Winthrop men’s basketball rolls again, will play Sunday for NCAA Tournament berth
Winthrop will play Sunday for its 19th berth in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, after the Eagles built a big early lead and trounced UNC Asheville 86-67 Saturday in a Big South Conference semifinal.
The third-seeded Eagles (23-10) will face top seed High Point (24-5), the regular-season champion, for the Big South title and NCAA berth.
Tip-off at the Freedom Hall Civic Center in Johnson City, Tennessee, will be at noon Sunday (ESPN2).
High Point advanced to the final with a narrow 76-73 victory over Radford.
Winthrop followed the same script Saturday that the Eagles used Friday night in their quarterfinal victory over Longwood. They raced to a big early lead and then did enough down the stretch to keep second-seeded UNC Asheville (21-11) from getting too close.
When the Bulldogs appeared to be working their way back into the game, Winthrop seemed to have an answer.
Down by 22 in the second half, UNC Asheville narrowed the gap to 68-50 with 10:16 left, but Winthrop’s Tommy Kamarad hit a 3-pointer for a 71-50 margin.
And when the Bulldogs got within 78-64, Winthrop’s Bryce Baker answered with a 3-pointer at the 5:29 mark.
“This team is taking all of us, including me, to some fun places,” Winthrop head coach Mark Prosser said.
The Eagles, whose Friday night game didn’t end until after 11 p.m., got off to a slow start Saturday afternoon. They scored only two points in the opening 4½ minutes and trailed 6-2.
“For the first eight minutes, we got off to a good start,” UNC Asheville coach Mike Morrell said. “But (the Eagles) were a better team.”
Gradually, Prosser’s team warmed up. The Eagles tied the game 14-14 with 12:26 left in the half on a Kasen Harrison layup and took their first lead at 18-17 on a K.J. Doucet 3-pointer at the 11:34 mark.
Winthrop finished the half on an 11-2 run and a 46-30 lead, thanks to three 3-pointers by Nick Johnson.
The Eagles cashed in on UNC Asheville’s mistakes, converting 10 Bulldog errors into 12 points.
Prosser said that despite the late finishing time Friday night, his players were eager to start preparing for UNC Asheville.
“They were locked in on the scouting report at midnight last night,” he said. “The look in these guys’ eyes last night told it all. They were locked in.”
Three who made a difference
Kelvin Talford, Winthrop: Talford only made 3 of 12 from the floor but finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
Nick Johnson, Winthrop: Johnson scored 12 of his 15 points in the first half and made 5 of 6 from the 3-point line.
Toyaz Solomon, UNC Asheville: He was a bright spot for UNC Asheville, finishing with 15 points and eight rebounds.
Just noting
▪ Winthrop almost shot better from 3-point range (50 percent, on 13 of 26) than it did from the foul line (58.6 percent, 17 of 29).
▪ Eagles head coach Mark Prosser jokingly referred to Friday’s contest as the “longest game in college basketball history,” after referees called 53 fouls, resulting in 74 free throws. Saturday’s contest was more of the same, with 45 fouls whistled and 58 free throws taken.
▪ Winthrop’s last appearance in the Big South championship game was in 2021, and it won the title that year.
▪ While the Eagles have qualified for the NCAA Tournament 13 times, they’ve played in only 12 of those events. One of their Big South titles came in early March 2020, five days before the COVID outbreak shut down the college basketball season.
▪ High Point has reached the Big South finals only two other times, losing in 2002 to Winthrop and two years later to Liberty.
▪ Saturday’s victory gave Winthrop a 2-1 series edge of UNC Asheville for the season. The Bulldogs won 93-84 on Jan. 18 in Asheville, and Winthrop won 103-90 on its court March 1.
▪ The Eagles have not fared well against Sunday’s championship game foe. They lost to High Point 84-62 on the road (Jan. 25) and 88-66 at home (Feb. 15).
This story was originally published March 8, 2025 at 5:05 PM.