Winthrop turns away Presbyterian on Senior Day despite Duncomb's absence

Winthrop honored its senior class before Saturday's win against Presbyterian at Winthrop Coliseum.  (Photo:  Brian Wilmer/Daly Dose of Hoops)

 

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ROCK HILL, S.C. – Though he was part of Winthrop’s Senior Day festivities, all eyes in Winthrop Coliseum were immediately on Logan Duncomb Saturday afternoon.

After Duncomb suffered an injury Thursday night at Charleston Southern, Eagle faithful were hopeful that he had avoided the worst. Duncomb, a Big South Player of the Year candidate, used the help of a mobility scooter to get onto the court to be honored as part of the festivities and wore a boot on his left foot.

Duncomb did not play, but a trio of his senior teammates filled the void.

Senior guards Kareem Rozier, Kody Clouet, and Daylen Berry combined for 47 points, while another senior, Ed Nnamoko, scored six points and grabbed four boards in a 74-70 Winthrop victory over Presbyterian before an announced crowd of 2,403.

“It’s atypical for kids – for people – in adversity throughout the course of the year to stick together,” Winthrop coach Mark Prosser said. “It’s easy to look around. It’s easy to see what’s next. It’s easy to think, ‘Woe is me.’  They don’t.”

“Adversity strikes and they just keep going. It had to be a quick turnaround. We had to figure out a way to try to produce what we were not going to have today. They came in with a great attitude. This isn’t work. Being around these kids every day is fun.”

While the Winthrop team may be fun, trying to shake off a tough Presbyterian team absolutely was not.

Winthrop (21-10, 13-3 Big South) broke the seal on what would become an 11-minute tug-of-war. Berry scored six of the game’s first eight points, but neither the Eagles nor Blue Hose could create separation beyond a three-point lead on either side. Clouet splashed back-to-back triples in a 40-second span to swell the lead back to seven and spark a 15-4 run that put Winthrop ahead, 32-20 at the 6:00 mark of the first half.

Presbyterian (14-17, 7-9 Big South) gradually began whittling away at the deficit, using a 12-5 run to cut it to 37-32 late in the first half. Forwards Jonah Pierce and Triston Wilson keyed the burst, tallying nine of the 12 points. Clouet knocked down two free throws late in the period to give Winthrop a 39-32 halftime advantage.

“The story of the game for us was really the start and the first half, I thought,” Presbyterian coach Quinton Ferrell said after the game. “The way we guarded in the second half was – outside of fouling – they couldn’t score in the half court against us. I think we held them to 32 percent in the second half.”

To Ferrell’s point, the Eagles hit just eight second-half shots in 25 tries. Three of those came in the first seven minutes of the frame, as Presbyterian notched another 12-5 spurt that leveled the contest at 44 with 13:37 to play. The game remained within a single possession for almost the final 13 minutes, as the sides continually traded punches.

After Winthrop snatched a 69-66 lead on a Nnamoko dunk with 2:55 remaining, Presbyterian got a pair of Carl Parrish free throws and a Jonah Pierce bucket to secure a 70-69 lead with just inside of two minutes to play. Pierce then drew his fifth foul seven seconds later, which left the Blue Hose without their two starting forwards after Jaylen Peterson had fouled out earlier.

After Berry made two free throws to give Winthrop a 71-70 lead, Presbyterian missed a three-point try on the other end. The Eagles then found Clouet on the other end, who knifed through traffic and made it 73-70 with 1:08 to play. Clouet then snatched one of his 11 rebounds on a missed Blue Hose layup, then took off toward the other end. Winthrop went for a layup on the other end, but Chidi Chiakwelu turned away the try.

This left Presbyterian with one last look to try to cut the Winthrop margin. The Parrish layup try spun off, however, and the Blue Hose were forced to foul Berry. Berry made one of two, which provided the final margin.

“On that last possession, we had one timeout left,” Ferrell said. “Carl Parrish had the ball and the defense wasn’t set. We were trying to get a quick two -- because we had enough time -- and play the foul game with one timeout. I didn’t want to call the timeout, because I was going to draw something up for him anyway, and he had the ball in his hands. He ended up getting into the paint, he drew the defender up into the air and just didn’t get the benefit of the call, and it just rimmed out.”

