Rock Hill, S.C. – Winthrop men's basketball tried to rally from a 15-point second half deficit, but just came up shy in a 78-69 loss at Georgia, Friday evening.
WINTHROP (4-3, 0-0 Big South)
GEORGIA (3-3, 0-0 CAA)
- Noah Thomasson (24 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists)
- Justin Hill (15 points, rebound, steal)
- Jabri Abdur-Rahim (10 points, 4 rebounds, assist)
FIRST HALF
- Eagles scored first as K.J. Doucet knocked down an elbow jumper
- Georgia reeled off 1 straight after that beginning with a four-point play from Jabri Abdur-Rahim
- That was followed by a three from Noah Thomasson, then a short jumper in the paint from Jalen Deloach and then two free throws Russell Tchewa for an 11-2 lead
- Alex Timmerman scored inside off a feed from Nick Johnson to end the run
- Trailing 15-8, Nick Johnson drove the middle of the lane and kicked the ball to the right wing to Sin'Cere McMahon who drilled the three
- After a block by Talford on the defensive end, the Eagles moved the ball around again on offense as this time it was Harrison that drove and kicked to the right wing for another three from McMahon to trail 15-14 with 11:18 left in the half
- Winthrop grabbed the lead 16-15 when Johnson hit a runner down the lane and then Timmerman scored on a reverse layup for a three point advantage with 8:34 left
- Johnson then found Noah Van Bibber near the left corner as he canned a three for a 21-17 lead at the eight minute mark
- Georgia took advantage of back-to-back turnovers by the Eagles as it connected on threes off each miscue to lead 31-25 with 1:44 left
- Van Bibber came out of an Eagle timeout to hit a floater to answer the 6-0 spurt by the Bulldogs
- Thomasson hit a three from just off center near the left wing with 14 seconds left in the half to lead 36-27
- Johnson took the inbound and dribbled the length of the floor and scored off glass on the drive as time expired to trail 36-29 at the break
SECOND HALF
- Eagles cut the deficit to five points (38-33) on a bucket on the break by Doucet
- Georgia then went on an 8-0 run that started with a Silas Demary Jr. drive and score
- The run continued to a three-point play from Russel Tchewa and a trail three from Justin Hill to lead 46-33 with 16:33, forcing a Winthrop timeout
- Out of the timeout the Eagles stopped the run when Doucet knocked down a jumper
- Georgia pushed its lead to as big as 15 points four and a half minutes into the half and led by 14 with 12:03 to play
- At the 12:03 mark Doucet hit two free throws followed by a Talford second chance effort to make it a 10-point deficit
- After a turnaround jumper in the lane by Thomasson, Kasen Harrison knocked down two free throws followed by Johnson going 1-of-2 at the line to get the deficit under 10 (57-48) with 9:47 remaining
- After a couple more defensive stops the Eagles made it a six point game as Harrison led a 2-on-1 break, kept it himself and scored while getting fouled as he converted the three-point play with just over nine minutes left
- Eagles pulled within four points at the 7:42 mark when Johnson scored on the fast break, 57-53
- The 8-0 by the Eagles came to an end on two free throws by Hill to lead 59-53 with 7:09 left
- Georgia pushed its lead back to eight points after Tchewa hit a jumper but Harrison scored on the other end off the drive to make it a two possession game
- Eagles were back to within four points at 64-60 with 4:56 remaining as Talford managed a three-point play
- Following the Talford three-point play, the Bulldogs scored a on a R.J. Melendez layup
- Georgia got a defensive stop and on the other end Thomasson buried a step-back three for a 69-60 lead with 3:40 to play
- Again the Eagles made it a two possession game at 69-63 when Harrison hit a floater, but Georgia answered with a Thomasson three from the right wing with 1:49 to play
- Doucet went 2-of-3 at the line with 1:29 remaining to cut it to seven points
- After getting a stop the Eagles pushed the ball up court, Harrison faked a three and scored off the drive with 51.2 seconds left to trail by five at 72-67
- Thomasson scored on a drive down the lane with 27.4 seconds left
- The Eagles then scored quickly as Harrison found Talford for the dunk with 20.6 remaining
- Over the final 20.6 the Eagles were unable to get a basket and Georgia hit 4-of-4 free throws to hold on 78-69
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- In the first half the Eagles started off the game 1-for-7 but bounced back to hit 8-of-11
- After starting 5-for-10 the Eagles held Georgia to just two makes on its next 13 shots which helped the Eagles overcome the early 11-2 deficit
- Eagles were able to turn the 15 point deficit into a four point game by holding the Bulldogs 2-of-12 during a six minute span
- Georgia shot 43 percent from the floor while the Eagles connected on 42 percent
- Winthrop was just 3-of-20 behind the arc while the Bulldogs hit 9-of-29
- At the foul line the Eagles were 16-for-23 (70%) while Georgia was 19-of-21 (90%)
- Winthrop outscored the Bulldogs 36-30 in the paint and second chance points 13-7
- Georgia won the rebound battle 39-33
NOTABLES
- Talford's 19 points puts him with four points of 1,000 in his career
- Talford extended his streak of consecutive free throws made to 23 and finished the game 7-of-9
- Harrison moved past 900 career points after he posted 14 points
- Harrison record his fourth straight game with five or more assists and is now within 12 of 300 in his career
UP NEXT
Winthrop returns home on Tuesday, Nov. 28 to take on Bob Jones at 6:30 p.m.
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