Farmville, Va. – Winthrop men's basketball dropped an 85-71 contest at Longwood, Saturday afternoon at Willett Hall.
WINTHROP (7-10, 2-2 Big South)
STAT LEADERS
LONGWOOD (12-6, 4-0 Big South)
STAT LEADERS
- D'Avian Houston (16 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals)
- Walyn Napper (15 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals)
- Isaiah Wilkins (14 points, 6 rebounds, 1 steal)
FIRST HALF
- Kelton Talford opened the scoring as Cory Hightower fed him the ball in the post and he finished at the rim
- The Eagles then forced a turnover and on the other end Hightower drilled a three for an early 5-0 advantage. After a Walyn Napper offensive put back Hightower drained another three for an 8-2 lead
- It was a two point lead when Hightower boarded an offensive rebound and then knocked down his third three for an 11-6 advantage with 16:42 on the clock
- Longwood fought back to take a 14-13 lead with 13:31 left on two free throws from D'Avian Houston and then led 16-13 after a steal by Jaylani Darden that eventually led to a layup by Jesper Granlund
- Eagles trailed 18-14, but a quick 4-0 spurt with buckets from Hightower and Kasen Harrison had the game knotted up at 18-18 with 11:01 left in the half
- Longwood led 21-18 with 10:23 left when Hightower knocked down his fourth triple of the game to tie the game again
- The teams went scoreless for nearly the next two minutes until the Lancers regained the lead at 23-21 on two free throws by Houston
- It was short lived as Toneari Lane knocked down a three to regain the lead for the Eagles, but Longwood answered right back with a Michael Christmas layup
- Longwood led 29-24 with 5:31 left but the Eagles outscored the Lancers 21-7 to the end of the half to lead 45-36 at the break
- The Eagles used a 14-0 run highlighted by threes from Sin'Cere McMahon and Lane to push the lead to 38-29 with 1:56 left
- Hightower's 5th three in the final seconds of the half put the Eagles on top by nine at the break
SECOND HALF
- After a Zac Watson layup cut the lead to seven to open the second half, the Eagles went ahead by double-digits after Talford and Harrison baskets
- A three from McMahon gave the Eagles their largest lead at 12 points for a 52-40 advantage with 16:25 remaining
- Longwood used a 10-1 run to pull within three points at 53-50 after a Houston basket inside
- Chase Claxton put the Eagles up by five with a layup off a Harrison feed, but the Lancers answered with a 9-0 run for a 59-55 lead at the midway point of the half
- Eagles were within six points after two Claxton free throws, but Longwood answered as Napper drove toward the basket and kicked out a pass to DeShaun Wade who drilled a three to lead 77-68 with 4:13 left
- The Lancers finished off the remainder of the game on an 11-3 run
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Winthrop shot 55 percent in the first half, 39 percent in the second and finished the game at 49 percent
- Longwood shot 70 percent from the floor in the second half and finished the game at 56 percent
- Lancers won the battle on the glass 33-21 and finished with 13 offensive rebounds that led to 16 second chance points
- The two teams combined for 38 turnovers and a combined 52 points off turnovers
- The Eagles hit 11-of-28 from behind the arc while Longwood finished the game 4-for-9
- The Lancers had 32 points in the paint in the second half and finished with a 50-20 advantage in the game
- Hightower led four Eagles in double-figures with 19 points while Harrison had 15, Lane finished with 13 and Talford chipped in with 10
NOTABLES
- For the second time this season, Hightower hit five or more threes in a game and now has five in his career
- Hightower moved past 1,550 career points and now has 1,566
- Harrison was in double-figures for a seventh straight contest and dished out a season-high six assists (Has five games with five or more this season)
- Talford was able to extend his streak of double-figure games to 16 straight games
- Lane finished with a career-high five assists
UP NEXT
Eagles return home to take on Radford on Wednesday, Jan. 11 at 7 p.m.
STAY CONNECTED
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