Rock Hill, S.C. – Winthrop overcame a 15-point deficit to capture its 12
th Big South Conference Men's Basketball title with a 76-68 victory over fifth-seeded Hampton, Sunday afternoon inside the Winthrop Coliseum.
WINTHROP (24-10)
SCORING LEADERS
HAMPTON (15-19)
SCORING LEADERS
- Jermaine Marrow (18 points, 6 assists)
- Greg Heckstall (8 points, 16 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals)
- Ben Stanley (11 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks)
FIRST HALF
- The Pirates jumped out to a 9-3 lead in less than four minutes behind three buckets from Ben Stanley
- Hampton opened up the game making seven of its first 11 shots to lead 22-7 with 12:36 left in the half forcing a timeout by the Eagles
- Chandler Vaudrin came out of the timeout and knocked down a short jumper in the lane to end an 8-0 run
- Josh Ferguson followed with a three to get the deficit to single-digits with 10:21 left
- Jermaine Marrow pushed the lead for the Pirates back to double-figures but then the Eagles started to chip away the game
- Two free throws by Ed Oliver-Hampton had Hampton on top by 11 points with 4:31 to play but Winthrop responded with a 9-0 run to make it a one possession game with 1:24 left
- The run started with a deep three from Russell Jones Jr. followed by a Ferguson bucket in the paint
- Chase Claxton pulled the Eagles within four points with 2:10 left on a follow off a missed three from Hale and then Vaudrin scored at the rim again for a one possession game
- Hampton's Greg Heckstall ended the run with a three from the right side with 28 seconds left for a 33-28 lead at the break
- Winthrop shot just 31 percent in the half while Hampton connected on 39 percent
SECOND HALF
- Hampton opened the second half with a basket from Stanley to lead by seven
- The Eagles got back to within one possession at 41-40 afterD.J. Burns Jr. jumper
- Trailing 42-40, Winthrop grabbed its first lead of the game as Charles Falden buried a three with 12:11 to play
- Davion Warren came right back with a tip-in for the lead and then Micheal Anumba tied the game hitting 1-of-2 free throws with 11:13 on the clock
- Burns Jr. followed his own miss with a tip-in for the lead, which the Eagles did not relinquish the remainder of the game
- Leading 48-46 with 8:41 left the Eagles used a 7-0 run in the span of a minute and 13 seconds for their largest lead of the game
- It started with Claxton hitting 1-of-2 at the line and then back-to-back jumpers by Burns Jr. while Claxton capped it off with two free throws
- Winthrop defensively didn't allowed the Pirates closer than five points the remainder of the way
- After struggling from the field in the first half the Eagles lit it up in the second half at 64 percent while holding Hampton to 35 percent
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Winthrop finished the game shooting 43 percent while Hampton finished at 37 percent
- Eagles won the battle on the glass 44-37 as offensive boards were nearly even (Winthrop 10/Hampton 9)
- Neither team turned the ball over that much as Winthrop finished with nine and Hampton had eight but the Pirates had an 11-4 advantage in points off turnovers
- Winthrop finished 21-for-34 at the foul line while Hampton was 17-for-24
- Winthrop had four players in double-figures led by Burns Jr. with 16
- Claxton, Vaudrin and Hale each finished with 10 points
- Heckstall finished with a team-high 16 rebounds, three shy of the championship game record
- Winthrop had a huge advantage in bench scoring at 36-8
NOTABLES
- Winthrop won its second championship under Pat Kelsey and 12th overall
- Eagles are now 12-4 all-time in conference tournament title games and improves its all-time conference tournament mark to 50-23
- Hale was voted the Big South Conference Tournament MVP while Ferguson joined him on the All-Tournament Team
- Winthrop has 24 wins in a season for the 4th time in program history
- The 15-point comeback tied for the largest in the Pat Kelsey Era