Clouet led the convocation of Eagles in Duncomb’s absence, recording a double-double on the day. Clouet scored 19 and boarded 11 misses – all defensive – to guide the Eagle effort.

“You have to be about the right things. You have to care about a common goal and winning. Kody’s that way, as well – just like everybody else in the locker room,” Prosser said. “I don’t think he cares about stats. I just think he wants to win. They’re all like that. He’s a terrific player. I wish he’d come a couple years ago when we recruited him the first time, but I’m glad to have him now.”

“It was a hard-fought game out there, but we pulled it out yet again,” Clouet said. “We’re just so together. I don’t think I’ve been a part of a team that – 10 seniors coming in, we only had five guys returning from last year – we’ve gelled from the beginning. We’re just all playing for each other and not for anything else other than that. We lost Logan. That’s a killer. It’s just about next man up.”

Rozier and Berry joined Clouet in double figures. The tandem scored 15 and 13, respectively. Nnamoko and Tai Hamilton combined for 10 points and nine boards in the post in Duncomb’s absence. Winthrop shot 36.8 percent (21-for-57) from the deck, with 30.8 percent (8-for-26) of their tries from three-point range finding the net. The Eagles hit 24-of-33 (72.7 percent) from the line.

Pierce logged his 16th double-double of the campaign, scoring 20 points and snatching 10 caroms before fouling out. Parrish finished one board shy of a double-double of his own, scoring 19 points on 5-of-9 shooting and 9-of-9 from the line. Wilson booked 12 on 5-of-13 shooting. The Blue Hose shot 46.3 percent (25-of-54) from the field despite hitting just one three in 13 tries (7.7 percent). Presbyterian sank 70.4 percent (19-of-27) from the free throw line, including 12-of-15 (80 percent) in the second half.

Both teams will open play in the Big South tournament in Johnson City, Tenn., on Friday. The second-seeded Eagles have a 2:30 (Eastern) tip against seventh-seeded Charleston Southern. Presbyterian finished with the sixth seed and will open with third-seeded Radford. Game time is set for 8:30 Friday night. ESPN+ will handle the streaming coverage.

WINTHROP 74, PRESBYTERIAN 70

PRESBYTERIAN (14-17, 7-9 BIG SOUTH)

Pickett 1-7 0-0 3, Wilson 5-13 2-3 12, Parrish 5-9 9-9 19, Pierce 9-15 2-7 20, Peterson 4-6 0-1 8, Hudson 0-0 0-0 0, Bowden 0-2 6-7 6, Chiakwelu 1-1 0-0 2, Anderson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-54 19-27 70.

WINTHROP (21-10, 13-3)

Wilson 0-1 1-2 1, Rozier 5-16 3-3 15, Berry 2-6 9-13 13, Clouet 4-10 8-10 19, Nnamoko 3-6 0-0 6, Meo 2-6 2-2 7, Boyogueno 0-0 0-0 0, Kamarad 2-4 0-1 6, Hamilton 2-5 0-0 4, Hendawy 1-3 1-2 3. Totals 21-57 24-33 74.

Halftime:  Winthrop 39-32. 3-Point goals:  Winthrop 8-26 (Rozier 2-8, Berry 0-1, Clouet 3-9, Meo 1-2, Kamarad 2-4, Hendawy 0-2), Presbyterian 1-13 (Pickett 1-7, Wilson 0-3, Parrish 0-1, Bowden 0-1, Anderson 0-1). Fouled out:  Pierce (PC), Peterson (PC).  Rebounds:  Presbyterian 39 (Pierce 10), Winthrop 36 (Clouet 11). Total fouls:  Presbyterian 28, Winthrop 21. Technicals:  NA.

 

 

Radford survives battle with Presbyterian, advances to Big South semifinals

 

Radford's David Early sank a number of late, key free throws in the Highlanders' Friday quarterfinal victory.  (Photo:  Radford Athletics)

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JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – The drama of Friday afternoon’s quarterfinal surprised no one. The way it got there, though? That may be a different story.

Four Radford scorers finished in double figures and the fourth-seeded Highlanders held off fifth-seeded Presbyterian, 74-69, in extra time. That only happened after a once-comfortable interval advantage vanished.

