ASHEVILLE, N.C. – There are certain things you can
always count on whenever Winthrop and Asheville play each other. Fans who made
the trip to Kimmel Arena saw a lot of the constants.
Fouls? Yep. Plenty of those. Emotion? That was there, too.
Drama? It wouldn’t be Asheville-Winthrop without that.
A constant struggle between two undermanned rivals came down
to the final possession, as only it could. Asheville had a chance to stun its
rival with a last-second knockout, but Kareem Rozier poked away the ball and
preserved a 69-67 Winthrop win before an announced crowd of 1,496.
“I don’t remember a game that we’ve played against each
other that’s been so low-scoring in a really long time,” Winthrop coach Mark
Prosser said after the game. “They did a good job of making a very tight,
crowded floor and being physical with (center) Logan (Duncomb). I thought that
points were at a premium. I thought our defense was locked in. Our attention to
detail was good.”
The battle ensued almost from the opening tip. Winthrop
(13-8, 5-1 Big South) broke open a game knotted at seven apiece early, using an
11-4 burst to seize a seven-point lead halfway through the first period. Asheville
(8-12, 2-4) countered with a 9-2 spurt keyed by a Julian Clarke triple to snip
it to 20-18 before Winthrop scored 13 of the next 19 to take a nine-point lead. The Eagles took an eight-point advantage to the interval.
Both teams struggled considerably from the field in the
first half. Winthrop hit 8-of-27 tries (29.6 percent) in the period, while
Asheville knocked down just 8-of-31 (25.8 percent). Asheville coach Mike
Morrell felt the Bulldogs settled for shots more than he would prefer in the
period.
“We were poor today in the first half,” Morrell said. “(We
settled) a ton. I think that’s going to be the story of the game. I’ve done a
really poor job helping (preseason Player of the Year) Toyaz (Solomon) this
year. I understand that. He’s (shooting) a career-low from inside the arc. That’s
not his fault. That’s my fault. The floor has been way more packed because of
the shooting that we lack at certain spots this year.”
Asheville snipped the deficit to three at 35-32 on a Kam
Taylor three that capped an 8-2 run early in the second, then worked it to
three again at 41-38 following a Solomon triple. Kody Clouet then bookended a
9-0 Winthrop surge with a pair of trifectas that bumped the Eagle advantage
back to 12. Winthrop stayed ahead by double
figures following a Clouet bucket with 6:15 to play, before Asheville countered
with another 9-2 burst that cut it to four with 3:37 remaining.
Duncomb pushed the lead back to six with a layup with 1:42
remaining. Asheville’s Justin Wright recorded a steal with the Bulldogs in a
full-court press, then cut it to four with a layup with 1:18 to play. Wright converted
again with 36 seconds remaining to cut it to 69-67.
Winthrop then attempted to run out the shot clock but was
forced to have Josh Meo hoist a three with four seconds remaining that spun
off. Daniel Thomas grabbed the rebound, then pushed up the floor for a
game-winning attempt. Rozier forced the ball loose, however,
and time expired before Asheville could recover and launch an attempt.
The Bulldogs had one timeout remaining but Morrell elected
not to use it.
“If we call a timeout there, we’ve got four seconds against
a set defense,” Morrell said. “We had five (seconds) when we got it. Justin
kind of hesitated a little bit (on the dribble) for whatever reason. I’m not
sure why, but I’ve never called a timeout in that situation.”
“I think we (had) a much better chance to score against a
broken floor than trying to draw something up and potentially have to heave
something. Hindsight is 20/20, but I was not going to call timeout.”
Prosser presented his perspective of the final sequence.
“On that last play, Kareem was in his gap and he gets the
ball,” Prosser said. “That was a huge – obviously, those are game-winning plays,
but it has to be as important in the first five seconds (of the game) as it is
in the last five.”
“A million things are going through your head. Should we
call timeout when it got late in the clock and we didn’t get what we wanted off
the ball screen? We trust these guys to bring us home and to be great in the
system, and in that moment, Kareem was great in the system.”
