On national television, Winthrop ran away with a decisive late-season Big South clash against reigning champions Longwood, 85-59, on Thursday. The Eagles shot 48% from the field, forced 23 turnovers and splashed in 16 3-point shots. Winthrop improved to a 10-4 conference record and Longwood fell to 6-9.
Following its bye on Saturday, Winthrop entered Farmville, Virginia, to take on the Lancers on national television. Longwood had won just one game in its last six games entering this one, while Wintrhop had only lost one of its last six. Both teams struggled shooting the ball through the first media timeout, as they were a combined 4 of 13 from the field. Turnovers were the story for Longwood in the early going, as the Lancers had six turnovers in the first eight minutes. Longwood’s defense began to break down as a result and gave up three 3-pointers to Winthrop’s Bryce Baker in less than two minutes of play.
Longwood couldn’t match the offensive efficiency shown by the visitors, as with just three minutes to play in the first half, the Lancers were shooting 8 of 23. The Eagles capitalized on 15 Longwood turnovers and led at halftime 45-24. This was Longwood’s biggest halftime deficit at home this season. Longwood had no scorer above six points, while Baker led Winthrop in scoring at 11 points.
The second-half comeback from the Lancers was clearly not in the cards as the Eagles extended their lead to as much as 32 points at one stage in the game. When the game went final, Longwood committed 23 turnovers, its highest of the year, and Baker had made seven triples and accounted for 23 points. Winthrop’s key player in most games, forward Kelton Talford had nine points on 3 of 5 shooting.
Winthrop now has 20 wins on the season, making this season its ninth 20-win campaign in its Division I history. Winthrop’s defense suffocated Longwood all game, as the home side shot only 38% from the floor while Winthrop had 28 points of Longwood’s many turnovers.
“The week off helps. [We had] an opportunity to prepare a little bit longer, and it is what is in a league with an uneven number [of teams],” said Winthrop head coach Mark Prosser.
The Eagles are now 5-8 on the road this season, a figure typical of Winthrop these past few seasons.
“[Longwood is] terrific. They’re so well coached at this time of year, we knew this was going to be a big challenge for us,” said Prosser. “I was pleased with our kids’ preparation the last couple of days and our effort throughout the whole 40 minutes.”
Winthrop has their senior day and a titanic top-of-the-league clash with UNC Asheville at home on Saturday, while the Lancers travel to USC Upstate to try and grab a win during their cold stretch.
“We talked about it a lot as a team throughout the course of the year that we have to be harder to play against,” said Prosser. “I thought there were times tonight that we were hard to play against defensively. It’s hard to win here, so we feel quite fortunate to walk out of here with a win.”
