Baton Rouge, La. – Winthrop's
Cory Hightower and
Kelton Talford combined for 48 points in an 89-81 loss at LSU, Saturday evening at the Maravich Center.
WINTHROP (5-7, 0-0 Big South)
STAT LEADERS
LSU (10-1, 0-0 SEC)
STAT LEADERS
- Cam Hayes (25 points, 1 rebound, 4 assists, 2 steals)
- K.J. Williams (18 points, 6 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal)
- Adam Miller (14 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block)
FIRST HALF
- Toneari Lane opened the scoring for the game as he buried a three on the Eagles first possession
- LSU tied it up two possession later as Cam Hayes knocked down a straight away three and knocked down another on the following possession for a 6-3 lead
- Two free throws by Adam Miller completed an 8-0 run that was stopped by Kelton Talford scoring inside
- Justice Hill hit back-to-back triples to put LSU up 14-5 as the Tigers hit four of their first five behind the arc
- Cory Hightower responded with a straight on three and then after a defensive stop, Sin'Cere McMahon drove the lane and scored as he was fouled
- McMahon knocked down the free throw out of the media timeout to make it a single-possession game with 15:20 on the clock
- After LSU pushed the lead back to five points, Hightower knocked down another three as he McMahon found him on the left wing
- Winthrop got a stop defensively and took a 17-16 lead as Hightower knocked down his third three
- Eagles pushed the lead to 23-19 after another triple from Hightower
- LSU used a 6-0 spurt to regain the lead at 25-23 after a jumper in the lane by K.J. Williams
- Hightower converted two free throws to tie it again at 25-25, but LSU answered with a tough Trae Hannibal basket at the rim
- Both teams cooled off a bit as neither team scored the next three and a half minutes
- In that span the teams were a combined 0-for-10 shooting and three turnovers
- The drought ended as Talford scored quickly out of a media timeout to tie the game
- LSU pushed its lead to five points with 5:49 left in the half, but the Eagles responded with a 6-0 run to regain the lead at 33-32 with 4:39 left after Kasen Harrison drove into the paint and got a short jumper to fall in
- Eagles scored the final four points of the half, which included a steal by McMahon that led to a fast break dunk by Talford to lead 39-38 at the break
- The opening 20 minutes saw eight lead changes and the game was tied four times
SECOND HALF
- Eagles opened the second half with possession and Hightower slipped a pass to Talford cutting down the lane and he finished with a dunk
- A jumper by Hayes followed by a straight away three from Williams put LSU back in the lead at 43-41
- After the game was tied 43-43, Hayes knocked down a left wing three only to be matched by a step back three from McMahon to make it 46-46 with 17:36 on the clock
- A Talford stick back as the shot clock expired put the Eagles back on top 48-46
- A 7-0 run by LSU capped off by a three from Hill put the Tigers back on top 53-48
- McMahon made it a one possession game again with a three from the left wing with 14:20 remaining
- With 13:31 left Harrison drove down the middle of the lane and hit a floater while being fouled as he completed the three-point play to tie the game at 54-54
- Over the next six minutes the teams went back-and-forth, exchanging leads with the game remaining a one possession game
- With 6:48 left Hayes drove and scored at the rim and then knocked down a three for a 71-65 advantage for LSU
- After McMahon couldn't get a floater to fall, Williams drove to the basket and scored for a 6-0 run to force a Winthrop timeout
- Out of the timeout, Talford scored inside and was fouled as he knocked down the shot and completed the three point play to trail 73-68 with 5:05 left
- LSU pushed its lead to nine points at 77-68 after an elbow jumper by Adam Miller
- When the game was tied 48-48 with 16:08 to play, LSU made 15 of its next 18 shots to help push the lead to double-digits at 80-68
- McMahon brought the deficit back down to single-digits as he drilled a three
- Two free throws by Hightower with 2:52 remaining pulled the Eagles within seven points
- A layup by Harrison on the break made it seven straight points for the Eagles to make it an 80-75 game with 2:24 remaining
- Winthrop got a defensive stop and then McMahon pushed the ball ahead to Hightower who knocked down a triple to make it a four point game with 1:21 left
- Williams answered with a straight on three as the shot clock expired with 48.3 seconds left
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Eagles finished the game shooting 52 percent from the floor as they were 11-of-26 behind the arc (42%) and 8-for-12 at the foul line
- LSU shot 55 percent for the game, 11-of-27 behind the arc and 8-of-12 at the foul line
- Tigers hit 18 of its final 24 shots in the second half (75%) and shot 68 percent in the second half alone
- Eagles finished with 40 points in the paint while LSU had 42
- The battle on the boards favored LSU, 35-28
- Winthrop had 12 turnovers while LSU had 10 and the Tigers had a 21-11 advantage in points off turnovers
- Eagles had eight offensive boards and had 12 second chance points to just three for LSU
- Hightower tied for a game-high with 25 points as he was 7-of-13 from the field and 7-for-12 behind the arc
- The seven triples for Hightower were a career-high and his 25 points were a season-high
- Talford also hit the 20-point mark with 23 points and had a team-high seven boards
NOTABLES
- Talford has been in double-figures in all 11 games he's played this season and this was his third 20-point game of the year
- Hightower missed his career-high by a single point and just missed reaching 1,500 career points as he's now sitting at 1,499
- McMahon posted his 8th double-figure game of the year and finished with a career-high six assists
- The game had a total of 17 lead changes and the game was tied nine times
UP NEXT
Winthrop is back on the court on Wednesday, Dec. 21 as it travels to Pittsburgh, Pa. to take on Duquesne at 2 p.m.
STAY CONNECTED
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).
