Columbia, S.C. – Kelton Talford scored 20 points to pace Winthrop in a 72-62 loss at South Carolina, Tuesday night.
WINTHROP (8-5, 0-0 Big South)
- Kelton Talford (20 points, 6 rebounds, assist, block, 2 steals)
- K.J. Doucet (16 points, 5 rebounds, assist, 2 blocks, steal)
- Alex Timmerman (13 points, 3 assists, block)
SOUTH CAROLINA (10-1, 0-0 SEC)
- Meechie Johnson (20 points, 2 rebounds, 5 assists, steal)
- Ta'lon Cooper (13 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, block)
- Myles Stute (10 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, steal)
FIRST HALF
- Stephen Clark of South Carolina opened the scoring as Myles Stute found him at the rim after nabbing an offensive rebound
- The Eagles got on the scoreboard at the 17:48 mark as Nick Johnson drove the lane and fed Kelton Talford for the slam to tie the game at 2-2
- Gamecocks jumped back in front at 4-2 as a blocked shot by Chase Claxton found the hands of Ta'lon Cooper as he scored quickly at the rim
- Winthrop grabbed a 5-4 lead when Alex Timmerman kicked the ball out to Kasen Harrison and he knocked down the three
- Leading 8-7, South Carolina's Jacobi Wright stole the ball from Nick Johnson and midway through the possession Cooper hit Wright on the left wing for a three and an 11-7 lead with 12 minutes to play
- That three started an 8-0 run that put the Gamecocks up 15-7 at the 10:34 mark
- Eagles made it a five point game with just over nine minutes to play as Sin'Cere McMahon went 1-of-2 at the foul line and then Chase Claxton cleaned up a Kelton Talford miss for a layup
- A corner three by Morris Ugusuk put the Gamecocks back up by eight points a minute later
- Stute drilled a three out of a media timeout to put the Gamecocks up 11
- The three was answered by K.J. Doucet on a right wing through off an inbound pass from Harrison
- The lead moved back to double-digits at 23-13 on a dunk by Stute off a pass from Cooper
- Timmerman with a nice feed to Talford cutting to the basket led to a layup and then on the ensuing possession Talford scored again inside to make it a two possession game at 25-19
- After the Gamecocks pushed the lead back to eight with 2:36 left, the Eagles put a 5-0 spurt together to make it a one possession game with just over a minute remaining
- It started with a K.J. Doucet three followed by a steal from Harrison who pushed the ball in transition and fed Timmerman for the finish on the other end to pull within 29-26
- Talford hit two free throws with 27 seconds left in the half to make it a three point game at 31-28
- South Carolina had the final possession as Meechie Johnson drove the lane and had his shot swatted out toward the three-point line as Cooper collected, took a step forward and drained a jumper near the elbow as time expired to lead 33-28 at the break
SECOND HALF
- Winthrop opened the scoring in the second half as Kelton Talford scored inside on an And-1 and converted the free throw to trail 33-31
- South Carolina responded with a 6-0 spurt, but Nick Johnson drained a three from up top to bring it back down to a two possession game at the 17:04 mark
- Gamecocks answered the Johnson three as Cooper found Stute open on the left wing and he knocked down the triple
- Trailing by 10, Harrison drove into the paint and found Doucet in the corner for three which started a 7-0 run in which the Eagles next four points all came at the free throw line
- Cooper put the Gamecocks back up by five with a basket inside, but the Eagles responded with a three from McMahon to make it a 52-50 game with 9:16 remaining
- On the following possession South Carolina matched the three as Ugusuk knocked down his second triple of the game
- With 7:20 to play in the game, Doucet got to the line and hit 1-of-2 to make it a two point game as the Gamecocks led 55-53
- After three consecutive offensive rebounds the Eagles had a chance to cut into the South Carolina lead but a pass by Timmerman was stolen by Wright and he finished on the other end to lead by six
- The Eagles turned the ball over on their next possession and South Carolina took advantage as B.J. Mack got to the line and made both free throws to push the lead to 61-53 with 4:20 to play
- Trailing 65-56, Timmerman buried a three to make it a two possession game with three minutes left but South Carolina had an answer as Cooper drained a three
- Doucet answered with a score off the drive to make it a seven point deficit with 2:07 left as the Eagles
- That was as close as the Eagles got as they were unable to get shots to fall and the Gamecocks converted their free throws
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Winthrop finished the game shooting 34 percent from the field and South Carolina finished at 40 percent
- Eagles were 7-for-21 behind the arc while the Gamecocks were 6-of-26
- Winthrop got to the free throw line 29 times, converting 23 (79%) while the Gamecocks were a perfect 12-for-12
- The battle on the glass favored South Carolina 38-32, 18-12 on the offensive glass
- South Carolina had a 40-16 advantage with points in the paint
- Averaging nearly 30 points from its bench on the season, the Eagles had just eight points
- Kelton Talford tied for a game-high with 20 points as he was 5-of-9 shooting and 10-for-11 at the foul line
NOTABLES
- This was Talford's 12th career 20-point game and second of the season
- He is now 21 points away from 21st on Winthrop's all-time list
- Eagles finished with six blocks in the game, tying a season-high and it was the 12th straight game with at least one block
- Talford finished with six rebounds and moved into a tie for 15th on the all-time list
UP NEXT
Winthrop wraps up its four-game road trip on Friday, Dec. 22 as it travels to Tallahassee, Fla. to take on Florida State at 7 p.m.
STAY CONNECTED
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