Winthrop bulls its way into Big South final
Standing outside of his team’s locker room after a Big South Conference tournament semifinal win, Winthrop coach Pat Kelsey was greeted by his dad, Mike, and his son, Johnny.
Three-year old Johnny looked at Kelsey and said, “he didn’t dunk backwards!”
He - redshirt sophomore Duby Okeke - did pretty much everything else in the paint for Winthrop (23-8), dunking, swatting shots and helping the Eagles overcome a bruising Gardner-Webb team, 82-69, to return to the league tournament championship game for a third straight year. Six years removed from the school’s last NCAA tournament appearance, Winthrop is again 40 minutes away from the Big Dance.
“We haven’t had our best offensive performance the last two days,” said Kelsey. “But when you’re defending at a high level you can withstand those droughts.”
Against a Runnin’ Bulldogs team (17-16) built around 6-foot-7 hulk Tyrell Nelson, Winthrop needed all the interior defense it could get. That effort was hampered by Zach Price’s foul trouble; he picked up two inside the first fpur minutes and never shook it, but Okeke blocked five shots and influenced numerous others in 24 minutes of action. Okeke (70 blocks) also broke Winthrop’s single-season blocked shot record previously held by Josh Grant (66).
The Eagles held Gardner-Webb to 35 percent shooting from the floor, the third straight game they kept the opponent below 36 percent shooting. That’s the first such streak for Kelsey’s team this year, an encouraging development in the crucial month of the season.
We’ve been holding each other accountable,” said Winthrop guard Jimmy Gavin. “That starts with the coaching staff and trickles down to the players.”
The game was knotted at 29 after the first 20 minutes. Neither team shot over 31 percent from the floor in the first half, but Gardner-Webb crushed the Eagles on the offensive glass, 11-4, leading to nine points at the second crack. The Runnin’ Bulldogs would go on to snatch 24 offensive rebounds from Winthrop, leading to 24 more shot attempts than Winthrop and a 30-12 second chance scoring advantage.
“When you see a team play against Coastal Carolina and probably impose their physical will more on the game than Coastal, you know you have a physical aggressive team,” said Kelsey, citing the Runnin’ Bulldogs’ win over the Chanticleers in Friday’s quarterfinal. “They were the aggressor today for the majority of the game. But I felt like our guys flipped the switch. We had to fix the problem.”
Turning point
Winthrop offset its offensive rebounding struggles with a plus-15 advantage at the free throw line. Still, Gardner-Webb cut Winthrop’s lead to four points with 3 minutes, 29 seconds to play, but Xavier Cooks hit a 3-pointer that staved off the Runnin’ Bulldogs’ surge.
“It was huge. We had a defensive breakdown,” said Nelson, who finished with a game-high 24 points.
Critical
The big Winthrop question coming into the conference tournament was whether the Eagles could defend consistently over three straight games. Saturday, Winthrop held Gardner-Webb to 5-of-22 shooting from beyond the three-point arc and 35 percent from the floor.
”It wasn’t out day offensively,” said Runnin’ Bulldogs coach Tim Craft. “I’m sure Winthrop had something to do with that.”
Star contributors
Cooks and Gavin both had their second strong games of the tournament. Including his momentum-swinging second half 3, Cooks poured in 23 points and grabbed six boards, while Gavin also had 23 points.
Given Price’s unshakeable foul trouble Saturday, Okeke’s performance was imperative. He bossed the defensive paint, forcing shots higher in the air and rejecting other ones that entered his orbit. His final line read 11 points, eight rebounds, five blocked shots and a slew of new fans at Gore Arena on account of his dunks and blocks.
“Duby brings a lot of heart and a lot of leadership to this team, and it’s crucial,” Gavin said.
Josh Davenport helped Okeke down low with seven points and 11 rebounds.
On deck
Winthrop faces Asheville in Sunday’s final, a 2:30 p.m. tip-off on ESPN2. The two teams evenly split 330 total points in their two regular season meetings, the Bulldogs winning by a point in Asheville and Winthrop winning by a point in Rock Hill.
“It’s two really good teams meeting on championship Sunday,” said Kelsey.
“Just to be in that game - all of the hoopla that goes along with - it’s nothing new to most of the guys in that locker room, and same thing for me,” said Kelsey. “You fight all year long to get to that game, and here we are.”
Box score
WINTHROP 82, GARDNER-WEBB 69
GARDNER-WEBB (17-16): McBride 6-19 2-3 16, Poston 2-10 0-0 4, Nelson 9-19 6-8 24, Burbage 2-9 0-0 5, Niangane 4-5 2-2 10, Rideau 0-3 0-2 0, Miller 2-6 0-1 4, Ivey 2-7 0-0 6. Totals 27-78 10-16 69.
WINTHROP (23-8): Johnson 3-8 6-6 14, Cooks 7-13 5-7 23, Broman 0-5 0-0 0, Price 1-1 2-2 4, Gavin 7-19 6-6 23, Okeke 5-5 1-3 11, Hill 0-0 0-0 0, Pickett 0-0 0-0 0, Sadlon 0-0 0-0 0, Davenport 1-3 5-6 7. Totals 24-54 25-30 82.
Halftime—Tied 29-29. 3-Point Goals—Gardner-Webb 5-22 (Ivey 2-5, McBride 2-8, Burbage 1-5, Rideau 0-1, Poston 0-3), Winthrop 9-24 (Cooks 4-6, Gavin 3-10, Johnson 2-4, Broman 0-4). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Gardner-Webb 49 (Nelson 11), Winthrop 38 (Davenport 11). Assists—Gardner-Webb 8 (McBride 3), Winthrop 8 (Gavin, Johnson 3). Total Fouls—Gardner-Webb 22, Winthrop 14. A—2,580.
This story was originally published March 5, 2016 at 6:53 PM with the headline "Winthrop bulls its way into Big South final."