Winthrop Out To Best Start In Big South History

North Charleston, S.C. – Winthrop is off to the best start in Big South Conference history at 9-0 after it held on for a 78-76 victory at Charleston Southern Tuesday afternoon.

WINTHROP (9-0, 6-0 Big South)
TOP CONTRIBUTORS

• Charles Falden (17 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist)
• Kelton Talford (12 points, 8 rebounds, 1 block)
• Chandler Vaudrin (11 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 block, 1 steal)

CHARLESTON SOUTHERN (1-7, 0-4 Big South)
TOP CONTRIBUTORS

• Phlandrous Fleming Jr. (33 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals)
• Sean Price (16 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 2 steals)
• Emorie Knox (13 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals)

FIRST HALF

• Charleston Southern raced out to a 4-0 lead as Phlandrous Fleming Jr. started it off with a score off the drive and then stole the ball and went the length for a dunk
• Kyle Zunic answered with a corner three and then after a defensive stop Chandler Vaudrin scored off glass as he drove down the right side of the lane
• Adonis Arms scored on a stick back to make it seven straight points for the Eagles and a 7-4 lead
• Fleming Jr. tied the game with a triple only to have Vaudrin knock down a three-pointer for a 10-7 edge
• That triple by Vaudrin started an 8-0 run as Vaudrin hit two free throws and then Josh Corbin drained a left wing three for a 15-7 lead
• Leading 22-18 after a Sean Price jumper with 9:48 left in the half, Winthrop scored seven straight points capped off with a Toneari Lane straight away three to force a timeout by the Bucs
• It was a five point lead for the Eagles with 6:12 left when Arms scored on a second chance point at the rim followed by a triple from Charles Falden for the first double-figure lead of the day
• Back-to-back threes from Fleming Jr. and Emorie Knox cut the Winthrop lead to four points in a matter of 12 seconds
• The Bucs did chip away to make it a three-point game at the half as the Eagles led 41-38
• For most of the half the Eagles were around 50 percent shooting but missed its final seven shots and finished at 40 percent
• Charleston Southern shot 48 percent and scored 14 points off eight Winthrop turnovers

SECOND HALF

• Eagles turned the ball over five times in the first four minutes and Charleston Southern hit five of its first 11 shots as it took a 48-47 lead with 16:17 left
• Out of the media timeout (15:58), the Eagles forced a turnover as Russell Jones Jr. came away with the ball and went the distance for the layup to regain the lead 49-48
• Fleming Jr. followed by draining a contested three from the right wing only to have Falden come down and hit a three for the Eagles to lead 52-51
• It was a one point game (54-53) when Vaudrin hit two free throws with 12:45 to play and then following a defensive stop Vaudrin drove into the paint and dished the ball to the corner where Corbin buried a three in front of the Winthrop bench to lead 59-53, forcing the Buccaneers to call timeout
• Over the next three minutes the Eagles maintained a two possession lead and then extended the lead to seven points at 64-57 when Kyle Zunic found Falden open for three on the left wing and he knocked it down
• The Bucs kept it within two possessions for the next three and a half minutes when a Kelton Talford scored on a baby hook for a 70-62 lead with 5:41 to play
• Fleming Jr. made two free throws with 5:22 to play and Jamir Moore went 1-of-2 at the line to make it a five point game with 4:48 to play
• After two free throws by Russel Jones Jr. made two free throws for a seven point advantage with just over four minutes remaining the Bucs answered with a Melvin Edwards straight away three and a Price bucket off the drive to cut the Winthrop lead to 72-70 with 3:15 left
• Following the Price jumper, Falden put up a three from the right wing that came up short but he hustled to board the miss and took it straight to the rim to score as he was fouled in the process and completed a three-point play
• The hustle play by Falden put the Eagles up 75-70 with 2:46 remaining
• Knox came down and hit a three to make it a two point contest again but Chase Claxton on the other end hit two free throws for a 77-73 lead with 2:10 left
• Knox made it a one-point game with 1:10 to play as the Eagles led 77-76
• On the ensuing possession the Eagles got a good look as Falden was open for three at the top of the key but the shot was in and out giving the Bucs a chance to take the lead
• Knox pulled up for a contest three that was off the mark and Talford boarded the miss and handed off to Falden who was fouled
• Falden missed the first free throw but hit the second for a 78-76 lead with 9.1 seconds to play
• The Bucs pushed the ball up the floor and Knox again let one fly from behind the arc as it was contested and offline as the Eagles held on for the win
• Just like the first half the Eagles finished at 40 percent from the floor, but were 9-of-12 at the foul line and scored 11 points off turnovers

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Charleston Southern shot 48 percent from the field while Winthrop finished at 40 percent
• Bucs hit 10 threes (10-of-25) while the Eagles connected on nine (9-for-30)
• Eagles had 19 offensive rebounds that led to 19 second chance points and won the battle on the glass 40-33
• Kelton Talford tied his career-high of 12 points to lead the Winthrop bench, which contributed 37 points
• Talford was 1-of-3 Eagles in double-figures as Falden scored a team-high 17 points and Vaudrin added 11 points
• Fleming Jr. scored a game-high 33 points to go along with seven rebounds, three assists and four steals
• Winthrop had a season-high six blocks and finished with seven steals and now have seven or more takeaways in 7-of-9 games

NOTABLES

• The 9-0 starts is the best in league history, breaking the old mark set by the 1990-91 Radford team
• Winthrop tied its 3^rd longest win streak in program history with a 14^th straight victory dating back to last season
• The Eagles won 14 straight games during the 2019-20 season, so this is the second 14-game win streak during the Pat Kelsey Era (Program record is 19 straight by the 2006-07 squad)
• With the win, Kelsey is now alone in 4^th place on the all-time list for conference victories with 99
• Eagles are 6-0 in league play for a second straight season and have now won eight straight regular season league matchups
• Vaudrin was just 3-for-11 from the floor but muscled his way to 11 points as he surpassed 1,000 in his collegiate career
• This was the third time in the last six meetings between the two programs that the game came down to the final possession and fourth decided by four or fewer points
• Falden knocked down three triples for a second straight game and for the 4^th time this season as he slides up to 19^th on the all-time list at Winthrop