Winthrop’s Keon Johnson named Big South co-player of the week
Coastal Carolina guard Shivaughn Wiggins and Winthrop guard Keon Johnson have been named the Big South Conference men’s basketball co-players of the week, while Campbell guard Chris Clemons has been named The Crons Brand freshman of the week for games played Feb. 8 through 14.
Johnson averaged 21 points, three assists, 2.5 rebounds and two steals in leading Winthrop to consecutive wins. He scored 32 points, including a 15-foot buzzer-beater as time expired, to cap the Eagles’ 86-84 comeback victory Saturday at Radford. Johnson scored 16 in each half, and six times during the game he scored to give Winthrop the lead.
The Mansfield, Ohio native opened the week in similar fashion, as he hit a key second-half three-pointer and made free throws down the stretch in Winthrop’s 88-80 home win over Longwood. For the week, Johnson was 14-of-14 from the free throw line, including 10-of-10 against the Highlanders, and he also passed former Eagles Michael Jenkins and Tyrone Walker to move into 11th place in the program’s career scoring leaderboard. The award is Johnson’s third such Big South honor this season.
Wiggins averaged 24 points, four assists and 2.5 rebounds last week for the Chanticleers. Following a team-high 18 points against High Point on Thursday, the Charlotte native scored a career-high 30 points on 11-of-13 from the field in Saturday’s win over Gardner-Webb. Wiggins added five rebounds and four helpers in the victory, in which he scored 15 of the team’s 30 first-half points. He helped erase a halftime deficit with seven points during an 18-5 run that put the Chants ahead by 10. For the week, Wiggins was 16-of-23 from the field (69.6 percent), 7-of-10 from beyond the arc and 9-of-10 from the charity stripe.
Wiggins and Coastal Carolina will face Johnson and Winthrop on Thursday in Rock Hill.
Clemons shined with averages of 21 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and two steals in a pair of Campbell victories. He scored 24 points in the Camels’ 89-85 overtime victory over Gardner-Webb. He tallied all 13 of his first half points in the final 3:20 of the period to give CU an 11-point lead at the break. On Saturday at Presbyterian, Clemons tied for the team scoring lead with 18 points in addition to four assists and two steals. For the week, he was 14-of-25 from the field (56 percent), 6-of-11 from three-point range (54.5 percent) and made 8-of-10 free throws.
This story was originally published February 15, 2016 at 2:10 PM with the headline "Winthrop’s Keon Johnson named Big South co-player of the week."