Little Rock, Ark. – K.J. Doucet's game-high 20 points paced four Eagles in double-figures as Winthrop earned an 85-68 road win at Little Rock, Sunday afternoon.
WINTHROP (8-3, 0-0 Big South)
LITTLE ROCK (4-6, 0-0 OVC)
- Jaylen Crocker-Johnson (15 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, steal)
- Bradley Douglas (14 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, steal)
- Jamir Chaplin (11 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, steal)
FIRST HALF
- Kelton Talford opened the scoring as he banked in a short turn around at the edge of the lane
- Kasen Harrison followed with a runner off glass down the middle of the lane for an early 4-0 edge
- The Eagles raced out to an 8-0 lead when Nick Johnson's pass connected with Alex Timmerman down the middle of the lane as he scored at the rim
- The Trojan's first basket came at the 16:23 mark when Deantoni Gordon knocked down a long jumper
- K.J. Doucet answered that with a three from the wing for an 11-2 lead
- Following a made basket from Little Rock the Eagles pushed the ball up the floor as Nick Johnson hit Doucet down the sideline and he drove baseline to finish with a dunk as the Trojans called timeout
- The lead was pushed to double-digits at the14:38 mark when Timmerman boarded a miss and finished the stick back
- Talford scored inside at the 13:19 mark as he got two defenders off the ground on a fake, finishing with a layup for an 18-4 advantage
- Eagles extended their lead to 20 points at the 5:39 mark after a basket inside by Timmerman
- Winthrop went cold offensively from that point and the Trojans went on an 11-0 run to get back to within single-digits
- Xavier McKelvy responded two possessions later as Nick Johnson drove into the lane and kicked a pass into the corner to McKelvy who buried a three
- The Eagle scored the final five points of the break as Chase Claxton
SECOND HALF
- Winthrop started the second half with the first possession as Harrison drove down the right side of the lane and finished off glass over a couple of defender's contesting the shot
- That was followed by a corner three from Doucet to push the lead back to 19 just shy of 90 seconds into the half
- After a Gordon second chance basket, McKelvy scored on back-to-back possessions with a corner three and finished an alley-oop feed from Doucet to lead by 24 points with 16:31 remaining
- McKelvy and Talford converted three-point plays on back-to-back possessions as the Eagles led 59-36 with 14 minutes to play
- Timmerman made it three straight, three-point plays with 12:45 left to lead 62-38
- An 8-0 run by Little Rock cut the Eagle lead to 16 points at the 8:01 mark, but Johnson answered for the Eagles with a straight away triple to lead 75-56
- Doucet buried another three with 3:41 remaining to put the Eagles up 80-60
- Little Rock pulled within 14 points with 1:30 to play but another three from Doucet with 21 seconds left and a steal by Johnson sealed the win
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Eagles shot 61 percent from the floor in the second half and finished at 58 percent for the game
- Little Rock finished the game shooting 43 percent
- Each team knocked down nine triples as the Eagles were 9-for-16 and the Trojans were 9-for-21
- Winthrop held a 31-30 edge on the glass and a 40-32 advantage on points in the paint
- Doucet's 20 points were a game-high as Alex Timmerman (15), Kasen Harrison (12) and Xavier McKelvy (11) joined him in double-figures
- Eagles were 18-for-22 at the foul line (82%) while Little Rock finished 7-of-13
- In the second half alone, the Eagles had five And-1 opportunities and converted 4-of-5
NOTABLES
- Eagles led by 14 at the half, which was the second straight road game they led by double-digits at the break
- This was the first back-to-back non-conference road wins since 2016 when the Eagles won at Hampton and St. Louis
- Doucet is the first Eagle with three consecutive 20-point games since teammate Kelton Talford had three straight in February of 2023 (20-22-20)
- Winthrop captured its fourth straight victory and is 8-3 for the 5th time in program history
- Doucet finished 4-of-5 behind the arc and it is the 3rd time in the last four games he's connected on four triples
- Chase Claxton tied for a team-high with six rebounds and now has 480 in his career
UP NEXT
Winthrop will be back in action next weekend when it travels to Cincinnati, Ohio on Saturday, Dec. 16 to take on Xavier at 7:30 p.m.
STAY CONNECTED
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