Rock Hill, S.C. – Winthrop battled its way to an 83-74 over USC Upstate, Saturday afternoon inside the Winthrop Coliseum.
WINTHROP (17-12, 8-6 Big South)
- Micheal Anumba (15 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, steal)
- Sin'Cere Mcmahon (13 points, rebound, assist, steal)
- Kelton Talford (12 points, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks, steal)
USC UPSTATE (9-19, 4-11 Big South)
- Trae Broadnax (22 points, 6 rebounds, assist)
- Justin Bailey (15 points, 3 rebounds, assist)
- Jalen Breazeale (15 points, rebound, 8 assists, steal)
FIRST HALF
- Kelton Talford opened the scoring with a strong finish at the rim
- An offensive rebound by Micheal Anumba led to a Kasen Harrison three for a quick 5-0 lead
- Upstate responded with a four-point play by Justin Bailey to make it a one point lead for the Eagles
- After an Anumba left handed finish in traffic, Bailey dropped in a three to tie the game at 7-7 with 17:22 left
- Eagles pushed their lead to six points at the 8:47 mark after a Harrison finished with a short right-handed floater on the baseline
- Upstate trimmed the deficit in half two possessions later as Bailey drained a transition three from the right wing
- A Noah Van Bibber corner three put the Eagles up six with 2:51 remaining only to be matched by a three from Jalen Breazeale
- Spartans scored the final bucket of the half as Trae Broadnax scored off a drive in the final seconds as the Eagles led 40-37 at the break
SECOND HALF
- Eagles scored the first four points out of the break to build their largest lead of seven points as Talford and Harrison scored at the rim
- Miguel Ayesa dropped in a left wing three to bring it back to a four-point game
- On the ensuing possession Talford scored an And-1 and converted the free throw to push the lead back to seven points
- Leading by six points with just over 12 minutes to play, Anumba drove to the lane, spun and was fouled as he got a runner to fall for the And-1
- Anumba converted the free throw to extend the lead to nine points with 12:05 to play
- The lead moved to double-digits at the 11:12 mark after Chase Claxton connected on 1-of-2 free throws
- A stick back by Alex Timmerman made it 62-50 in favor of the Eagles with 9:06 remaining
- Spartans cut the deficit to single digits with 8:23 to play but a 7-0 run by the Eagles over the next two minutes had them on top 70-54
- Upstate's Nick Alves stole the ball from Harrison at midcourt and went in for the layup to make it a seven point game with 54 seconds left
- Then a three from Broadnax from the left wing with 18 seconds to play pulled the Spartans within five points (79-74)
- Harrison went to the line with 15.8 seconds left as he made both free throws to all ice the game
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Eagles finished the game shooting 49 percent from the floor while Upstate shot 45 percent
- Upstate was 14-of-32 behind the arc while the Eagles finished 6-of-23
- Winthrop was 25-for-35 at the foul line while the Spartans were 10-of-14
- Sin'Cere McMahon led the Winthrop bench with 13 points as it contributed 30 points
- Eagles also dominated the glass 40-24 and had a 22-6 advantage in second chance points
- There were 24 turnovers combined in the game and just 12 combined points off turnovers
- Anumba led the Eagles with a season-high 15 points and was 1-of-4 Eagles in double-figures
- McMahon had 13 points, Talford finished with 12 and Nick Johnson added 11
NOTABLES
- The victory gives the Eagles 350 Big South regular season victories all-time
- The win secures a Top 4 seed at the Big South Conference Tournament
- The victory was the program's 798th all-time as it inches closer to 800
- Talford finished with eight rebounds and moved into 10th on the all-time list with 642, passing Eddie Gay (637)
UP NEXT
Winthrop heads to High Point, N.C. for its final road game of the regular season as it will face High Point Wednesday, Feb. 28 at 7 p.m.
STAY CONNECTED
To keep up with the latest news on the Winthrop men's basketball program, follow the Eagles on Twitter (@Winthrop_MBB), Instagram (@Winthrop_MBB) and Facebook (/WinthropEagles)
