Rock Hill, S.C. – Winthrop men's basketball suffered an 88-66 loss to High Point, Saturday afternoon in Big South Conference action.
WINTHROP (18-10, 8-5 Big South)
HIGH POINT (22-5, 11-2 Big South)
- Kezza Giffa (16 points, rebound, 5 assists)
- D'Maurian Williams (15 points, 3 rebounds, assist, steal)
- Terry Anderson (14 points, 5 rebounds, assist)
FIRST HALF
- High Point won the opening tip and D'Maurian Williams drove the middle of the lane but had his shot blocked by Kasen Harrison
- K.J. Doucet opened the scoring with a drive to the basket and then Williams tied it at 2-2 with two free throws
- Harrison scored off a drive followed by a layup in transition by Tommy Kamarad for a 6-2 advantage
- Eagles led 12-9 after two free throws by Harrison, but back-to-back baskets put High Point in the lead for the first time
- It started off an Eagle turnover as Bobby Pettiford scored off a drive down the left side of the lane and then Pettiford hit Abdoulaye Thiam cutting to the basket for a layup and a 13-12 advantage
- After Nick Johnson scored to regain the lead, High Point's Thiam drilled a three to lead 16-14
- Back-to-back buckets by Harrison and Johnson and the game was tied 18-18 with 9:12 left in the half
- It was a one point game with 6:42 left in the half after Harrison converted two free throws
- Panthers went on a 6-0 spurt powered by a three in transition by Chase Johnston to push the lead to 31-24 at the 4:14 mark
- A score inside by Terry Anderson turned it into an 8-0 run to lead 33-24
- Harrison ended the run as he drove and dropped in a short jumper in traffic
- High Point answered with a three to extend the lead to double-digits at 36-26 with 3:20 left in the half
- Panthers led by as much as 16 with 1:47 left, but a Paul Jones III right win three pulled the Eagles within 12 at the half
SECOND HALF
- Eagles opened the half with an 8-0 run to get the deficit back to single digits, trailing 43-39 at the 17:22 mark
- Simon Hildebrandt ended the run on a drive and dunk to put High Point up 45-39
- Eagles kept chipping away and made it a one point game at the 14:03 mark after Harrison boarded a miss and scored at the rim to trail 45-44
- Panthers responded with a 8-0 run to push the lead to 53-44 with 11:52 remaining
- With 9:50 remaining in the game the Panthers pushed to lead to double-digits where they kept it the rest of the way
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Winthrop finished the game shooting 40 percent while High Point shot 46 percent
- Eagles had a 40-37 advantage on the glass with 13 offensive rebounds leading to 11 points
- Panthers edged the Eagles 44-42 in the paint
- Winthrop finished 2-of-21 behind the arc while High Point was 9-of-25
- Harrison led the Eagles with 21 points while Kezza Giffa's 16 points led the Panthers
NOTABLES
- The Eagles five-game winning streak and 12-game home winning streak come to an end
- Kelton Talford's 12 points pushed him to 1,782 in his career and into third place on the all-time scoring list passing Xavier Cooks (1,778)
UP NEXT
Winthrop is back on the road as it heads to Clinton, S.C. to take on Presbyterian College on Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m.
STAY CONNECTED
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