Winthrop continues its hot stretch, dispatches Longwood in Big South quarterfinals

Winthrop guard Kasen Harrison was one of two Eagles to notch a double-double in Friday's Big South quarterfinal win. (Photo:  Winthrop Athletics/Professional Photography Group)

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JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Griff Aldrich is, without question, one of the top coaches in mid-major college basketball. He is also known to be a bit of a philosopher.

Aldrich’s Longwood team had just fallen, 88-79, to Winthrop in the quarterfinal round of the Big South tournament and he wanted to say some things about his Lancers and their season. What unfolded was a bit of a sermon on the state of college basketball.

More on that in a bit, though.

Winthrop built a gigantic lead early Friday night, then withstood a frenetic Longwood run in the second half. The win marked the Eagles’ ninth in their last ten contests.

“We count ourselves very fortunate to get the opportunity to play again. That’s a really good basketball team,” Winthrop coach Mark Prosser said after the game. “Our upper-classmen really sort of guided us through that, including (guard Kasen Harrison and forward Kelton Talford). It’s a good group. They were locked in and ready to go.”

Prosser’s words were an understatement.

Longwood (18-14) started well enough, jumping out 8-4 early and leading by as many as five. The Eagles quickly – and decisively – dropped the hammer. Winthrop (22-10) unfurled an 11-0 burst that flipped the Lancer lead upside down and put the Eagles ahead by seven. The Lancers would bounce back with a 9-2 run of their own to level the contest at 17.

Then, all hell broke loose.

Kasen Harrison cashed a pair of triples. Bryce Baker hit one of his own. Nick Johnson added a couple baskets. KJ Doucet had a thunderous dunk and a three. Johnson and Baker hit a couple more buckets apiece.

When the dust settled, Winthrop had scored 24 of the final 31 points of the half. The Eagles had staggered the Lancers and taken a 45-24 lead to the interval.

“Tonight was obviously a frustrating night for us,” Aldrich said. “It was a little bit of a microcosm of our entire season. Our season has been full of stretches where we show that we can be a really good team, and then stretches of a lack of discipline, lack of playing with team focus, and a lack of effort. That’s something we’ve been working on all year.”

That inconsistency – while maddening in the first half – proved to be a bit more interesting in the second.

Winthrop seized a 24-point lead on the opening possession, then maintained a lead as high as 23 for the first seven minutes of the period. Longwood began to punch out of its corner a bit, scoring 12 of 16 points in a run of the half that snipped the deficit to 15. Another 7-0 burst later knifed the Winthrop lead to 10. As soon as Longwood worked the lead down to three possessions, though, star forward Kelton Talford took over. The Great Falls, S.C., native scored seven straight Eagle points to grow the lead back to 13. Longwood could never again draw closer than nine.

“It was just about being able to go out there and give that little ‘umph’ for my teammates,” Talford said. “You’ve just got to be ready when your name is called or when it’s your game. It’s just like they would do for me. Somebody else would pick up the slack. That’s what makes us so special. We’ve got nine guys who can get it done on any given night.”

“Every game tells its own story and every season tells its own story,” Prosser said. “I’m really proud of them. They have a next play mentality, and they had it again today. That’s a terrific team. They’re terrific this time of year. We knew it was going to be a battle. They did exactly what we knew they would do. That’s what good teams do. Our kids stuck together. There was no blinking in the face of adversity. They stuck together and made a lot of big plays down the stretch.”

After the game, Aldrich reflected a bit on the Lancers’ season and how things ended.

“It’s the job of a coach to recruit pieces and to put those pieces together. The reality is that I wasn’t able to do that this year. 18 wins is a good thing, but I think we always try to measure ourselves at Longwood by whether we reach our potential. This group – unfortunately – I don’t think it did reach its potential. That’s certainly on me and the staff. We just weren’t able to press the right buttons this year and get them to play the way that I believe they could have played.”

“It’s a hard part of coaching. It’s a hard part of sports. It’s almost like parenting. You see the potential in the group. We saw flashes – we even saw elongated stretches – but we were just never able to get that to gel. That’ll be a big disappointment – not only for me, but I think for everybody in our locker room for a while.”

Aldrich then commented on the state of college athletics.

“Whether your team is at the top or whether your team is struggling, you’re always trying to evaluate how the organization is working. Is the vibe right? Are there any gaps that we need to plug? I think one of the hard parts in the current state of college athletics is you’re trying to – at Longwood, we do want to transform. It’s harder to do that in the current environment. Some guys you only have for ten months, for eight months.”

“God bless the kids. With the transfer portal and the money, it’s hard to – the Big South is a great example. I don’t know how some of these kids can stay focused when they think, ‘Man, I could be making six figures next year if I’ – how can you be selfless in that moment? That’s a tall order. I don’t know many adults who can do that, much less 18-to-22-year-old kids.”

“College athletics is transforming. We have to transform with it. We never will sacrifice our values. We’ll never not be about trying to positively impact our guys. My hope is that, for these guys, they do learn. I don’t think anybody in that locker room thinks we met expectations. Hopefully, this is something they will learn from and it will be able to help them in a future season of their life.”

Five Winthrop scorers finished in double figures. Talford and Harrison both turned in double-doubles. Talford scored 16 points and snatched 10 boards. Harrison scored 15 and dished 11 of Winthrop’s 19 helpers. Doucet tallied 17, while Baker contributed 15 and Johnson 12. The Eagles shot 56.9 percent (29-for-51) from the deck, adding 13 triples on 31 tries (41.9 percent). Winthrop got to the line 32 times, but sank just 17 (53.1 percent).

Longwood booked three double-figure scorers. Guard Colby Garland registered 24 points, bolstered by a 13-for-14 performance from the line. Senior Michael Christmas missed a double-double by one rebound, scoring 15 points and boarding nine misses. Forward Elijah Tucker added 10 points and seven boards. The Lancers shot 36.1 percent (22-for-61) from the field and 25 percent (5-of-20) from beyond the arc. Longwood attempted a season-high 42 free throws, hitting 30 (71.4 percent).

Winthrop advances to Saturday’s second semifinal against Asheville. The teams split the season series, with the Eagles taking the most recent affair just a week ago. Winthrop turned away Asheville, 103-90, in that game.

“I don’t think anybody’s going to apologize for having to turn around and play tomorrow,” Prosser said. “We’ll do the proper preparation in the time we have. I’m sure they have the same familiarity with us that we have with them. It was a great college basketball game up there. It was a great college basketball game at our place. I’ve got a feeling it’ll be a great college basketball game again on Saturday.”

The third-seeded Eagles and second-seeded Bulldogs are set for a tip time of approximately 2:30 (Eastern) Saturday afternoon. ESPN+ will provide streaming coverage.