Radford coach Darris Nichols may have best summed up the contest.

“We’re excited to get out of this game alive,” Nichols said.

Radford (20-12) started the game strong. The Highlanders got 15 first-half points from Jarvis Moss and neutralized the fifth-seeded Blue Hose for much of the period. A 7-0 first-half run helped create separation, followed by a nearly 50 percent shooting effort from Radford in the opening stanza. An additional storyline in the period  that would follow the sides:  Radford went 5-for-5 from the line in the first half, while the Blue Hose were 0-for-6.

“(Free throw shooting) has come in handy all year,” Nichols said. “I think we're 21st in the country in getting to the foul line. You think about the guards we have that can get down there and put pressure on the rim. And then you've got two bigs in there ducking in. You’re going to draw a lot of fouls. That’s kind of what we've hung our hat on the whole year.”

The second half told a bit different story. Presbyterian (14-18) immediately countered out of the break, gradually erasing a 37-23 lead. The Blue Hose scored 25 of the first 35 points of the period, seizing a 48-47 advantage at the 11:29 mark of the period. This set the tone for a tense battle throughout the afternoon.

Presbyterian turned away a late effort as regulation neared its end, then fed ahead to Kobe Stewart for a bucket that tied the contest at 65. Radford had one final look as regulation ended, but the shot refused to fall and five extra minutes were required.

“I’m really proud of my guys,” Presbyterian coach Quinton Ferrell said after the game. “We didn't get the start that we would have wanted in the first half, but in the second half, we looked like the team we've been down the stretch and I just can't say enough about the character of my guys and the way they fought in the second half.”

“We thought that if we got stops, we could hurt them in transition. I thought that was a huge key to the second half. I thought that, in the second half, we were even more aggressive defensively with our ball screen coverage. That kind of propelled our offense, too.”

Stewart knocked down another jumper to start the extra session, only for David Early to nearly immediately counter with a layup to again knot the proceedings at 67. Presbyterian seized back the lead on a Kory Mincy jumper with 1:21 remaining but would not score again. Radford closed the game on a 6-0 burst, including four key makes from Early at the line to ice the game.

“D-Earl’s a handful,” Nichols said. “We see it in practice and, with him, the ability to get to the foul line when we're already in the bonus and then you can give a guy like him the ball and then he can draw fouls -- it's great to have. I think with him, he's starting to understand -- the second go-around in conference play, I think his assist-to-turnover ratio was like 22 to 8. He's making better decisions. That’s why he’s playing well.”

Moss led the Highlanders with 16 on the afternoon, hitting three triples and adding five free throws in six tries. Forward TJ NeSmith booked 15, hitting 5-of-6 from the deck and converting all five of his free throw attempts. Early contributed 14, buoyed by eight free throws. Truth Harris added 11 for the Highlanders. Radford shot 41.1 percent (23-for-56) on the day, adding another 23 makes from the line in 26 tries (88.5 percent).

Presbyterian got 22 from Stewart, who led all scorers. The senior hit 8-of-20 from the field, with four of his eight three-point tries finding the net. Forward Kaleb Scott tallied 14, finishing one board shy of a double-double. Mincy logged 11 on a 4-of-10 shooting effort. The Blue Hose shot 43.3 percent (29-for-67) and 42.1 percent from distance (8-of-19) but managed just three made free throws in 12 tries.

Radford now turns its attention to top-seeded High Point in Saturday’s semifinal. The Panthers swept the Highlanders during the regular season and Nichols knows the Highs will need to be at their best to book a trip to Sunday’s final.

“They're good,” Nichols said. “When you look at the last two meetings, at their place, we didn't play the right way. These guys know that. We didn't pass the ball. We weren’t playing as a connected team.”

“At our place, we played them better. If I remember, we had some bad turnovers down the stretch. The biggest thing with them is they can get out on the run and go on a 10-0 run quickly. You've got to play smarter. You've got to be more disciplined because they can really score the ball.”

Saturday’s semifinal contest is set for a noon (Eastern) tip inside Freedom Hall. Streaming coverage will be provided over ESPN+.

