High Point stood just 40 minutes away from breaking through and making it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in the school’s Division I history. But, getting over that hump, even with all the talent and depth the Panther roster has, was not something to be taken for granted. Winthrop, just four years removed from its last Big South title, has a wealth of talent up and down as well. But, there is one key difference that stood out ahead of this game: Veteran leadership.
After sending UNC Asheville packing with a dominant effort in the semifinals on Saturday afternoon approximately 16 hours after a lengthy quarterfinal game that resulted in an 88-79 win over Longwood, Winthrop head coach Mark Prosser was quick to credit his senior leaders for how well-prepared his team was on short rest.
“Even at midnight, they were locked in on the scouting report,” he said. “Their effort and connectedness on such a quick turnaround after a long game last night was terrific. You have to have that and be prepared against a team like Asheville because they have potential all-league players all over the place. We certainly were prepared.”
Later on, Prosser remarked that his team would have to be just as prepared, be better than the Eagles were the first two times they played High Point, and take the game one 4-minute segment at a time.
“We haven’t played High Point in a while, but we have to be better versions of ourselves than we were the first two times we saw them,” he said Saturday. “There were teachable moments and things we need to do better, especially when you look at the results of the first two games. I know that’s easier said than done, but these guys are connected and locked in. Our goal will be to win the first four minutes tomorrow and then we’ll go from there.”
Winthrop could not have gotten off to a better start in making good on that approach. It took two minutes for either team to find the scoreboard, eventually snapped by a three from Kezza Giffa. KJ Doucet later got the Eagles on the board with a pair of free throws, only to have the Panthers go on a 6-0 spurt behind back-to-back dunks from Juslin Bodo Bodo. But that would be the biggest run High Point would put together in the first half, only winning the first segment by a 14-11 margin.
Out of the first media timeout, Logan Duncomb gave Winthrop its first lead of the game on a layup at the 12:17 mark, a moment that sparked a momentum shift that for a while, felt like it may be the story of the game. The Panthers went cold for five minutes, a stretch in which they went 0-for-10 from the field. Counting the three minutes prior to that, Winthrop mounted a 13-0 run, eventually snapped by a Bodo Bodo layup after High Point had missed all but two of its previous 13 shot attempts. The Eagles then rattled off another 12-2 rally, making for a total run of 25-2. At the final timeout of the first half, Winthrop led, 36-23, before High Point finally found some rhythm finishing on a 6-3 push to make for a 10-point affair entering the intermission.
“I don’t know if we did anything special,” said Prosser of the first half explosion by his team. “We played the same version of basketball we have been playing the last six weeks. We were a good version of ourselves. These kids made plays and were connected out there and we were able to build a lead that way, and I was impressed with their readiness and how they were able to bounce back so quickly.”
High Point head coach Alan Huss was also quick to give a ton of credit to how Winthrop played, not just in the first half or in this game, but over the last month of the season.
“For the last month, they have been playing as good basketball as anyone in the country,” Huss said. “They have been making shots, defending, and rebounding at a high level, and they upped their physicality as you saw today. They looked like a high-major basketball team out there.”
The Eagles continued to win the 4-minute wars, building their largest lead of the day (15 points) four minutes into the second half, but High Point then did what Asheville could not in the semifinals. The story from Saturday night was that the run everyone was anticipating never came. It did for the Panthers.
Out of the first media, HPU rattled off a 7-0 spurt, cutting Winthrop’s 48-33 lead to single digits. The Panthers ultimately stretched the outburst to 27-6, pulling out to a 60-54 lead. If that wasn’t shocking enough, the Eagles were still not totally out of it. In the end, missed opportunities such as missed technical free throws by Bryce Baker, a missed foul shot on an and-1 from Doucet, and six turnovers that led to 14 points for the Panthers made the difference as High Point went on to win, 81-69, marking the Panthers’ first Big South championship as well as their first bid to the NCAA Tournament.
“I’m happy for our guys,” Huss said following the historic win. “A year ago, we talked about the progression of going from coach-fed to player-led and the last 60 days or so, we have progressed into that space. Today at halftime, we were in a bad place. We were getting manhandled physically and had not attempted a free throw. They were the aggressor in every shape or form. But, instead of me ranting and raving at halftime, I walked into a group that was self-policing and talking about the processes that needed correcting, and leading itself into the space we needed to get to.”
High Point’s second-half rally was led by some of those guys Huss spoke of as leading in that locker room at the break. Trae Benham scored eight points, with 10 rebounds. Abdoulaye Thiam scored 12, all in the second half. Bobby Pettiford had 17 points, 13 of which came in the second-half rally. Terry Anderson racked up eight points, all in the second stanza. In short, the guys both talked the talk in the locker room and walked the walk on the court.
“It is fitting that guys like Trae Benham and Abdoulaye Thiam, that have sacrificed so much for this team this season, were the ones that were on the floor when this game and tournament concluded,” said Huss. “Additionally, these other guys had other places they could be. Our returners could have all gone in the portal. But they chose to believe in this university and our coaching staff’s vision and the processes they knew they would have to be a part of here. I am so thrilled for them to be able to have this experience.”
While the thrill and emotion of making history was high during the High Point media interviews, the emotion was the opposite with Winthrop after competing so well only to come up short in the second half.
“As a coach, you end up thinking about the losses more than the wins,” said Prosser. “You think about the things that didn’t go well as much as you think about the things that did. But, I don’t know I have had this much fun coaching a group in 23 years. They’re special people that, every day, showed what is still good about college basketball. They are tough, about the right things, loyal, committed to one another, connected, and they deserved better than how it ended. I give (High Point) a ton of credit. They made a lot of plays down the stretch.”
Adding to the emotion of it all is the possibility that this was the last time Kelton Talford donned a Winthrop uniform. But, Talford closed the book on his career—and this story—in a beautiful way, expressing his love for the community he has gotten to be part of in Rock Hill for the past five years.
“Doing the same thing for a lot of years around the same people goes to show what kind of program we have and what it is built upon,” he said. “I have been a part of a lot of different teams here. Each one is different, but all the same as far as the character that comes in. Everybody on our roster has character and it is easy to gel and become brothers with them. I think that is what Winthrop is all about, and why I have loved all five years I have been here.”
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