Fast-paced Winthrop men polish off Rio Grande
Winthrop men’s basketball kicked off any holiday-accrued rust with a healthy workout Monday night in a 116-84 win against Ohio NAIA school University of Rio Grande. Junior guard Keon Johnson’s 25 points led the scoring for the Eagles, who might not play a faster tempo game the rest of the season.
Winthrop scored over 100 points for the third time this season, and won its third straight game to improve to 9-3; the 116 points was third-highest in a single game in program history and indicated the relentless offensive pressure the Eagles poured on the visitors.
“Our constant downhill pace, at the end of the day, wore our opponent out,” said Winthrop coach Pat Kelsey.
That’s a good sign headed into Big South Conference play; the Eagles only play one more non-conference game, the Jan. 11 tilt against Ferrum.
Rio Grande (10-5) entered the game averaging over 85 points per game and the Red Storm showed why in the first half, shooting over 55 percent from the floor, including 7-of-13 from 3-point range. Will Hill’s triple gave the visitors from Ohio a 23-22 lead, before Dwayne Bazemore scored inside to make 24-23 Rio Grande, with about 11 minutes left in the first half.
Hill again gave Rio Grande the lead at 26-25 with a nice finish in the lane, but that was the high-water mark for Ken French’s team. Rod Perkins’ scoop and Zach Price’s turn and score inside put the Eagles up 29-26 and launched a 15-2 run that left Winthrop in front by 12 with about five minutes left in the half.
Turning point
The 15-2 run gave Winthrop a comfortable double-digit lead that the Eagles maintained the rest of the way. After Perkins and Price scored, Duby Okeke checked in for his first action since breaking a bone in his wrist against Georgia on Dec. 8. He got a big cheer from the crowd, which maybe lifted the team a bit too.
Johnson flipped a nifty shot up and in, Gavin canned a 3 and Johnson lobbed to Davenport for an easy lay-in at the rim. Adam Pickett then turned a pilfer into two more points, laying the ball off for Gavin at the last second so that he could score in transition for a 40-28 lead.
Critical
Okeke returning in limited action was encouraging for Winthrop, especially since it’s about two weeks ahead of the expected timetable. Eagles coach Pat Kelsey will hope to have Okeke available for more minutes Thursday against Campbell.
“We wanted to get him out there; he hasn’t practiced in three weeks,” said Kelsey. “We thought about whether to put him in at all, but I wanted to get him in there and knock the rust off a little bit. It was a good little juice for our guys to see him in there adn the crowd gave him a good ovation.”
Star contribution
A Johnson 3 less than 3 minutes into the second half gave the junior guard his 1,000th career point. Johnson became the 23rd played in school history to achieve the feat. He finished Monday’s game hitting 9-of-10 shots from the field, and added four assists with no turnovers in 26 minutes.
“When you need that little cat to go get you a bucket, he can go get it with the best of them,” said Kelsey. “But all that kid cares about is W’s. I know this because I know the fabric of that kid. Obviously, it’s something he should be very proud of and he can tell his grandchildren about. He’s gonna end up at the end of his career as one of the most prolific scorers in the history of this school. He’s fun to coach, he’s a terrific player and he’s a terrific teammate as well.”
Johnson had plenty of scoring help; Gavin added 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting, while Xavier Cooks kicked in 24, including a handful of rim-rattling dunks.
Members of Winthrop’s walk-on gang also all saw the court; Mitch Hill, Hunter Sadlon, Kellen Blake and Freddy Poole played as much as 5 minutes late in the second half. All four scored to the crowd’s sincere delight, Blake finishing with a career-high seven points.
“Those are the people that don’t get recognized every day,” said Johnson. “They help us to be who we are.”
On deck
Winthrop reopens Big South Conference basketball action Thursday at home versus Campbell. The Eagles and Camels tip at 1 p.m. in the first of their two regular season meetings. They play again in the final game of the regular season on Feb. 27.
This story was originally published December 28, 2015 at 9:48 PM with the headline "Fast-paced Winthrop men polish off Rio Grande."