#4 RADFORD 74, #5 PRESBYTERIAN 69 (OT)

PRESBYTERIAN (14-18)

Scott 7-11 0-8 14, King 3-6 0-0 7, Stewart 8-20 2-2 22, Mincy 5-15 1-2 13, Harvey 3-7 0-0 7, Peterson 3-5 0-0 6, Pettaway 0-1 0-0 0, Parrish 0-2 0-0 0, Wilson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-67 3-12 69.

RADFORD (20-12)

J. Harris 1-4 0-0 2, Gaines 2-4 2-2 6, T. Harris 4-10 2-2 11, Moss 4-10 5-6 16, Early 3-13 8-9 14, Davis 1-1 0-0 2, NeSmith 5-6 5-5 15, Yamazaki 1-4 1-2 4, Sirtautas 2-2 0-0 4, Maclin 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 23-56 23-26 74.

Halftime:  Radford 37-23. 3-Point goals:  Presbyterian 8-19 (King 1-1, Stewart 4-8, Mincy 2-5, Harvey 1-3, Parrish 0-2), Radford 5-19 (T. Harris 1-3, Moss 3-8, Yamazaki 1-2, Maclin 0-1)). Fouled out:  NA.  Rebounds: Radford 42 (Gaines 10), Presbyterian 35 (Scott 9). Total fouls:  Presbyterian 21, Radford 12. Technicals:  NA.

Points off turnovers:  Presbyterian 11, Radford 5.  Points in the paint:  Presbyterian 36, Radford 32. Second-chance points:  Radford 11, Presbyterian 8.  Fast-break points:  Presbyterian 20, Radford 5.  Bench points:  Radford 25, Presbyterian 6.

 

 

 

 

Inside the Numbers: High Point at Presbyterian

 

High Point's D'Maurian Williams paced the Panthers' winning effort with 20 points Saturday. (Photo:  High Point Athletics)

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CLINTON, S.C. – One week ago – and with several days to prepare – High Point coach Alan Huss referred to Presbyterian as “complex.” This may not seem to be much of a compliment, but when somebody like Huss who is so attentive to detail – and so much of a basketball “head” – says it, the intent is clear.

So, after Huss’ Panthers made the trip to Clinton and spent 40 minutes exchanging pleasantries in an 84-72 victory, what exactly did he mean by “complex”? Let’s ask, as we go…Inside the Numbers!

“Radford a year ago ran a lot of the same stuff (as Presbyterian) that a lot of people ran years ago. A lot of the stuff they run is stuff we ran when I was playing,” Huss said. “They have new, modern wrinkles on it is probably how I’d say it. They give you a look and they try to exploit it. They went with a big-big lineup tonight and they tried to exploit those 1-4 switches, off-ball, sealing at the rim, slip you a little bit.

“You have to deal with all that and then you have to deal with a dynamic player in Mincy in on-ball actions. They’re hard. They’re hard to deal with. You don’t ever really get comfortable, because a lot of what you guard is not what you guard the rest of the season. They’re pretty good at the stuff everybody else is doing, too. The slot-ball screen stuff with Mincy is really tough to deal with, too. (Presbyterian coach Quinton Ferrell) does a good job of just picking on whatever matchup they think they can exploit. Especially when (guard) Kezza (Giffa) got into a little bit of foul trouble, I think it took the teeth out of him a little bit. You can probably say that for (forward) Kimani (Hamilton), too. It took the teeth out of what we were doing a little bit in those switches. I don’t want to make excuses. It was effective – doing what they did was effective. It was hard to deal with.”

• High Point had two unsustainable numbers Saturday. One went in its favor and the other did not. The second number got a bit of a disappointed laugh and head shake from Huss. Let’s start with that one.

Presbyterian snared a somewhat unbelievable 17 offensive rebounds, leading to 16 second-chance points. Eight of those boards came from post players Kaleb Scott and Jaylen Peterson. Huss was – as one might imagine – not enamored of that number.

“We were good and we had one bad stretch at the end of the first half,” Huss said. “They got three in two possessions. We came back to start the second half, and – more than anything, I think we’ve got to toughen up. They went big-big. It’s a give-and-take deal. Their bigger guys had a hard time guarding our thin and elusive guys on the perimeter facing them in our space. Our guys had a hard time rebounding. It was a battle of those two styles of play.

