Johnson Scores Career-Best 39 Points In Eagles 76-62 Win Over Campbell

ROCK HILL, SC— Keon Johnson scored a career-high 39 points to lead Winthrop to a 76-62 victory over Campbell, Saturday afternoon in Big South Conference men’s basketball action at the Winthrop Coliseum.

Winthrop captures its second straight win and improves to 18-5 overall and 10-2 in the Big South. The loss drops Campbell to 11-13 overall and 4-8 in the league. Winthrop will be back in action on Thursday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. when it travels to Asheville, NC to take on UNC Asheville in a nationally televised game on ESPNU.

Winthrop led 56-51 with &;53 to play when it went on a 14-3 run to open up the game a little bit and lead by 16 with just under three minutes to play. It started with a Johnson jumper and then he scored on a layup off a turnover as Xavier Cooks pushed the ball ahead. Campbell’s Chris Clemons answered with a three, but then the Eagles reeled off 10 straight points capped off by a three from Johnson.

Johnson posted his ninth game with 30 or more points and hit the mark for the second time in three games. Johnson’s second three-pointer of the game came at the 15:07 mark of the second half as he became the program’s all-time leader in three-point field goals made. He passes LaShawn Coulter’s record of 254, which stood for a little over 20 years. Johnson finished the game 14-for-20 from the field and 5-for-9 from three.

Johnson now has six regular season games remaining to pass Charles Brunson as the all-time leading scorer in the history of the program. Brunson is the leader at 1,850 as Johnson is now just 16 points behind.
Cooks joined Johnson as the only other Eagle in double-figures as he finished with 15 points, nine rebounds, two assists, a steal and block.

Clemons led the Camels with 24 points on 8-for-17 shooting while Mogga Lado joined him in double-figures with 10 points.

Winthrop ended the first half on a 10-2 run to take a 34-22 lead into the break. After Cooks went 1-for-2 at the foul line, Bjorn Broman knocked down a triple for a four-point edge. Johnson scored the final six points of the half or the Eagles with a layup in transition and went 4-for-4 at the line.

Both teams got off to a sluggish start offensively for the first 12 and a half minutes of the half as the Eagles led 14-12 at the 7:25 mark after a three from Johnson. The Eagles finished the half 7-for-8 from the floor and 7-for-8 at the foul line to help build the eight-point lead.

EXTRA DRIBBLE
-This was Johnson’s second career 30-point game against Campbell
-His 39 points are the 4th most points ever scored by an Eagle in a home game at the Winthrop Coliseum and the second most against a Big South opponent
-Cooks moved into a tie for second all-time in career blocks with 139
-Johnson is 10th nationally on the active list for career points
-Eagles are 14-2 in the last 16 games and have won 21 of the last 25 against Big South opponents
-Eagles have now won three straight over Campbell and five of the last seven meetings
-Johnson scored 24 second half points, which is the 9th time he’s done that in his career