(Final Call - Winthrop Sports Network)
Rock Hill, S.C. – Kasen's Harrison's bucket with 1.3 seconds remaining lifted Winthrop to a 76-74 comeback victory over Longwood, Wednesday evening inside the Winthrop Coliseum.
WINTHROP (11-13, 6-5 Big South)
LONGWOOD (15-9, 7-4 Big South)
- D'Avian Houston (14 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal)
- Leslie Nkereuwem (13 points, 2 rebounds)
- Walyn Napper (13 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals)
FIRST HALF
- It was a back-and-forth affair in the early going as the teams traded baskets until a Michael Christmas three started a run for Longwood
- The three from Christmas put the Lancers up 11-10 and sparked a 10-0 run for an 18-10 lead with 12:38 left
- Kelton Talford interrupted the run with a couple of free throws but four straight points by Longwood on back-to-back dunks by Leslie Nkereuwem to push the lead to double-digits
- Winthrop quickly pulled the lead back to single-digits with pull-up three from Toneari Lane
- It was a 24-17 lead for Longwood with 9:35 to play when it went on an 11-0 run to push its lead to 18 points as a three-point play from Nkereuwem and a jumper from Christmas capped off the run
- Kasen Harrison stopped the run with a three at the top of the key to start a 6-0 spurt by the Eagles
- A three by Christmas with nine seconds left in the half put the Lancers on up 46-28 at the break
SECOND HALF
- Isaiah Wilkins opened the scoring in the second half with a mid-range jumper for a 19 point advantage
- Trailing 49-31, the Eagles connected on back-to-back threes by Sin'Cere McMahon to start a 10-0 run that ended with a Lane three to pull within single-digits
- After a jumper in the lane by Walyn Napper put the lead back to double-figures the Eagles cut the deficit in half and trailed 51-46 with 15:12 to play after five straight points from Lane
- Napper responded by connecting on consecutive threes to lead 57-46 with 13:29 left
- Longwood led 59-48 with 11:37 remaining when a Talford three-point play sparked a 9-0 run to make it a one possession game at 59-57 with a little over nine minutes remaining
- Talford's three-point play was followed by threes from McMahon and then Hightower from the left wing
- Eagles continued to chip away and eventually tied the game at 61-61 with 7:44 left
- The Lancers went up 69-66 after a three from D'Avian Houston with 4:25 left
- Longwood had possession up three with a little over three minutes to play when Chase Claxton stole the ball and that led to a catch and shoot three from Hightower from the right wing to tie the game again
- Winthrop took the lead on a jumper by Talford only to have the Lancers tie the game again at 71-71 with 1:53 left as Napper converted two free throws
- With under a minute to play the game was tied as Harrison found Lane in the corner as he buried a contested three with 39.4 seconds left
- Out of a timeout, Longwood tied the game as Wilkins hit Houston on the wing and he drained the three with 25.1 seconds left
- The Eagles called timeout with 20.8 seconds to play to draw up a play for a final shot and Harrison was up to the task
- Harrison drove down the right side of the and put a shot high off the glass just soft enough to hit the front of the rim and fall in with 1.3 remaining
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Winthrop shot 70 percent from the floor in the second half to finish at 50 percent for the game
- Longwood finished the game at 47 percent shooting after connecting on 40 percent in the second half
- In the second half alone the Eagles were 8-of-11 behind the arc and finished the game 12-for-22
- Longwood connected on 11-of-23 from three
- Winthrop won the battle on the boards 30-27 and second chance points were even at five each
- Longwood had the advantage in the paint 26-20
- Longwood had five players in double-figures while Winthrop had four
NOTABLES
- This was Harrison's second last second game-winning shot as he had his first on Dec.31 in the win over UNC Asheville
- The Eagles have their first three-game win streak of the season and have now won five straight over Longwood at home
- This was the 15th straight win for Winthrop in the month of February
- McMahon posted his sixth 20-point game of the season and second in the last six games
- Cory Hightower pulled down seven rebounds and is now four rebounds away from 800 in his career
- Claxton's late steal in the game extended his streak of at least one steal in 13 straight games
- It is the fourth league game the Eagles have rallied from a double-digit deficit to win
- It is the largest comeback win since Feb. 24, 2009 when the Eagles overcame a 27 point deficit at home to defeat Charleston Southern
UP NEXT
Winthrop looks for a fourth straight win as it begins a two-game road trip beginning with a trip to Radford, Va. on Saturday, Feb. 4 to take on Radford at 2 p.m.
STAY CONNECTED
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