“The ones that were disappointing were the ones where we just didn’t have our hands up or it was a straight 50-50 ball and they were the aggressor. I thought they outcompeted us for probably 26 of the 40 minutes today. That’s the disappointing piece.”

“We had to really jump our guys in the first half,” Ferrell said. “We were watching guys shoot the ball and I’ve got my three and my four not crashing the glass. Why does it take us to go crazy and lose our mind to get us to do that? Why don’t we show up from the opening tap? I think that’s been some of our issues. If we had the effort we had in the second half, it’s obviously a different game. We dug ourselves – they’re really good. They don’t need a 15-point lead at the half. They don’t need any help. For us to be down 15 and cut it to one in the second half, it shows the potential of my group, but obviously to get over the hump, you’ve got to be more consistent during the 40 minutes of the game.”

• The other unsustainable number came from High Point’s first-half offensive performance. The Panthers shot 71 percent in the opening 20, and though their final shooting percentage was 60.4, mentioning the hot shooting also drew a laugh from Huss before he reflected a bit.

“I was disappointed – obviously that’s not sustainable. We all knew that,” Huss said. “The piece that was a little bit disappointing was how they (got back into the game). That’s precisely what we talked about at halftime. They’re going to turn up the heat a little bit in the half court and the full court. They’re going to put their hands on us. They’re going to be a little bit more aggressive. I just thought we had some really soft turnovers to start the (second) half that really got them going offensively. Credit to them for doing it, but it was just a little disappointing because that was the entire halftime speech. Clearly, I’ve got to improve my delivery.”

“I thought in the first half the ball stuck too much,” Ferrell said. “That was something that I really got onto my guys about. We’ve got breakdown basketball where we’ve got different things that we do, and we weren’t doing it. Whoever had the ball just kept it. Everybody else was just standing. Switching defenses can do that to you if you’re not intentional about running your offense and doing different things to combat that and attack that. I thought in the second half we were much better. That’s why we scored 41 points and we won the second half. I just thought that in the first half, we gave away a few possessions just by our own doing of not moving the ball, cutting, setting ball screens, slipping out, and doing the different things we worked on.”

• Presbyterian – yet again – fought back from a deficit and was right in the game at the under-4 break before the opponent pulled away late. The Blue Hose trailed by 15 at the half and as many as 17 in the second before working back within a single point on a late Kory Mincy triple before High Point went on to score 14 of the final 17 points in the game.

“I just thought – obviously, they’re a very talented team and they’re explosive,” Ferrell said. “You’ve just got to be very sharp (against them). I thought down the stretch in a couple of those possessions we did stuff pretty well, but they jumped up and made some big shots. I think some of our issues – we got some good looks, and Mincy had a wide-open three that would have cut it back to one. We kind of missed our opportunities down the stretch and they made theirs.”

“All in all, I just thought their ability to make plays – D’Maurian Williams made a huge three off the dribble in isolation with a late clock. Bobby Pettiford gets downhill with his left hand and gets to the rim and gets an and-one. Those are more just one-on-one plays. They’ve got guys that can shoot the crap out of it. That makes it tricky.”

“I just thought we played more inspired in the second half. I thought we competed at a higher level in the second half than we did the first half. They had a ton of points in the paint in the first half. In the second half, I thought because we competed more, we cut that almost in half.”

• Speaking of Williams, the grad student drew praise from Huss for his performance. While Ferrell called out the three in front of the Blue Hose bench, Huss dished out additional superlatives past the 20-point, 7-for-10 shooting effort.

“His actions today – he made some really big offensive plays and some really big defensive plays,” Huss said. “When we were reeling, I thought Coach Ferrell ran a great after time out play, and they sealed our 1-4 switch on the back side and had a layup. He made a terrific defensive play to get that steal when we were having a really difficult time getting stops. I thought that really steadied us. I thought that was maybe the defensive play of the game. I’m probably more proud of him about that than anything else. He makes really steadying plays. He was very efficient tonight. He’s mature and he’s very coachable.”

• Mincy and forward Jaylen Peterson both had big days for Presbyterian. Mincy led all scorers with 24, drilling 5-of-10 from deep and 3-of-4 from the line. Peterson snared 12 caroms and added eight points. They — along with forward Kobe Stewart and guard Jamahri Harvey — turned in big days for the Blue Hose.

