Winthrop Claims Record Fourth Straight Big South Championship

ROANOKE, VA--Winthrop became the first school in NCAA Div. I history to capture four straight conference championships as the Eagles defeated High Point 70-48 in the Big South Conference title game Saturday night in Roanoke, VA.

The Eagles will enter NCAA tournament play with a 19-11 record while High Point finished its season at 11-19 after pulling off tournament upsets over No. 2 seed UNC Asheville and No. 3 Radford.

Big South Player of the Year Greg Lewis collected his 18th double-double of the year to lead the Eagles as he scored 18 points and pulled down 11 rebounds.  His performance earned Lewis his second Big South Tournament MVP in two tries.  Marcus Stewart also had a double-double for Winthrop with 12 points and 10 rebounds and freshman guard Ivan Jenkins scored a career-high 16 points and connected on four of six 3-pointers.

Winthrop also continued its record of consecutive Big South tournament wins as the Eagles have now won nine straight over four years under head coach Gregg Marshall.

The Eagles battled to a 34-21 halftime lead as Lewis had nine points and eight rebounds.  However, the rough first half took its toll on the Eagles as reserve guard Tywan Harris went down with a sprained ankle after scoring five points in just three minutes.  He was unable to return.  Ty Myers took a bad fall under the basket after a driving layup and suffered a cut forehead and mild concussion, but he was able to return to action in the second half.

The story again was Winthrop's defense.  After holding Elon scoreless for the opening eight minutes in Friday's semi-finals, the Eagles limited High Point to 10 points over the first 12 minutes of the game.

Winthrop will now wait until Selection Sunday to find out for sure where the NCAA basketball committee will send the Eagles.