Eagles Get 33 Points From Bench To Defeat Coastal

CONWAY, SC--Alex English, Jr. scored a career-high 16 points in a reserve role to lead Winthrop to a 68-49 Big South Conference victory Thursday night over Coastal Carolina.

The win, Winthrop's third straight, improves the Eagles to 6-2 in league play and 11-9 overall and moves them back into a first place tie with UNC Asheville.  Coastal drops to 2-5 and 5-14.

With English leading the way, Winthrop got 33 points from its bench.  The reserves shot a combined 13 for 22 from the floor.  English was 6 for 8 from the field, including two 3-pointers in three attempts.

Greg Lewis added another double-double to his season totals as he scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.  It was his 13th double-double of the season moving him into a tie for second most in the nation. 

The Eagles jumped on the Chanticleers early taking a 20-10 lead early over the cold-shooting home team.  Winthrop led 37-17 at halftime as the Eagles connected on 57 percent (17-30) of its shots while holding the Chants to 20 percent (6-30).  Coastal warmed up a bit in the second half and finished with 31 percent while Winthrop shot 48 percent for the game.

The smaller Chanticleers surprisingly outrebounded the Eagles 41-39.  It marked only the second time this season that Winthrop has won when it has been outrebounded.