Morrell was happy to have had a chance to win on the final trip
but offered a frank assessment of his team.
“We were just not good enough today to beat a good team,”
Morrell said. “I thought we made Winthrop play ugly at times, which was our
best chance to win this game. With some of the lineups we’re having to play
right now, we really don’t have a choice.”
“It’s honestly not how I really love to play. That’s just
who we are, with two guys done for the year that are in our top seven. Anytime
you have to try to play that way, it probably affects everything. It affects my
coaching. I thought that (was) what gave us the best chance to win today. We
just didn’t do a good enough job of guarding them without fouling.”
Clouet paced the Eagles with 21, sinking five threes on a
7-of-11 day. The graduate student also hauled in six boards. Duncomb was the
only other Eagle in double figures, finishing a board shy of a double-double to
go with 17 points. Duncomb made the most of the 12 fouls he drew on the day,
canning 11-of-14 from the line.
“We didn’t do well enough,” Morrell said in assessing how his
team defended Duncomb. “I don’t know what his stat line was, but he put
(freshman forward) Daniel Thomas on the bench (due to fouls), which was our
best chance. Logan puts you in a bind with as well as he’s playing, because you
don’t want to send him to the line. He’s still a hell of a weapon to have. He’s
the Player of the Year in the league, right now.”
“He puts you in a bind because of his physicality. I can see
why he’s having the year he is.”
Winthrop shot 34.6 percent from the field (18-for-52) on the
afternoon, equaling that percentage in shooting 9-for-26 from three. The Eagles
hit 24-of-30 (80 percent) from the line.
Taylor led all scorers for Asheville, booking 26. The
sophomore needed 24 shots to reach that total, however, hitting nine. Just two
of Taylor’s 10 tries from three found the net. Solomon added 20 points and
boarded seven misses, while Wright tallied 14 on 5-of-11 from the field. The
Bulldogs hit 72 percent (18-of-25) from the stripe.
Both teams return to play Wednesday night. Asheville heads
down the mountain for the latest installment of the I-26 Rivalry against USC
Upstate. Game time from the Hodge Center in Spartanburg, S.C., is set for 6:00,
with coverage on ESPN+. Winthrop returns home to the Winthrop Coliseum in Rock
Hill, S.C., to battle Radford. That game is set to tip at 6:30, with ESPN+ also
handling that coverage.
WINTHROP 69, ASHEVILLE 67
WINTHROP (13-8, 5-1 BIG SOUTH)
Kamarad 0-3 0-0 0, Duncomb 3-11 11-14 17, Wilson 0-4 3-4 3,
Rozier 3-7 0-0 7, Clouet 7-11 2-2 21, Meo 2-5 3-4 9, Nnamoko 2-5 2-2 6, Hendawy
1-4 3-4 6, Boyogueno 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 18-52 24-30 69.
ASHEVILLE (8-12, 2-4 BIG SOUTH)
Solomon 6-15 6-7 20, Thomas 0-0 2-2 2, Taylor 9-24 6-11 26,
Patrick 0-7 0-0 0, Wright 5-11 4-5 14, Tolentino 1-1 0-0 2, Mayfield 0-3 0-0 0,
Hermes 0-0 0-0 0, Clarke 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 22-62 18-25 67.
Halftime: Winthrop 33-25. 3-Point
goals: Winthrop 9-26 (Kamarad 0-1, Wilson 0-2, Rozier 1-5, Clouet
5-8, Meo 2-4, Nnamoko 0-1, Hendawy 1-3, Boyogueno 0-2), Asheville 5-25 (Solomon
2-6, Taylor 2-10, Patrick 0-5, Wright 0-3, Clarke 1-1). Fouled
out: Wilson (WU), Hendawy (WU). Rebounds: Winthrop
42 (Duncomb 9), Asheville 38 (Solomon 7). Total fouls: Asheville 26,
Winthrop 24. Technicals: NA.
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