Eagles In Big South Title Game Again After 77-66 Win Over Elon

March 1, 2002

ROANOKE, VA--The Winthrop Eagles put themselves in position to claim a fourth straight Big South Conference championship and automatic bid to the NCAA tournament with a 77-66 semi-final victory over Elon on Friday night.

The win sends Winthrop into Saturday afternoon's championship game against a surprising finalist High Point.  The Panthers reached the title game in just their first year of eligibility with a 72-70 overtime win over Radford.

A smothering defense in the opening eight  minutes of the game proved to be a key in the win.  Winthrop held Elon scoreless over that period and built a 19-3 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game before taking a 41-25 halftime lead . 

Senior Marcus Stewart led four Eagles in double figures with 16 points.  Pierre Wooten scored 13 while Tyrone Walker had 11 and a team-high 7 rebounds.  Tywan Harris added 10.  Elon's Brendon Rowell led all scorers in the game with 21 in his final collegiate performance.

Winthrop actually won the game at the free throw line where the Eagles connected on 32 of 40 while Elon was 19 of 28.  The Eagles also won the rebound battle 46-39 with four players having six or more.

The Eagles won the game despite having leading scorer Greg Lewis on the court for only 14 minutes due to foul problems.  Lewis finished the game with seven points and four rebounds.  Josh Grant continued his strong post play with eight points, six rebounds and four blocked shots.  He now has nine blocked shots in two tournament games.