ROCK HILL, S.C. – Just shy of 72 hours before the
ball was tossed in the air Saturday afternoon in Winthrop Coliseum, Winthrop
coach Mark Prosser sat on press row, telling Jim Szoke and Brett Ferguson of
the Winthrop Radio Network that he was “at a loss” regarding what he had just
seen from his team. Saturday, the response – from both Prosser and his Eagles – was significantly differed.
Four Eagles finished in double figures in a game Winthrop
never trailed, as the Eagles used 38 paint points and 22 second-chance points
to run past Upstate, 83-74, before an announced crowd of 2,225.
“I thought for 40 minutes we played hard enough and smart
enough,” Prosser said. “When we made mistakes, we were aggressive and trying to
make plays. I think that we played hard.”
Winthrop (17-12, 8-6 Big South) opened a 5-0 lead on a
Kelton Talford bucket and Kasen Harrison triple, only for Justin Bailey to
eventually draw the game level at seven after back-to-back triples. Upstate
(9-19, 4-11) drew the game level at 18 at the 11:50 mark on a trio of
consecutive triples from Trae Broadnax. Winthrop seized back the lead on a Nick
Johnson layup, with Noah Van Bibber providing eight of the next 16 Eagle points
off the bench to stretch the Eagle advantage to six.
“He’s earned it in practice,” Prosser said of Van Bibber. “I
thought he stood his ground and helped our team win. He was prepared the first
time that ball hit his hands and he buried a three. He was rewarded. He
rewarded our team today.”
Winthrop ventured to the interval with a 40-37 lead, buoyed
by four straight Johnson free throws. Talford and Harrison again teamed to
expand the Eagle lead as the second stanza got underway. The duo booked the
first seven points of the half to put the Eagles ahead by seven. The lead grew
to 12 at the nine-minute mark on back-to-back buckets from Alex Timmerman.
Simultaneously, the Eagle defense clamped down on Upstate
further away from the bucket, forcing several errant looks from the Spartans
after they cashed nine first-half threes. Upstate hit just 2-of-11 tries in a
nine-plus minute span that allowed the homestanding Eagles to build a more
comfortable margin. Winthrop expanded its lead to 16 before seven straight
Jalen Brazeale points cut it to 11. Upstate continued to peck away at the
margin before finally cutting it to five on a Broadnax bucket with 20 seconds
remaining, but Winthrop closed out the Spartans from there to get the victory.
“The biggest problem today was that we came a little bit
unglued,” Upstate coach Dave Dickerson said after the game. “We took 32 threes –
which, for us, that’s way too many – and I thought in the second half, in that
stretch, we took some ill-advised shots. We should have been driving the
basketball and getting to the free throw line and trying to get ourselves in
the bonus a little bit quicker.”
“We talked about that at halftime, that they would do a good
job of taking away threes in the second half. We had to play in the paint. We
had to play inside-out basketball. We just were not able to do that. We failed
to play chess. We played checkers the whole day.”
The Eagle effort surely had much to do with that Upstate
game plan. Winthrop responded after Wednesday’s challenging result, led by
strong games from the Eagle upperclassmen. Guard/forward Micheal Anumba turned
in a 15-point effort and grabbed five boards without committing a foul in
30-plus minutes of game action.
“It was definitely a big win,” Anumba said. “After what
happened Wednesday, we came back Thursday and had a great practice. We were
ready.”
“We took (Wednesday’s loss to Presbyterian) personal. We
definitely took it personal. I know we’re the best team in the conference,
though sometimes we don’t show it. We came in (today) and we were ready to go.”
Anumba’s 15 guided the Eagles, with six of his eight tries
from the field finding the net. Sin’Cere McMahon poured in 13 in reserve duty,
hitting three triples to help build the total. Talford booked 12 and finished
two boards shy of a double-double, while Johnson hit 9-of-10 from the line to
finish with 11. Winthrop shot 49.1 percent (26-for-53) from the field and got
to the free throw line 35 times for the ninth time in a game this season, with
25 of those tries (71.4 percent) connecting.
Broadnax led Upstate and all scorers with 22 points on
8-for-17 from the field (4-for-8 from three) and 2-for-3 from the line. Bailey
added 15 for the Spartans, cashing 5-for-8 from the deck, 3-for-4 from three,
and 2-for-3 from the stripe. Brazeale contributed 15 in reserve duty, hitting
all four of his three-point tries and all three of his free throw attempts.
Nick Alves added 11, hitting 5-of-10 field goal attempts. The Spartans shot
25-for-56 (44.6 percent) on the day, making a season-high 14 threes and hitting
43.8 percent from deep. Upstate got to the line just 14 times, hitting 10 (71.4
percent).
Both teams return to Big South play Wednesday evening.
Winthrop travels to the Qubein Center in High Point, N.C., to square off with
the first-place High Point Panthers, while Upstate hosts Presbyterian in the
Hodge Center in Spartanburg, S.C. Both games are slated for 7:00 (Eastern)
starts, with streaming coverage available over ESPN+.
WINTHROP 83,
UPSTATE 74
UPSTATE (9-19,
4-11 BIG SOUTH)
Ochoa 0-3 0-0
0, Alves 5-10 0-1 11, Bailey 5-8 2-3 15, Broadnax 8-17 2-3 22, Ayesa 2-7 0-0 6,
Surratt 1-2 1-2 3, Brazeale 4-5 3-3 15, Rideau 0-2 2-2 2, Sheida 0-0 0-0 0,
Placer 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 25-56 10-14 74.
WINTHROP (17-12,
8-6)
Talford 5-6 2-3
12, Doucet 2-5 2-4 6, Anumba 6-8 3-5 15, Johnson 1-6 9-10 11, Harrison 3-7 2-2
9, McMahon 4-13 2-2 13, Claxton 1-1 1-2 3, Timmerman 2-4 2-4 6, Diallo 0-0 0-0
0, Van Bibber 2-3 2-3 8. Totals 26-53 25-35 83.
Halftime: Winthrop 40-37. 3-Point goals: Upstate 14-32 (Ochoa 0-1, Alves 1-5, Bailey
3-4, Broadnax 4-8, Ayesa 2-7, Brazeale 4-4, Rideau 0-2, Placer 0-1), Winthrop
6-23 (Doucet 0-2, Anumba 0-2, Johnson 0-4, Harrison 1-2, McMahon 3-9, Timmerman
0-1, Van Bibber 2-3). Fouled out: Bailey
(UPST). Rebounds: Winthrop 40 (Talford 8), Upstate 24 (Broadnax
6). Total fouls: Upstate 28, Winthrop 18.
Technicals: NA.
Points off
turnovers: Winthrop 8, Upstate 4. Points in the paint: Winthrop 38, Upstate 20. Second-chance points: Winthrop 22, Upstate 6. Fast-break points: Upstate 13, Winthrop 9. Bench points:
Winthrop 30, Upstate 20.
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