Asheville, N.C.. – Patrick Good scored a game-high 30 points off the bench to lead Winthrop to its sixth straight win after an 84-79 victory at UNC Asheville, Saturday afternoon.
WINTHROP (19-8, 12-2 Big South)
STAT LEADERS
UNC ASHEVILLE (15-12, 7-7 Big South)
STAT LEADERS
- L.J. Thorpe (28 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block)
- Tajion Jones (16 points, 8 rebounds, 1 block)
- Drew Pember (12 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist)
FIRST HALF
- Asheville scored the first five points of the game as Drew Pember opened the scoring 17 seconds in with a layup
- D.J. Burns Jr. scored inside for the Eagles first bucket to make it 5-2
- Trailing 7-5 following a Jamon Battle jumper, Patrick Good drilled his first three of the game to give Winthrop its first lead at 8-7 with 15:14 left
- The Good three ignited the Eagles as he drained another one on the next possession and then Sin'Cere McMahon knocked down threes on back-to-back possessions for a 17-7 lead with 13:17 on the clock
- Bulldogs cut the deficit in half only to have Winthrop push it back to double-figures at 24-14 with 10:50 l on a Micheal Anumba three
- Winthrop even pushed its lead to 13 points on two different occasions with the second coming at 5:22 left in the half
- Asheville closed out the half outscoring the Eagles 14-3 to pull within a basket at the break, 37-35
- Eagles were 48 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes while Asheville shot 55 percent
SECOND HALF
- Bulldogs were strong out of the gate and erased the Winthrop lead two and a half minutes in for a 42-40 lead after a Tajion Jones triple
- It remained a one possession game for the next four minutes when Asheville extended its lead to seven points at 55-48 with 12:53 to play
- Cory Hightower answered to bring the deficit to five and the Eagles chipped away to regain the lead at 58-56 on another three from Good
- The lead changed hands a couple of more times and then the Bulldogs led 68-64 with 3:59 to play after Jones hit two free throws
- Anumba answered with a three to make it a one point game and then after forcing a turnovers the Eagles were back in front after Drew Buggs hit a jumper
- Winthrop got a stop and Good stepped up again as he knocked down another three to lead by four with 2:01 to play
- Silas Mason scored onside as he spun and finished with a dunk but Good responded again as he came off a screen to his left and drilled a straight away three to lead 77-72 with 1:16 remaining
- Good finished off the game going 7-for-8 at the foul line to clinch the road win
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Eagles shot 54 percent from the floor in the second half (5-for-11 from three) and finished the game at 51 percent
- Asheville shot over 50 percent in both halves and finished at 53 percent
- The Eagles were 18-of-28 at the line as Good was 9-for-10 (rest of the team 9-for-18)
- Asheville finished the game 23-for-33 at the foul line
- Both teams finished with 14 turnovers, but the Eagles had a 23-13 advantage in points off turnovers
- Eagles edged out the Bulldogs on the boards 31-26
NOTABLES
- Eagles improved to 12-2 in the league and clinched at least a share of the South Division with two games remaining
- The Eagles will get the top seed out of the division as it holds the tie breaker over Gardner-Webb should they finish with the same league mark
- This was the sixth straight win overall and the 24th win in the last 27 league road games
- Buggs finished with 10 points in the game and is now three points away from 1,000 in his career (997) but his game-high seven assists pushed him over 600 in his career
- This was the 23rd meeting in the all-time series with Asheville decided by five or fewer points
- After shooting 51 percent for the game, Winthrop has now shot 50 percent or better in 5-of-8 league road games
- Good reached 30 points for the third time this season, all of which have come on the road
UP NEXT
Winthrop finishes the regular season with back-to-back home games beginning with USC Upstate on Thursday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. in a battle airing on ESPNU.
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).
