No. 2 Winthrop Defeats No. 7 USC Upstate, Advances to Semifinals

No. 2 Winthrop Defeats No. 7 USC Upstate, Advances to Semifinals

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Second-seeded Winthrop used record-setting performances to earn a 106-70 victory over #7 USC Upstate, Thursday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the Hercules Tires Big South Men's Basketball Championship at the Dedmon Center.
 
SCORING LEADERS
  • Hunter Hale (21 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal)
  • Josh Ferguson (17 points, 10 rebounds)
  • Charles Falden (17 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal)  
  • Tommy Bruner (19 points, 1 rebound, 4 assists)
  • Everette Hammond (12 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal)
  • Nevin Zink (12 points, 3 rebound, 1 assist, 2 steals)
 
FIRST HALF
  • Eagles jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead behind threes from Josh Ferguson and Hunter Hale
  • Winthrop pushed the lead to seven points at 12-5 when Hale drove and kicked to Charles Falden for a left wing three forcing the Spartans to call timeout
  • Upstate used an 8-2 run to make it a one point game at 14-13 with 14:27 left
  • Ferguson responded with a three from the right side and Upstate's Dalvin White hit a jumper to make it a two point game
  • Winthrop made six of its first nine shots to hold the 17-13 edge in the early going
  • Eagles continued to rip the nets as they reeled off 11 straight starting with a second chance effort from Chase Claxton and then a three from Ferguson
  • The run ended with a second chance basket from Micheal Anumba for a 28-15 lead with 9:34 left in the half
  • Upstate worked its way to a six-point deficit with 6:38 remaining behind a couple of three-point plays from Tommy Bruner and Everette Hammond
  • Hale answered with a left wing three from D.J. Burns Jr. and then Hale drove and kicked to Anumba for three to double its lead and force another Upstate timeout
  • Winthrop pushed its lead to as much as 19 on two occasions before taking a 54-37 lead into the break
  • The 10 threes tied a Big South quarterfinals record for most threes in a half
 
SECOND HALF
  • Upstate opened the scoring in the second half as Bruner dropped a three to make it a 14-point game, only to have Kyle Zunic and Hale hit back-to-back threes for a 20-point advantage
  • Hale's three ignited an incredible stretch of shooting for the Eagles as they went on to hit 14 of their next 15 shots to lead 95-66 with 6:41 to play
  • No matter what Upstate did the Eagles continued to get shots to fall and shot 73 percent from the floor in the second half
  • While shooting 73 percent, the Eagles held Upstate to 41 percent in the second half
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
  • Winthrop finished the game shooting 60 percent from the floor and was 16-for-30 behind the arc (53%)
  • Upstate finished 5-of-20 behind the arc and shot 42 percent from the field in the game
  • Points off turnovers were about even as Winthrop had a 22-21 edge (Turnovers-Winthrop 16/Upstate 15)
  • Eagles dominated the glass 47-25 (+22), finishing with 12 offensive boards and 15 second chance points
  • Falden led the Eagle bench with 17 points while Burns Jr. and Claxton each had eight points
  • Hale finished +39 for the game while Burns Jr. and Anumba were +30
  • Eagles finished with 79 possessions, scoring on 45 of them (57%)
 
NOTABLES
  • Pat Kelsey is now in solo second for wins all-time at Winthrop with 161
  • The 106 points were the most scored by a Winthrop team in a conference tournament game, breaking the record of 101 held by the 1992-93 team
  • The 106 points were two shy of the conference tournament record for points in any round held by Radford with 108 in the 2009 title game
  • Eagles set a program record for threes in a conference tournament game with 16, breaking the old mark of 14 set by the 2016-17 team
  • The 16 threes in the game one shy of the Big South quarterfinals record
  • It was the second largest margin of victory for a conference tournament game (record is +41 by the 2005-06 team against Liberty
  • Winthrop set a new program mark for points in a first half of a conference game with 54 points, breaking the mark of 48 by the 2013-14 team
  • The 73 percent shooting in the second half was second-best shooting percentage in a half by an Eagle team in the conference tournament
  • The 60 percent shooting in second-best percentage in a conference game by Winthrop
  • Falden finished the game 7-of-10 from the floor, which ranks second all-time for a conference tournament game by an Eagle (at least 10 field goal attempts)
  • Eagles are making an appearance in the semifinals for the sixth time in the last seven seasons
 
UP NEXT
Eagles advance to the semifinals of the conference championship and will face third-seeded Gardner-Webb on Friday, Mar. 6 at 6 p.m.