Winthrop hosts surprise first place team, Longwood, Saturday

Winthrop hosts league-leading Longwood Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m., in Big South Conference men's basketball action.

The game will be part of a doubleheader with the women's basketball team that will face Radford at 1 p.m. Winthrop’s men (10-4, 2-1 Big South) are coming off a road win at High Point, while Longwood has started the conference slate 3-0 and is 6-8 overall.

Barring unexpectedly terrible conditions, the plan is for Saturday’s game to go ahead, according to this tweet from Winthrop athletic director Ken Halpin:

Winthrop bounced back from its first home loss to a league opponent in eight games with an 80-74 victory at High Point behind a record-tying performance behind the arc. Winthrop connected on 17 threes in Wednesday night’s game, which tied a single-game record with teams from 2015-16, 2006-07 and 1999-2000. Last season the Eagles hit 17 in a 97-72 win over Charleston Southern at home. It was the first time the Eagles had hit 17 in a road game.

Keon Johnson scored 27 points in the win at High Point, the senior guard connecting on seven 3s. Johnson is second in the Big South in scoring at 21.4 points per game, and 19th in the country. He has 20 or more points in seven of the last eight games and six of the seven road games he's played.

Johnson is just 22 points away from becoming the program's all-time scoring leader at the NCAA Division I level. Charles Brunson holds the career scoring mark at 1,850, and Johnson trails him by 211 points.

Xavier Cooks posted his 13th career double-double in the win at High Point with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Cooks is one block behind third on the program's all-time list with 124 in his career. In two games against the Lancers last season, Cooks averaged a double-double at 17.4 points and 11 rebounds. He is third in the Big South at 16.3 points per game and fourth in rebounding at 7.1 boards per contest.

This will be the 10th meeting all-time with Longwood; the Eagles lead the series 7-2 and have won the last six meetings. The first ever meeting between Winthrop and Longwood took place on Jan. 7, 1986. The Eagles won 80-68.

The Lancers have been a different team in Big South play. Jayson Gee’s unit was out-rebounded by 10 of its first 11 opponents, but has out-boarded each of its first three league opponents by a plus-four margin, tops in the conference so far. And Longwood is shooting much better, too, hitting 52 percent of its shots and 46 percent from beyond the 3-point arc.

Longwood is led by Khris Lane's 15.1 points per game, which ranks sixth in the league. The reining Big South co-player of the week is also averaging 21.7 points and 7.4 rebounds per game during the team's three-game win streak.

Isaiah Walton is also averaging double-figures at 14.1 per game, while fellow guard Darrion Allen averages 13.8. Walton is averaging 18 points in three league games so far and is 6 for 10 behind the arc. He led the Lancers in scoring with 22 points against Presbyterian on Wednesday. Allen is the top 3-point threat on the team with 31 made on the year.

Longwood this season is 1-6 on the road with its first road victory coming on New Year's Even with a 60-55 win at High Point.

This story was originally published January 6, 2017 at 4:05 PM with the headline "Winthrop hosts surprise first place team, Longwood, Saturday."