Rock Hill, S.C. – Winthrop used a big second half run as it earned a 91-83 victory for a 16^th straight win, Sunday afternoon inside the Winthrop Coliseum. The Eagles outscored the Runnin' Bulldogs 19-3 over an eight minute stretch in the middle of the second half.
 
WINTHROP (11-0, 8-0 Big South)
TOP CONTRIBUTORS

• Chandler Vaudrin (17 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assist, 2 steals)
• Charles Falden (15 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal)
• D.J. Burns Jr. (14 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 blocks, 1 steal)

 
GARDNER-WEBB (3-8, 2-4 Big South)
TOP CONTRIBUTORS

• Jacob Falko (20 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals)
• Jheam Cornwall (18 points, 2 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal)
• D'Maurian Williams (12 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 2 steals)

 
FIRST HALF

• D.J. Burns Jr. opened the scoring with a jumper in the paint as he hit the first two buckets for the Eagles for an early 4-0 lead
• With the game tied 9-9 with 15:29 on the clock Jaheam Cornwell hit Jemaine Mann on his way to the basket for a layup followed by a three from the wing by Anthony Selden for a 14-9 lead
• Eagles responded with a 5-0 run to tie the game at 14-14 with 12:20 left
• Burns Jr. started the spurt with a three-point play as he scored off glass on a jumper and knocked down the free throw
• Then Chandler Vaudrin worked his way into the paint and scored on a short jumper
• That was answered by a 7-0 run by the Runnin' Bulldogs that started with a Cornwall knocking down a jumper
• Ludovic Dufeal score at the rim and then Jordan Sears stripped Chase Claxton and then Cornwall hit a three in transition for a 21-14 advantage
• Gardner-Webb had a chance to increase that lead after a steal but Jamal King stole the ball right back and Russell Jones Jr. picked up the loose ball, taking it to the rim for a layup
• King then scored at the rim off a pass from Vaudrin followed by five straight points by Kyle Zunic that included a three to cap off the 9-0 run
• Jordan Sears drilled a three to regain the lead, only to have Josh Corbin answer with a three as Winthrop led 26-24 with 7:18 remaining in the half
• The teams exchanged leads five times over the next five and a half minutes until the Runnin' Bulldogs grabbed a 42-40 lead on a Jacob Falko finish at the rim on the breakafter a Winthrop turnover with just over a minute left
• Falko made two more free throws with 39 seconds left in the half to give Gardner-Webb a 46-40 lead at the break
• Winthrop shot 59 percent from the floor while Gardner-Webb connected on 51 percent
• Eagles committed 12 turnovers in the half, leading to 20 points for the Runnin' Bulldogs

 
SECOND HALF

• Eagles tied the game in less than a minute out of the half as Vaudrin drove and scored on a reverse layup followed by Burns Jr. knocking down a jumper
• Gardner-Webb got back-to-back baskets from Cornwall and Dufeal to push its lead back to four points
• Winthrop strung together six straight points again as a Josh Corbin three with 16:01 on the clock put the Eagles in front 52-50
• Sears tied the game was he got to the lane and dropped in a short jumper to tie the game at 52-52
• Eagles led 57-56 with 12:33 to play after a jumper by Mann but the Eagles regained the lead with three free throws from Zunic to start a 10-0 run
• A Kelton Talford short jumper in the lane put the Eagles up six points and Vaudrin hit a three from the right wing for a 56-65 lead that led to a Gardner-Webb timeout
• The run was capped off when Charles Falden drove and hit a pull up jumper for an 11-point advantage
• After a free throw from Dufeal with 9:25 left made it a 10-point game the Eagles pushed their lead to 16 at 73-57 after a 6-0 spurt
• The Eagles led 81-69 with 1:46 to play when D'Maurian Williams hit a three in front of the Gardner-Webb bench to cut the deficit to single-digits
• The Runnin' Bulldogs did chip away to make it a four point game with 38 seconds left, but the Eagles made 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch
• Eagles continued to shoot the ball well in the second half at 58 percent while holding Gardner-Webb to 39 percent

 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Eagles nearly matched their shooting percentages in each half and finished the game at 59 percent, going 10-of-21 from three
• Gardner-Webb finished the game at 46 percent from the floor, but just 6-for-24 behind the arc
• Winthrop committed 18 turnovers that led to 26 points for the Runnin' Bulldogs while Winthrop scored 17 points off of 13 forced turnovers
• Gardner-Webb dominated the paint with a 46-26 advantage
• Winthrop won the battle on the glass 35-29, but had a season-low four offensive boards
• Winthrop had four players in double-figures led by Vaudrin, who tied a season-high 17 points and also had a team-high eight rebounds and six assists
• Jacob Falk led all scorers for Gardner-Webb with 20 points as he was 11-of-12 from the foul line
• Winthrop finished 21-for-28 at the free throw line while Gardner-Webb was 17-for-24

 
NOTABLES

• The 16 straight wins is the 3^rd longest win streak in program history and longest in the Pat Kelsey Era
• The Eagles tied Gonzaga for the nation's longest winning streak and won't be in action until Thursday, Jan. 14
• Kelsey now has 101 Big South wins all-time and is just three back of former Winthrop head coach Gregg Marshall (104)
• Winthrop has now won 10 straight Big South regular season games dating back to the 2019-20 season
• The Eagles hit 10 or more threes in a game for the fifth time this season with all five during league action
• Burns Jr. finished with three blocks, which ties his career-best
• The Eagles trailed 46-40 at the half, which was their first halftime deficit all season
• The four-point deficit early in the second half was the largest second-half deficit the Eagles have faced all season

 
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