Ferrell on Peterson:  “He’s been a guy that I’ve been high on coming into the season. This is a huge year for him and his development. He started the year being our starting four-man. When (center) Jonah Pierce went down, I had to bring him off the bench, because he and Kaleb (Scott) were my only fives. He’s done a really good job. I challenge him a lot, because I think he’s got a chance to be a special player in the Big South. Seeing what he did the other night at Winthrop and for him to carry that forward tonight for the second game in a row, I just need him to keep building on that. I think he can be a difference-maker for our program. I think he could be a Defensive Player of the Year guy when it’s all said and done.”

Ferrell on Mincy:  “Kory’s my point guard, I probably spend more time with him and Quadir Pettaway one-on-one than any other guys on my team because they play point guard. I really wanted to get Kory back to the level that I know he can play at. He’s been fine, but I know he’s got another gear to get to. I think in his last two performances he’s starting to be the guy that I expect him to be day in and day out – on both sides. For me to give you the label of a great player, you’ve got to do it on both ends. I think he’s up there in terms of the best guards in the league. I don’t think anybody does what he does on the defensive end, takes the challenge, guards guys and gets after them. He’s then able to still go on the offensive end and score the ball and get assists. He’s a guy that I think is a special player, but I think in the last two games, he’s starting to get to where I want him to get to. He wants that. I coach him hard. He’s a guy I got onto pretty hard at the half trying to spark our team. He responded to me big-time in the second half. I’m super proud of him.”

• The final point comes on the Mincy three that cut the High Point lead to one late. The three would have given the Blue Hose the lead, but a play initially called goaltending was wiped out after a monitor review during the break. Ferrell commented on the possible momentum swing after the game.

“Those situations – momentum plays are obviously a big deal,” Ferrell said. “We’ve got to control what we can control. Those things happen in games. Hopefully, they start happening to the opponent more than they happen to us.”

Both sides return to league play Wednesday night. High Point travels to Radford, Va., to take on the Highlanders in the Dedmon Center. Presbyterian remains home and welcomes nearby rival USC Upstate to the Templeton Center. Both games are set for a 7:00 (Eastern) tip, with streaming coverage available via ESPN+.

HIGH POINT 84, PRESBYTERIAN 72

HIGH POINT (19-5, 7-2)

Hamilton 5-8 6-9 17, Bodo Bodo 4-7 1-2 9, Giffa 3-7 6-6 12, Johnston 2-2 0-0 5, Williams 7-10 4-5 20, Anderson 0-1 0-0 0, Benham 3-3 0-0 9, Hildebrandt 1-2 0-0 2, Pettiford 4-6 2-3 10, Thiam 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 29-48 19-25 84.

PRESBYTERIAN (9-15, 2-7 BIG SOUTH)

Scott 2-4 0-1 4, King 2-5 0-0 0 4, Stewart 5-19 2-2 12, Mincy 8-17 3-4 24, Harvey 4-8 6-7 17, Peterson 2-7 4-4 8, Pettaway 1-2 0-0 3, Wilson 0-0 0-0 0, Parrish 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-62 15-18 72.

Halftime:  High Point 46-31. 3-Point goals:  Presbyterian 9-25 (King 0-1, Stewart 0-5, Mincy 5-10, Harvey 3-7, Pettaway 1-2), High Point 7-12 (Hamilton 1-1, Giffa 0-1, Johnston 1-1, Williams 2-4, Benham 3-3, Hildebrandt 0-1, Thiam 0-1). Fouled out:  NA.  Rebounds:  High Point 33 (Bodo 9), Presbyterian 32 (Peterson 12). Total fouls:  Presbyterian 21, High Point 16. Technicals:  NA.

Points off turnovers:  Presbyterian 17, High Point 13.  Points in the paint:  High Point 40, Presbyterian 24. Second-chance points:  Presbyterian 16, High Point 9.  Fast-break points:  Presbyterian 11, High Point 9.  Bench points:  High Point 21, Presbyterian 11.

