Eagles’ second-half rally falls short at VCU

The Winthrop men’s basketball team fell 69-55 at VCU in its final non-conference contest Tuesday evening at the Stuart C. Siegel Center.

The Eagles fall to 6-5 while the Rams are now 7-5.

Xavier Cooks led Winthrop with 17 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks. Teammate Josh Ferguson chipped in 9 points and four rebounds, while Jermaine Ukaegbu added 5 points, eight rebounds and one block.

Justin Tillman led VCU with 22 points, 11 rebounds and three steals. Mike’l Simms had 16 points and five rebounds, and De’Riante Jenkins contributed 13 points and five rebounds.

VCU led 34-19 at the half, and stretched the lead to 37-19 before the Eagles outscored the Rams 9-3 to trail 40-28. Trailing 42-30, Winthrop went on a 10-2 run to make it a six-point game with 13:03 to play.

The Eagles were within nine points at 51-42 with 9:34 to play, but VCU’s next three field goals came behind the arc as it pushed the lead to 60-44.

The Eagles have completed the non-conference portion of their schedule and will go the next 10 days without a game until they open up Big South play with High Point at 2 p.m. Dec. 30 in the Winthrop Coliseum.

This story was originally published December 19, 2017 at 9:42 PM with the headline "Eagles’ second-half rally falls short at VCU."