushed the lead to double-figures at 80-70 with two and a half remaining
• Winthrop held on for the win in its final regular season contest
• Eagles were 47 percent from the floor in the half and 8-of-19 from three

 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Winthrop finished the game shooting 46 percent while High Point knocked down 49 percent
• Eagles tied their season-high with 16 made threes (16-for-41) while the Panthers were 8-of-20 behind the arc
• Battle of the boards was won by the Eagles 40-30 and they had 16 offensive boards leading to 15 second chance points
• Eagles put up 84 points with two double-figure scorers as 10 different players had at least five points
• Falden led Winthrop off the bench with nine points and nine rebounds while Claxton and Jamal King added six points
• Both teams finished with 17 turnovers as the Eagles had 25-17 advantage in points off turnovers

 
NOTABLES

CO-CHAMPIONS 🏆

The Eagles have earned a share of the #BigSouthMBB🏀 regular season title! pic.twitter.com/0z5tkevLxR

• Eagles are co-champions of the Big South, tying Radford with a 15-3 mark in the league standings
• It is the 10^th time the Eagles have either shared or earned it outright
• Winthrop wins 15 conference games for just the third time, tied for the most ever in program history
• The 21 wins mark the 3^rd time a Pat Kelsey guided team won at least 21 in a single-season
• Kelsey is now tied with Nield Gordon for the second-most wins in program history (160)
• Kelsey also tied Scott Cherry (High Point) for 5^th all-time in Big South wins (93
• Vaudrin finished with a career-high 15 assists, just two shy of the single-game record at Winthrop (his second game of the season with 11 or more assists)
• Winthrop has now won five straight in the series
• Eagles are now 7-1 in their final regular season home game in the Kelsey Era
• — Winthrop MBB (@Winthrop_MBB) February 29, 2020 >

  BIG WIN 👏 pic.twitter.com/nMQ90ot57S

  — Winthrop MBB (@Winthrop_MBB) February 29, 2020

  2:31 (2H) | TIMEOUT
  
  Hunter Hale drains a 3 - his SIXTH of the night - and the Panthers call a timeout.
  
  Winthrop 80 - 70 HPU pic.twitter.com/aIwQBG9hKY

  — Winthrop MBB (@Winthrop_MBB) February 29, 2020