Win over Radford enables Winthrop basketball to control its own Big South destiny

The blistering tempo and efficient offense that produced 94 points per game in Winthrop’s five-game winning streak to open Big South Conference action obscured another impressive attribute for any team with serious championship dreams: The Eagles also led the conference in defensive efficiency.

Fighting to seize the early upper hand in the regular season race against Radford on Monday night, the Eagles relied on their fierce defensive pressure, and D.J. Burns provided the late offense to produce a 61-56 victory and extend their winning streak to eight games.

Winthrop, after defeating Radford, is now the only team in the Big South without a conference loss.

Winthrop (12-7, 6-0 Big South) had lost four of five over the last two seasons to Radford (10-8, 5-1), including a defeat in the Big South semifinals a year ago. They held the Highlanders to 20 first-half points and 33 percent shooting for the game, including 6 of 29 on 3-pointers to win a gritty, physical battle between two teams possessing the talent and experience to fight for the title until the end.

“We hang our hat on our defense, we really do,” Winthrop men’s basketball head coach Pat Kelsey said. “It easy to focus I think on the gaudy scoring numbers we’ve put up, the 3s that we’ve shot the last several years … but every single day in our program we say our foundation on the floor is our defense. And I think that’s what won the game for us tonight. It was a heavyweight fight.”

Winthrop led by 10 points late in the first half and held the advantage for all but six minutes in the game. When the Highlanders hit three 3-pointers in four possessions to take a 53-52 lead with 3:45 remaining and ignite the Dedmon Center crowd of 1,948, Kelsey called timeout and designed a play for Burns — his 6-9, 260-pound freshman and reigning Big South Freshman of the Week.

Burns delivered a short jumper and scored on the Eagles’ next two possessions to reclaim the lead, 58-55 with 1:29 remaining. He showed off his soft touch and smooth footwork to score over a single defender. When the Highlanders tried to double team, he passed out and found shooters on the perimeter.

“Down the stretch, he was cookin’,” Kelsey said. “We kept feeding him and he made big, big plays.”

Burns paced the Eagles with 19 points, hitting 8 of 12 shots. Hunter Hale added 12 for Winthrop, which also struggled to find its outside touch, hitting 6 of 27 3-pointers (22 percent).

“It was a tremendous basketball game, lot of fun, nerve-wracking at times but certainly a lot of fun to compete against a team of that quality on our home floor,” Radford coach Mike Jones said. “Loved the way our guys competed.”

Carlik Jones, the Big South preseason player of the year, led Radford with a game-high 20 points.

“Michael Anumba and Chase Claxton did as good a job on Carlik Jones as you can,” Kelsey said. “He’s as good of a player as I’ve coached against in the Big South since I’ve been here. I think he’s an NBA talent.”

Winthrop takes a one-game lead one-third of the way through the regular season. Championships always matter but mean even more in the Big South because the top seed earns the right to host the conference tournament.

By the next time these teams meet in Rock Hill on Feb. 10th, the standings will be much more clear. For now, Winthrop returns home to face USC Upstate (2-4) on Thursday and Presbyterian (5-1) on Saturday.