 

Winthrop locks in late, turns away pesky Presbyterian

Winthrop forward Kelton Talford lodged 17 second-half points on the way to a double-double in Wednesday's victory. (Photo:  Winthrop Athletics/Professional Photography Group)

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ROCK HILL, S.C. – Just under three-and-a-half minutes remained on the clock. Winthrop’s Paul Jones tried a layup. Presbyterian’s Jaylen Peterson rejected the try. The ball fell into the hands of Winthrop star Kelton Talford, who went back up to attempt a putback. Peterson tried to contest the shot and was assessed a personal foul. Almost immediately thereafter, he was also given a Class A technical foul.

Winthrop proceeded to knock down three of the four free throw tries it was awarded. The Eagles capitalized on the opportunity, closing the game on a 14-5 run and claiming a 76-67 victory before an announced crowd of 1,884 at Winthrop Coliseum Wednesday night.

Presbyterian coach Quinton Ferrell took a long time to gather his thoughts, then talked to his team after the game. Though it is tough to argue that a single play could change a game, Ferrell was struggling to understand why the play happened and how to convey what he was told about the foul.

“(Peterson) jumped really high is what he said,” Ferrell said. “They told me that another block that he had was a block, but it was a dangerous play. That part’s unfortunate, but in games, you’re going to have stuff that you can’t control. That’s why we needed to be better on defense.”

“That was a huge shift in the game. It was a tie game. We blocked the ball and got possession of it. We came out of that situation down three, so we were kind of fighting uphill through adversity. We’ll get better from it.”

“There’s a million plays throughout the course of a game,” Winthrop coach Mark Prosser said. “It’s not one play. It’s not one moment in that game decides the end. It’s sort of the culmination of everything. It was a tie game and we got to go to the line. (Guard) Kasen (Harrison) stepping up there and making one and KT stepping up there and making two changed the complexion (of the game) in some ways.”

Winthrop (14-9, 4-4 Big South) took control of the game early. The Eagles scored 11 of the game’s first 14 points, getting early boosts from Talford and guard Ryan Jolly . Winthrop enjoyed its biggest lead of the first half at eight points on a pair of occasions before the visitors launched a charge. Presbyterian (9-14, 2-6) used a 17-9 run over the next eight-and-a-half minutes to level the score at 27 with 1:49 remaining in the first half. Five Blue Hose scorers contributed to the burst.

Winthrop then closed the half on a 5-0 stretch, using a Jones three-pointer and pair of free throws from forward K.J. Doucet to take a 32-27 lead to the interval.

Presbyterian persisted, though, despite trailing by as many as seven almost immediately into the second half. The Blue Hose chipped away, thinning the Eagle lead to as few as three points and finding themselves on the precipice of tying the game or going ahead. They never managed to do so until a key sequence with around nine minutes remaining in the second half.

Winthrop led by seven after a pair of Talford free throws. Kobe Stewart converted a layup for Presbyterian, then Kory Mincy made a layup of his own. Following a 30-second Winthrop stoppage, the game remained scoreless for the next minute and a half. Mincy then converted a pair of free throws, then finally gave his side the lead on the ensuing possession with a three-pointer following an offensive rebound.

The home side would seize back the lead with a 5-0 burst, only for Carl Parrish to hit an equalizing three-pointer for Presbyterian with 4:59 remaining. Nick Johnson again evened the score on a pair of free throws, only for Triston Wilson to give the advantage back to the Blue Hose on a pair from the stripe. Kasen Harrison then evened up the game again on a runner, only for the sequence between Jones, Talford, and Peterson to unfold.

Ferrell stopped short of citing the sequence as the lone key to the result, but it did highlight a recurring theme for the Blue Hose. Presbyterian has found itself in several close games – especially in Big South play – only for the team not to close the way it hoped. The Blue Hose leader commented after the game on those late-game concerns.

“Pretty much all our league games that we’ve lost in the (last four minutes) in the second half, we’ve either been tied or it’s been a one-possession game. We’ve just struggled to get stops to close out the game,” Ferrell said. “It’s what we’ve been emphasizing and talking about a lot. Most teams in the last three minutes are not doing anything new that they haven’t been doing in the first 36, 37 minutes of the game.”

