Eagles Take Over First Place In Big South

ROCK HILL, SC–Pierre Wooten scored a career-high 17 points to lead five Winthrop players in double figures as the Eagles defeated High Point 81-71 Tuesday night in a Big South Conference game.

The victory improved Winthrop to 10-9 overall and 5-2 in conference play and put them in first place in the Big South. High Point, which lost to Winthrop for the second time in eight days, drops to 8-12 on the season and 4-4 in league play.

Wooten got the Eagles off to a 19-14 start in the opening 8 minutes of the game as he connected on four of four 3-point shots. As a team the Eagles were hot from the outside throughout the first half as they made 10 of 15 and finished the game with 11 of 21 from behind the arc.

Tyrone Walker joined Wooten in double figures in the first half with 10 points as he went 3 of 4 from 3-point distance and Ivan Jenkins was a perfect 3 for 3 on treys. Walker finished the game with 16 points and eight rebounds while teammates Greg Lewis and Marcus Stewart collected double-doubles. Lewis had his 12^th double-double of the season with 12 points and 12 rebounds while Stewart finished with 11 points and 11 boards. As a team, the Eagles won the rebound battle 42-35. When Winthrop out rebounds its opponents this year it has won nine of its 10 games.

High Point, which trailed 45-30 at halftime, never quit in the second half and came as close as seven points on two occasions. The last at 76-69 with 1:06 left in the game when Dustin Van Weerdhuizen connected on a three-pointer. The Panthers were led in scoring by Doug Alves with a career-high 20 points as he connected on 6 of 13 treys. Van Weerdhuizen added 18.

Winthrop will now go on the road for its next three games. The Eagles will face Coastal Carolina in its next contest on Thursday night in Conway.