Rock Hill, S.C. – Daylen Berry's free throw with 5.4 seconds left in the game made it a two possession game as Winthrop held off Presbyterian, 74-70, Saturday afternoon inside the Winthrop Coliseum.
WINTHROP (21-10, 13-3 Big South)
PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE (14-17, 7-9 Big South)
- Jonah Pierce (20 points, 10 rebounds, block)
- Carl Parrish (19 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals)
- Triston Wilson (12 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists)
FIRST HALF
- Eagles scored the opening points of the game as Daylen Berry drove down the right wide of the lane and finished with a layup
- With the game tied 4-4, Kareem Rozier's floater was off the mark as Tai Hamilton boarded the miss and muscled his way to a finish at the rim
- A three from Josh Pickett put PC in front 9-8 followed by a Jonah Pierce hook shot for a three-point advantage at the 14:30 mark
- Tommy Kamarad tied the game as Ed Nnamoko found him open on the wing and he buried the three to tie it at 11-11
- Game was tight for the first nine minutes as the Eagles put together back-to-back triples from Kody Clouet to lead 23-16 at the 7:44 mark
- Rozier followed that up with a three-point play to lead by nine and then knocked down a long range three for a double-digit lead at 32-20 with six minutes to play in the half
- A 6-0 spurt by the Blue Hose cut the Winthrop lead in half, but Rozier answered with a straight away three to push the lead back to nine with 2:11 remaining in the half
- Winthrop went cold down the stretch of the first half, going 1-of-7 from the floor and 2-for-5 at the foul line but still held off PC for a 39-32 lead at the break
SECOND HALF
- Nnamoko scored the opening points of the second half as he scored inside
- The Blue Hose responded with a 7-0 run as Pierce scored inside to start the run and Triston Wilson capped it off with a three-point play
- The run came to an end courtesy of a straight away three from Kamarad to lead 44-39 at the 16:44 mark
- The cold shooting for the Eagles trickled over to the start of the second half as the Eagles were 2-for-9 over the first five minutes
- PC continued to chip away at the Eagles lead and tied the game at 44-44 with 13:37 to play after a turnaround jumper from Carl Parrish
- Blue Hose grabbed the lead at 48-46 after a tip-in from Chidi Chiakwelu with 12:23 remaining
- Winthrop regained the lead as Josh Meo hit two free throws to tie the game and then Rozier found Clouet straight away for three and a 51-48 lead
- PC came right back with back-to-back buckets as Wilson dropped in a short jumper followed by Jaylen Petersons scoring inside
- Over the next nine minutes the teams went back-and-forth as there were 13 lead changes
- Winthrop regained the lead with 1:52 to play on two free throws from Berry
- After getting a defensive stop, the Eagles went to Clouet as he drove to the rim and scored off glass with the left hand to lead 73-70 with 1:08 remaining
- On the ensuing possession after a PC timeout, the Eagle defense stood tall again as Wilson missed a short jumper that was boarded by Clouet with 45 seconds left
- On the Eagles next possession Chiakwelu blocked Nnamoko's shot at the rim and PC had a chance to tie the game or go for a quick two
- Parrish drove to the basket but missed a short jumper as Berry rebounded and was fouled with 5.4 seconds remaining as Berry made 1-of-2 free throws to seal the win
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Winthrop finished the game shooting 37 percent, but balanced it out by 24-for-33 at the free throw line
- Presbyterian shot 46 percent, but the Winthrop defense held it to just 1-of-13 behind the arc
- Winthrop was 8-for-26 from three and forced 13 turnovers that led to 16 points
- The Blue Hose had a 39-36 edge on the glass and 12-6 in second chance points
- In the second half alone rebounds were even at 19-19
- Clouet led the Eagles with 19 points as he also pulled down 11 rebounds for a double-double
NOTABLES
- The win gives the Eagles 13 league wins, the ninth time in program history with 13 or more in a season
- It was also an 11th straight home victory as the Eagles have 13 home wins for the second straight season and 12th all-time with at least 13
- With the victory, head coach Mark Prosser now has 99 wins at the helm of the Winthrop program
- Winthrop has 21 wins on the season, the 13th team in program history to reach 21 victories
- Clouet and Rozier both have 86 threes on the season, moving them into a tie for 7th place
- Clouet has been in double-figures in eight straight games and 14 of the last 15
UP NEXT
The Eagles will be seeded second for the Big South Conference Championship next week in Johnson City, Tenn. Winthrop will be in action on Friday, Mar. 6 at 2:30 p.m. in a quarterfinal matchup with Charleston Southern.
STAY CONNECTED
To keep up with the latest news on the Winthrop men's basketball program, follow the Eagles on
Twitter |
Instagram |
Facebook
