Winthrop runs win streak to 10 with physical victory over Longwood

 

Winthrop guard Kody Clouet finished with 14, including the eventual game-winning shot against Longwood Saturday.  (Photo:  Winthrop Athletics)

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ROCK HILL, S.C. – The Winthrop-Longwood rivalry is one of the best – if not the best – in the Big South. The Eagles and Lancers have seemingly taken up permanent residence as Big South contenders, and most games between them are hard-fought affairs that defy words.

Perhaps we’ll use Winthrop assistant Sid Crist’s word for Saturday’s tilt:  “Donnybrook.”

However you classify it, the Lancers and Eagles partook in another 15-round heavyweight bout Saturday, with the Eagles landing the final blow. Winthrop sent an announced crowd of 2,041 happy with a 79-74 decision in a game marred – or enhanced, depending on your perspective – by fouls. The win marked the tenth in a row by the Eagles, who have still not lost a game in 2026.

“It’s hard – that game (Longwood defeated Winthrop at the Joan Perry Brock Center to start conference play) was so long ago. We’re both totally different teams,” Winthrop coach Mark Prosser said after the game. “I’m not very smart, so I can only operate in the moment.”

“Our kids don’t blink. They didn’t blink again (today).”

Winthrop (18-8, 10-1 Big South) surged out of the gate with back-to-back buckets from Tommy Kamarad, giving the Eagles an early lead they would hold for the first six minutes. Longwood (13-13, 5-6) clawed its way back, earning a 7-6 lead on a Fats Billups jumper at the 13:58 mark. Winthrop clutched back the advantage two minutes later but could not separate by any greater than two possessions.

The Lancers had whittled the deficit to one at the 4:15 mark, but a dust-up at the free throw line resulted in a potentially game-changing call. Billups, who had been whistled for a technical earlier in the game, was assessed a second technical following the interaction with Winthrop’s Kody Clouet. Billups was ejected from the game due to the pair of technicals.

“(On) the second one, Clouet bumped him and he bumped him back with a forearm, so it should have been a double technical. The first one is the one I probably have a bit more of an issue with,” Longwood coach Ronnie Thomas said after the game. Thomas was told that Billups had said an expletive out loud – not toward an official, but randomly – which led to the first technical.

“That was just a little frustrating that early in the game, and that’s just  – it’s hard to stomach. I think you can just talk to the young man. He could have just talked to him. We lose Fats, who was 2-for-4 in the first half and playing well. A guy like Fats, he thrives in a game like this. To have him – again, we lose him off the first call – that’s just a really, really bad call by (referee) Bobby (Lineberger). It was an awful call for him to make that call. With the type of game it became and the type of game this always is – that was a really early tech, and that affected the game.”

Following Billups’ departure, Winthrop threw a figurative haymaker, going on a 7-0 burst that gave the Eagles their biggest first-half advantage. Longwood punched back, using a 7-0 run of its own to again knife it to one before Winthrop took a three-point halftime lead off two Logan Duncomb free throws.

The Lancers snagged a four-point lead on the strength of a 9-0 run to start the second half, only for Winthrop to answer right back and go back ahead on a pair of triples from Josh Meo and Kody Clouet. The slugfest continued through the second half, with neither side able to lead by greater than four over much of the remainder of the game.

The lead seemingly changed on every possession for much of the final five minutes, as Winthrop countered every Longwood advantage – and vice versa. Four minutes elapsed inside the final five in which neither side led by greater than two. Winthrop then turned to one of its season-long heroes to finally break the tension.

Following an offensive foul assessed to Elijah Tucker – his fifth – on the opposing end, Winthrop allowed as much time to elapse as it could in a tied game at 71. As the clock oozed under a minute, the Eagles sprayed to the corner, where a wide-open Clouet awaited. Clouet locked in his sights and canned the triple, giving the Eagles the lead they would not again surrender.

“I don’t want to get in trouble, but it was kind of like a football game out there,” Clouet said. “It was physical. That’s how they play. We just stuck with it, took punches, took hits, and found a way to win.”

