Winthrop outlasts Radford in battle of attrition, seizes first place in Big South

 

Winthrop forward Kelton Talford led the Eagles with 27 points in Saturday's win.  (Photo:  Winthrop Athletics)

ROCK HILL, S.C. – The notion of one getting their money’s worth is somewhat overrated these days. Value is, after all, in the eye of the beholder.

If one left Saturday’s Radford-Winthrop game feeling as if they did not get their money’s worth, though, nothing may ever leave them satisfied.

A battle of teams projected to finish in the top three of the Big South this season lived up to its billing. One team had a scorer record a career-high, while the other had a player finish one point shy of equaling his. Winthrop survived the battle of attrition – finally – and claimed a 92-88, three-overtime decision before an announced crowd of 2,092 at Winthrop Coliseum.

“They understand how good this league is and how good they are,” Winthrop coach Mark Prosser said of his team after the game. “Obviously, when you have a triple-overtime game, you’re fortunate to pull it out. I’m just proud of our kids and their fight.”

“You would love to win by 20 or 30, but that’s just the conference that we’re in,” Winthrop forward Kelton Talford said. “We know we’ve got to come in and prepare for this fight, day in and day out. That just goes to show the character that each of our guys have and the system that our coaches have put us in. Over time, you just have to keep doing the minute things that you don’t think are big that lead to victory.”

The fight was almost a first-round TKO. Radford (11-7, 1-2 Big South) shook off any potential fatigue from playing a late Thursday ESPN game at Longwood and raced out to a 20-5 lead to start the game. Kenyon Giles and Chandler Turner combined for 15 of those 20 points, with Giles scoring eight of the Highlanders’ first 13.

Winthrop (13-6, 4-0) countered with a 23-8 run that unfolded nowhere near as quickly as that of the visiting side. The Eagles spent the next 11 minutes gradually leveling the score, pulling square on a Kasen Harrison three with 1:01 remaining in the first half. Giles hit a three on the ensuing possession, followed by a Nick Johnson layup that cut Radford’s lead to 31-30 at the interval.

Justin Archer converted back-to-back buckets to start the second half, opening up a five-point Highlander lead. Winthrop unleashed a 10-2 burst shortly thereafter, taking its first lead of the game on a Talford free throw with 15:29 remaining. Bryan Antoine then knocked down a three to again make the game even with 14:21 to play.

The game remained within one possession until the 2:40 mark in regulation. Nick Johnson ripped a three to put the Eagles ahead, followed by a Mike Anumba bucket that pushed the Winthrop lead to five with 1:40 left. DaQuan Smith knocked down two free throws for Radford to maneuver the Highlanders within a possession. Turner then splashed home a game-tying three with seven seconds remaining to compel the first extra session.

The first overtime session passed with neither side pulling away further than one possession. Anumba hit a three to open bonus time that gave Winthrop its biggest margin of the first session. Radford hit three free throws later in the period to pull ahead by a pair, only for Kasen Harrison to tie it with two free throws at the 46-second mark. Neither side could further mark, though DaQuan Smith had a clean look at a potential game-winning three. Smith awkwardly landed after the shot and was forced from the game with an injured foot.

Radford again seized the early momentum in the second overtime. Giles and Turner made buckets to put the Highlanders ahead by four. Talford singlehandedly erased that margin, however, and after Giles made a layup to put Radford ahead by two, Talford again scored with 24 seconds left in the second overtime to set up a third.

Winthrop finally iced the game in the third overtime, mostly from the foul line. The already-depleted Highlanders had already lost three players to fouls, only to see the Eagles turn in seven of their 11 points in the third extra session from the foul line. Johnson converted the first, with Harrison and Talford adding three apiece. Talford also converted two shots in the period. Talford’s final free throw gave the Eagles a lead they would not again relinquish.

“I thought it was a good basketball game, if you had no strings attached,” Radford coach Darris Nichols said. “For us – you can go in there and you can shoot a thousand jump shots a day and make 500, but if you’re not a student of the game and don’t understand the attention to detail that goes into what we’re trying to do – scouting report, defense – then those thousand shots don’t mean anything.”

“Our next step of getting better is being students of the game. There were a lot of situations that we messed up that we could have cleaned up, and it could have been a different outcome.”

Talford turned in the leading scoring effort for the Eagles, booking 27 points and snatching six boards. The 27 points were one shy of a career-high. 19 of those 27 points came after the first half. Talford also added 11-of-16 from the line to solidify his total. Three additional Eagles turned in double-digit totals, including Johnson with 20 on 7-of-11 shooting. Harrison contributed 18, bolstered by a 9-of-12 effort from the stripe. Anumba pitched in 11 and five boards in 45-plus minutes of reserve duty.

Turner finished with a career-high 33 on 14-of-22 from the floor. Turner’s tally also included a double-double, as he pulled in 12 caroms in the contest. Giles added 20, with Smith contributing 18. The Highlanders shot 43.6 percent from the field and 27.6 percent from deep. Radford knocked down 12-of-15 tries from the line on the night.

“I thought he was good. He’s been consistent,” Nichols said of Turner.

“They have such good players that you can have a good defensive possession, you can contest a shot, and you can feel really good about it, and it still goes in,” Prosser added. “They were making really hard shots. That’s who they are. They’re good.”

Radford returns to action on Wednesday, doing battle with Big South rival Gardner-Webb. Tip time is set for 7:00 (Eastern) from the Dedmon Center in Radford, Va., with streaming coverage over ESPN+.  Winthrop hosts Asheville in the Big South wildcard game Thursday evening. Tip time is set for 7:00 inside the Winthrop Coliseum, with television coverage planned for ESPNU.

WINTHROP 92, RADFORD 88 (3OT)

RADFORD (11-7, 1-2 BIG SOUTH)

Archer 2-2 0-1 4, Turner 14-22 2-2 33, Smith 6-16 4-4 18, Giles 9-23 0-0 20, Antoine 1-4 2-2 5, Pierce 0-0 3-4 3, T. Harris 0-3 0-0 0, J. Harris 2-7 1-2 5, Walters 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 34-78 12-15 88.

WINTHROP (13-6, 4-0)

Doucet 0-4 0-2 0, Claxton 1-3 0-0 2, Timmerman 2-5 1-2 5, Johnson 7-11 2-5 20, Harrison 4-8 9-12 18, Talford 8-13 11-16 27, McMahon 3-10 0-0 9, Anumba 4-8 1-1 11, McKelvy 0-1 0-0 0, Diallo 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-63 24-38 92.

Halftime:  Radford 31-30. 3-Point goals:  Winthrop 10-29 (Doucet 0-2, Claxton 0-2, Johnson 4-8, Harrison 1-3, McMahon 3-9, Anumba 2-4, McKelvy 0-1), Radford 8-29 (Turner 3-6, Smith 2-7, Giles 2-10, Antoine 1-3, T. Harris 0-2, Walters 0-1). Fouled out:  Archer (RU), Pierce (RU), Antoine (RU). Rebounds:  Radford 42 (Turner 12), Winthrop 40 (Claxton 7). Assists: Winthrop 13 (Claxton/Talford/Anumba 3), Radford 9 (Archer 3). Total fouls:  Radford 31, Winthrop 16. Technicals:  NA.

Points off turnovers:  Radford 12, Winthrop 6.  Points in the paint:  Winthrop 36, Radford 32.  Second-chance points:  Winthrop 12, Radford 11.  Fast-break points:  Radford 8, Winthrop 5.  Bench points:  Winthrop 47, Radford 8.