Published: Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009 / Updated: Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009 12:57 AM

Eagles slip past DII Limestone

The highlight tape for Winthrop's victory over Limestone on Saturday in the season basketball opener could consist of just this.

The camera pans to the scoreboard and shows: Winthrop 57, Limestone 55.

But being a glass half-full kind of coach, Randy Peele will focus on how his team came from seven down with 2 minutes, 22 seconds to play and somehow scraped past the pesky Saints.

“It wasn't pretty, and you can talk about what we didn't do,” he said. “I've got to focus on the fact we found a way to win.”

Just to get it out of the way, here's what the Eagles didn't do.

They hit just 18 of 54 shots, 33 percent, including 1-for-15 on 3-pointers, at least for now continuing the shooting trend that plagued them all last season.

They missed too many easy ones at the rim, including a point-blank layup and a dunk.

They got beat 41-35 on the boards and gave up 15 offensive rebounds to a team without a player taller than 6-foot-6.

Until the final three minutes, with the embarrassment of the loss staring them in the face, they didn't play with a lot fire and energy.

Andre Jones, who led the Eagles with 15 points on the strength of making 9 of 10 free throws, chalked it up to perhaps taking the Saints, an NCAA Division II team, “lightly.”

“We had a lot of jitters,” Jones said. “It was a different atmosphere.”

It was Jones, George Valentine and Mantoris Robinson — plus a little pressure defense down the stretch — who got the Eagles going. Jones was trying to jack up the crowd on every inbounds play, and the fans finally got into it when the Eagles decided to do the same.

The scrappy Saints got after it all afternoon, battling on the boards, beating the Eagles to what seemed like every loose ball and making big shots. Limestone went up 44-40 with 7:45 to go and Peele called timeout.

With the Eagles walking to bench in a daze, Michael Barrett and Nick Debnam were doing a big-time chest bump right on top of the Eagle head at midcourt.

The Saints were up 50-42 with 5:27 left and led 53-46 when Barrett drove the lane from the top of the key for layup.

Faced with the prospect of a loss, Peele went full-court press.

“We went to the pressure,” Peele said, “and the key stat of the game was we got 23 points off 24 turnovers. Three of those turnovers and six of those big points came when needed most.”

Free throws by Jones and Andy Buechert cut the lead to 53-50, and Jones sliced it to 53-52 with a drive off another turnover with 1:46 to go. The Eagles scored six points in 36 seconds.

In the final 1:39, the Saints, with the crowd and the Eagles getting fired up, took three quick shots when running some time off the clock was more important.

Barrett gave the Saints a 55-53 lead with 56 seconds left, and Limestone had a chance to milk some clock when Justin Burton missed a wide open 3-pointer with 38 seconds to go.

Valentine came up with the game's biggest steal, swiping a cross-court pass at midcourt and slamming it home to tie it with 30 seconds left.

After Tyron Evans missed another quick shot, the Eagles turned the ball over with 15.7 seconds left, and again the Saints had a chance to work the clock. Instead, Stewart Clark launched a runner in the lane with about seven seconds showing. Buechert rebounded, kicked the ball upcourt to Valentine, who worked his way along the baseline and shoveled a pass to Robinson, who laid the ball up.

Even the final bucket wasn't without drama. The ball hung on the rim, considered falling off and then dropped with two-tenths of a second to play.

Robinson, a senior, finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

“Mantoris was tremendous defensively,” Peele said, “and George was very good down the stretch. We had a 6-8 four man passing to Mantoris for a shot that almost went in and out.

“Our pressure down the stretch won the game for us.”

Peele stopped short of saying the Eagles took the Saints lightly.