“They got us in the first game of league (play). They set the tone for us. They showed us where we were weak and what we needed to work on. Since then, we’ve responded incredibly. We definitely wanted this one back and we got it, so that was big.”

Winthrop shot 19-for-50 (38 percent) from the deck on the day, managing just 6-of-28 (21.4 percent) from three. The Eagles matched the percentage from distance they recorded in the first game in Farmville.

“I thought we did really well,” Thomas said when queried about his team’s perimeter defense. “We had a really big mistake. We should have given up a Duncomb dunk. We never wanted to give up that three with Clouet. We’ve got to grow from it.”

The Eagles hit 35-of-40 from the line on the day (87.5 percent), collecting their second-highest free throw attempts number in a game this season behind the 43 they were awarded at North Dakota. The 35 makes were a season-best.

Tommy Kamarad led the Eagles and all scorers with 15, capitalizing off a strong early start. Clouet and Duncomb added 14 apiece, hitting a combined 7-of-10 shots from the field and 11-for-13 from the line. Senior guard Josh Meo tallied 10 off the bench in 21 minutes of reserve duty.

“This is a selfless group,” Prosser said. “They are giving of themselves when it comes to stats. If they were in another program with a different roster, they may be getting more shots, assists, and different things on paper. They don’t really care. They just want to win.”

Longwood dropped 39 percent (23-for-59) from the field, with 6-for-25 (24 percent) of their three-point tries finding the net. The Lancers hit 22-of-35 from the line, with a number of misses late that affected the Lancers’ chances.

“I told them they can blame two people. They can blame themselves and me,” Thomas said. “We’ve got to figure out what we can do better and what we can do individually, and then they can blame me, but that’s it.”

Johan Nziemi led the Lancers with 13 points on 3-for-7 shooting, despite hitting just 6-of-12 from the stripe. Junior guard Jacoi Hutchinson booked 11 on 4-for-11 shooting and 3-for-4 from the line.

Winthrop hits the road Thursday night to take on regional rival Gardner-Webb. Tip time from Paul Porter Arena in Boiling Springs, N.C., is set for 7:00 (Eastern), with coverage streaming on ESPN+. Longwood hosts UNC Asheville in the Joan Perry Brock Center in Farmville, Va., for the league’s ESPNU Wildcard Thursday game. The game is slated for a 7:00 start, with coverage over ESPNU.

WINTHROP 79, LONGWOOD 74

LONGWOOD (13-12, 5-6 BIG SOUTH)

Nziemi 3-7 6-12 13, Tucker 2-4 3-4 7, Hutchinson 4-11 3-4 11, Richards 1-7 5-6 7, Kelly 3-4 0-1 7, Jones 2-2 1-2 5, Billups 3-5 0-0 8, Benard 3-8 0-0 8, Thompson 2-11 4-6 8, Payne 0-0 0-0 0, Kalala 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-59 22-35 74.

WINTHROP (18-8, 10-1)

Kamarad 5-10 4-4 15, Duncomb 4-6 6-7 14, Wilson 2-8 5-6 9, Rozier 0-7 8-8 8 Clouet 3-4 5-6 14, Hendawy 0-3 0-0 0, Meo 2-5 4-5 10, Nnamoko 2-2 0-0 4, Boyogueno 1-2 3-4 5, Berry 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 19-50 35-40 79.

Halftime:  Winthrop 38-35. 3-Point goals:  Longwood 6-25 (Nziemi 1-1, Hutchinson 0-2, Richards 0-2, Kelly 1-2, Billups 2-4, Benard 2-7, Thompson 0-7), Winthrop 6-28 (Kamarad 1-3, Wilson 0-4, Rozier 0-7, Clouet 3-4, Hendawy 0-2, Meo 2-5, Boyogueno 0-1, Berry 0-2). Fouled out:  Tucker (LU).  Rebounds: Longwood 42 (Richards/Jones 7), Winthrop 35 (Clouet 7). Total fouls:  Longwood 32, Winthrop 27. Technicals:  Billups 2 (LU), Clouet (WU).