“I don’t know what it is with our guys when we get in those situations, in terms of executing our rotations and things of that nature. We’ve got to figure out a way to do what we did from the eight-minute mark to the 3:30 mark, because we were down seven and we took the lead. In that stretch, we were getting stops. They were running the same things. We just needed to guard the ball better. The difference in the game was the free throws, in terms of how many free throws they made compared to us.”

To Ferrell’s point, the Eagles attempted double the amount of free throws as did the Blue Hose. Winthrop also sank nine more tries from the line, hitting 19-of-26 to the Blue Hose’s 10-of-13.

Talford bounced back with a strong effort following limited minutes due to foul trouble in Saturday’s game at High Point. The senior logged another of his many double-doubles, scoring 25 points and snaring 10 caroms. 17 of those points and six of the boards came in the closing 20 minutes.

“We just needed that to get back into the groove of things,” Talford said. “They’ve got a good coach and good guys on their team. You could tell they planned for us.”

“The look in his eyes the last couple of days has been different,” Prosser said of Talford. “There’s a pride level in this program. He has put his blood, sweat, and tears in this uniform. He’s very proud of what this program’s about. He was terrific today.”

Doucet and Johnson added 12 and 10, respectively, for the Eagles. Winthrop shot 46.4 percent (26-for-56), despite hitting just 5-of-20 (25 percent) from distance. Center Logan Duncomb also offered a strong performance in reserve duty, scoring eight points and snatching five misses in just over eight minutes of play.

Mincy paced the Blue Hose, booking 20 points on 6-of-16 from the field. Stewart logged his second double-double of the 2024-25 campaign, registering 12 points and 10 boards. Peterson and Carl Parrish provided big games off the bench, with Peterson scoring nine, grabbing five boards, and swatting away six shots. The blocked shot total matched the highest in Big South play this season. Parrish scored 13 in 25 minutes of play, hitting 5-of-8 from the field (3-of-6 from distance).

“We’ve got a lot of confidence in the guys that come off our bench,” Ferrell said. “All of those guys have had big games already in conference. They’re all young guys, too.”

Both teams return to conference play at home Saturday afternoon. Presbyterian welcomes second-place High Point to the Templeton Center in Clinton, S.C. Winthrop hosts rival Gardner-Webb. Both games are set for 2:00 (Eastern) starts, with streaming coverage over ESPN+.

WINTHROP 76, PRESBYTERIAN 67

PRESBYTERIAN (9-14, 2-6 BIG SOUTH)

King 1-5 0-1 2, Stewart 5-14 1-2 12, Mincy 6-16 6-6 20, Harvey 2-7 0-0 5, Scott 1-2 0-0 2, Wilson 1-3 2-2 4, Pettaway 0-2 0-0 0, Parrish 5-8 0-0 13, Peterson 4-6 1-2 9. Totals 25-63 10-13 67.

WINTHROP (14-9, 4-4)

Jolly 2-6 0-0 5, Talford 9-13 7-7 25, Johnson 3-8 3-6 10, Harrison 1-3 3-4 5, Doucet 4-8 4-6 12, Wilson 1-1 0-1 3, Jones 1-5 0-0 3, Diallo 0-0 0-0 0, Kamarad 1-3 0-0 2, Hamilton 0-1 0-0 0, Duncomb 3-5 2-2 8, Baker 1-3 0-0 3. Totals 26-56 19-26 76.

Halftime:  Winthrop 32-27u. 3-Point goals:  Presbyterian 7-24 (King 0-2, Stewart 1-6, Mincy 2-4, Harvey 1-5, Pettaway 0-1, Parrish 3-6), Winthrop 5-20 (Jolly 1-4, Johnson 1-4, Harrison 0-1, Doucet 0-2, Wilson 1-1, Jones 1-3, Kamarad 0-2, Baker 1-3). Fouled out:  Peterson (PC).  Rebounds:  Winthrop 42 (Talford 10), Presbyterian 33 (Stewart 10). Total fouls:  Presbyterian 23, Winthrop 15. Technicals:  Bench (WU), Peterson (PC).

Points off turnovers:  Presbyterian 11, Winthrop 7.  Points in the paint:  Winthrop 42, Presbyterian 32. Second-chance points:  Winthrop 15, Presbyterian 12.  Fast-break points:  Winthrop 13, Presbyterian 10.  Bench points:  Presbyterian 26, Winthrop 19.