ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop hung on for a 55-53 Big South Conference win over visiting Charleston Southern on Thursday night at the Winthrop Coliseum in a game that Eagles head coach Randy Peele called “a character win.”
The win gave the Eagles revenge for an earlier season conference loss as it defeated Charleston Southern xx-xx on Thursday night behind a suffocating first half defensive effort that held the Buccaneers to just 13 percent.
The win is Winthrop’s fifth in its last six games and is the 18th in the last 19 meetings against CSU, who stopped the Eagles’ streak with a 57-54 win in Charleston on Jan. 4. The Eagles improve its record to 6-4 in Big South play and 10-10 overall while CSU drops to 5-5 and 10-10.
After playing a suffocating defense in the first half that limited CSU to 3 of 23 shooting from the floor (13 percent), including 1 of 10 from 3-point land, the Eagles had to hang on down the stretch. Andre Jones, who came off the bench to lead Winthrop in scoring with 11 points, hit some big baskets down the stretch to help keep CSU at bay, and then connected on a crucial free throw with 11 seconds left to provide Winthrop with its final margin. CSU had a chance to tie or win the game, but a jumper by Jeremy Sexton came up just short as the final horn sounded.
Winthrop almost let the victory slip away because of an 8 for 22 performance from the free throw line. CSU, on the other hand stayed in the game as it went 16 of 21 from the charity stripe.
If not for its 13 for 14 free throw performance in the first half, the Bucs may have been out of striking distance as they trailed 32-20.
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Jamarco Warren, who came into the game averaging 16.4 points per game, was held to four in the first half on 1 of 7 shooting, but finished with 15 points to tie Sexton for game-high honors.
The Eagles got off to a rather slow start as they connected on two of their first eight field goal attempts, but still led 4-1 at the first media timeout because the defense held CSU without a field goals in the first four minutes.
Winthrop opened up a 12-6 lead with 12:47 left in the first half when Robbie Dreher nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the key. Two free throws from Kevin Martin trimmed the lead to four with 12:02 on the clock. Andre Jones gave the Eagles an 11 point lead after a length of the court drive with 7:15 on the clock. A put back off a miss by Charles Corbin followed by a dunk by Andy Buechert put the Eagles up 25-12 with just under five minutes remaining in the opening period.
Dreher scored five straight points on a 3-pointer and a layup to give the Eagles a 30-14 advantage with 2:42 on the clock.
The Eagles led 44-29 with 13:41 left in the game. CSU cut the deficit to nine at 47-40 on back-to-back jumpers by Warren with 8:52 on the clock. Andre Jones retaliated with back-to-back jumpers of his own sandwiched around a short jumper by Sexton. Jones’ 3-pointer with 6:42 left to put the Eagles up 52-42.
CSU refused to let the Eagles get any breathing room and went on a 7-0 run in less than a minute to cut the deficit to three points at 52-49. A trey by Sexton followed by a 18 foot jumper by Warren after an Eagle turnover drew the Bucs, and a driving layup from Sexton lit a fire under the Bucs. A follow by Martin off a miss by Warren cut the Winthrop led to a single point at 52-51 with a minute and 30 seconds left, but Charles Corbin gave Winthrop a 54-51 lead just 24 seconds later on a jump hook in the lane.
Martin made it a one-point game again on a driving bucket and was fouled, but missed the free throw with 32 seconds left. Robinson was fouled on the rebound and missed the shot. Martin again drove to the basket and was fouled, but again missed the free throw. Robinson was fouled on the rebound with 15 seconds left, but the senior missed again from the line. Charles Corbin grabbed the rebound and his follow shot was blocked out of bounds. Jones was fouled on the inbounds pass and connected on his first free throw before missing the second, setting up one final attempt by Sexton.
After its poor first half shooting performance, CSU bounced back to shoot 45 percent in the second half and finished the game at 31.5 percent (17-54). Winthrop shot almost right at its season average as the Eagles connected on 21 of 59 (35.6 percent).
Winthrop will be back home again on Saturday when it faces league-leader Coastal Carolina at 4:00 p.m.
ROCK HILL, S.C. (AP)—Andre Jones scored 11 points and Winthrop held on to defeat Charleston Southern 55-53 on Thursday night.
The Eagles (10-10, 6-4 Big South Conference) led 44-26 with 15:18 remaining. But the Buccaneers went on a 25-8 run to pull within 52-51. Kelvin Martin’s tip-in capped the run with 1:25 to play.
Winthrop’s Charles Corbin answered with a jumper with 1:04 left, before Martin hit another basket to make it 54-53 with 32 seconds left.
Mantoris Robinson then missed the front end of a 1-and-1 for the Eagles. Corbin grabbed the offensive rebound, but missed a jump shot. The Eagles grabbed the offensive rebound again and Jones hit a free throw with 11 seconds to go.
Winthrop had 16 offensive rebounds and held the Buccaneers (10-10, 5-5) to just 13 percent shooting in the first half (3 of 23).
Jamarco Warren and Jeremy Sexton scored 15 points each for the Eagles.
