ROCK HILL, S.C. – There’s an old saying that states
that familiarity breeds contempt. If that’s the case, Winthrop fans had to feel
quite contemptuous at the half of Wednesday night’s game with High Point.
Much like last year’s Big South championship game, Winthrop led
big at the interval. The Eagles led by 24 – only for High Point to break off a
10-0 run to start the second stanza. It felt eerily similar to that game in the
mountains just months ago – until it didn’t.
Winthrop righted the ship, punched out of its corner, or
whatever sports terminology one prefers. The Eagles never allowed the league
leaders any closer than 14 points in those final 20 minutes, getting 45
combined points from Logan Duncomb and Tommy Kamarad in a 92-75 victory before
an announced crowd of 1,956 at Winthrop Coliseum.
High Point coach Flynn Clayman had quite a bit to say after the
game, but one statement told the story.
“We’ve been cruising for a bruising, so to speak, and we got
one today,” Clayman said.
Winthrop (12-8, 4-1 Big South) made a statement early and it
grew louder throughout the game. The Eagles trailed, 5-4, after a Terry
Anderson three with 17:48 to play. That would be the last time High Point held the
lead.
Winthrop went on a 7-0 run to go ahead 11-5. High Point then
cut it to three at 17-14 on an Anderson dunk with 11:45 left in the first half.
Before anyone knew it, though, Winthrop had burst to a 32-16 lead. It then went
to 39-16 following seven straight Duncomb points. High Point (16-4, 4-1) worked
its way back inside 20 – cutting it to 19 – but trailed, 53-29, at the half.
“They certainly had a lot more (urgency and effort) than we
did – at least in the first half,” Clayman said. “I thought the second half
effort – okay, if we’re doing that both halves, we’ll probably have a good game
with them. They just – quite frankly, if you go back to the game against
Gardner-Webb, we were giving up open shots.”
“I thought they were a together unit that was locked in,”
Winthrop coach Mark Prosser said. “I think that bore itself out in the first
couple of (four-minute segments). They shared the basketball. It was just an unbelievable
ride that they took us on for the last two hours. It was a lot of fun.”
High Point quickly sliced into the Winthrop advantage as the
second period began. The Panthers took two-and-a-half minutes to cut it from 24
to 14, but Prosser elected not to use a stoppage. Instead,
the Eagles continued to put foul pressure on the Panthers, hit their free
throws, and essentially trade baskets with High Point for much of the second
half. A pair of Rob Martin free throws again knifed it to 14 at 57-43, but Kody
Clouet sank a three followed by a layup to stretch it back to 19 and largely
squelch the Panther threat.
The Panthers got two bright spots off the bench in guard
Chase Johnston and forward Josh Ibukunoluwa. Johnston knocked down a trio of
triples to keep the Panthers competitive, while Ibukunoluwa hit 2-of-3 shots
and hauled in four boards in 13 minutes of reserve duty while High Point
battled foul trouble among its post players.
“With Chase, we weren’t shooting the ball well, and Chase
has had some injuries, so we’ve gone with some longer, athletic guys,” Clayman
said. “That basket was getting real dry. We knew he could knock down shots. I’m
proud of Chase. He’s just stayed ready to play.”
“With (Ibukunoluwa), we started to go to some skilled big
stuff in the second half, because we were really struggling offensively. That’s
probably about as much as we’ve ever struggled offensively. He was kind of
filling in with how we were using (forward) Owen (Aquino, who battled fouls).”
High Point shot just 39.3 percent (24-for-61) on the night.
The Panthers recorded their third-lowest shooting percentage of the season,
behind the 34.7 percent they knocked down in a loss to Appalachian State in
December and the 39.1 percent they converted in their most recent game against
Charleston Southern.
“This has been a growing problem and we’ve kind of escaped,”
Clayman said. “(The Charleston Southern game) was the ultimate escape. We didn’t
deserve to win that one. This was about as bad of a night as we’ve had. If we
have another night like this, I’ll be very concerned. This group has shown an
ability to respond.”
“This is kind of a first for us, quite frankly, to get
smacked like that. We’re kind of processing it right now. I think we figured
some things out in the second half that will maybe be nice to use the next time
we see these guys. (Tonight), they just wanted it more than us.”
“People were making out of it – the opponent, whatever it is
– if you compete for championships, you win league home games,” Prosser said. “It
was a home league game, and it was the next one on the schedule. That was the
goal, and that’s what we did.”
“The teams that win conference regular-season championships
are the ones that differentiate themselves by winning on the road. We were able
to do that last Saturday. It’s a huge challenge to go do that again (Saturday
at Asheville). It’s a great win for us.”
Duncomb led three Eagles in double figures, booking 28
points on 9-of-13 shooting. The redshirt senior center knocked down 10-of-12
from the line and added six boards. Kamarad hit 5-of-6 to log 17 points and
boarded seven misses. Clouet completed the trio of seniors in double figures,
scoring 14 on 6-of-12 shooting. Winthrop shot 53.6 percent (30-for-65), adding
10 threes on 26 tries (38.5 percent). The Eagles shot 66.7 percent (22-for-33)
from the line.
Anderson notched 17 to lead the Panthers, hitting 7-of-12
from the deck and 2-of-3 from the line. Guard Rob Martin added 14, with half of
those points coming from the free throw line. Martin sank 3-of-7 from the
field. High Point shot 24-of-61 (39.3 percent) from the field, hitting just
23.3 percent (7-of-30) from three. The three-point output was High Point’s
second-lowest of the season, behind only a loss at UAB in which the Panthers
shot 17.4 percent. High Point hit 71.4 percent (20-of-28) from the line.
Both teams resume league play Saturday. Winthrop travels to
Kimmel Arena in Asheville to take on UNC Asheville. Game time is set for 2:00
(Eastern), with coverage on ESPN+. High Point returns to the Qubein Center in
High Point to welcome USC Upstate. ESPN+ will handle the streaming coverage of
the 7:00 start.
WINTHROP 92, HIGH POINT 75
HIGH POINT (16-4, 4-1 BIG SOUTH)
Anderson 7-12 2-3 17, Aquino 3-7 3-5 9, Hausen 1-7 2-2 5,
Martin 3-7 7-8 14, Washington 2-6 0-0 5, Brady 0-2 0-0 0, Miller 2-3 1-2 5,
Martinez 0-7 4-4 4, Johnston 3-6 0-0 9, Ibukunoluwa 2-3 0-0 4, Diallo 1-1 1-4
3, Singare 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-61 20-28 75.
WINTHROP (12-8, 4-1)
Duncomb 9-13 10-12 28, Wilson 0-1 1-2 1, Rozier 2-7 3-4 9,
Berry 3-5 0-1 7, Clouet 5-12 0-2 14, Nnamoko 2-4 3-4 7, Hendawy 3-5 0-0 6,
Kamarad 5-6 5-6 17, Meo 1-3 0-0 3, Boyogueno 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 30-56 22-33 92.
Halftime: Winthrop 53-29. 3-Point
goals: Winthrop 10-26 (Wilson 0-1, Rozier 2-6, Berry 1-3, Clouet
4-9, Hendawy 0-2, Kamarad 2-3, Meo 1-2), High Point 7-30 (Anderson 1-4, Aquino
0-1, Hausen 1-6, Martin 1-3, Washington 1-4, Brady 0-1, Martinez 0-5, Johnston
3-6). Fouled out: Wilson (WU).
Rebounds: Winthrop 39 (Kamarad 7)), High Point 35 (Ibukunoluwa
5). Total fouls: High Point 26, Winthrop 19. Technicals: NA.
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