Eagles Fall At Nebraska, 73-65

    LINCOLN, NE--The Nebraska Cornhuskers connected on 25 of 34 free throws, including 14 in the final two minutes of the game as they defeated the Winthrop Eagles 73-65 Saturday night at the Bob Devaney Center.

    Winthrop now drops to 1-2 on the season as they return home for a Tuesday night game against Birmingham-Southern. Nebraska is now 2-0 on the young season.

    The loss overshadowed a 21-point, 11-rebound performance by Greg Lewis who led all scorers in the game. The Eagles also placed three others in double figures as Tyrone Walker scored 15 while Marcus Stewart had 12 and Pierre Wooten added 11. The Cornhuskers were led by Gary Cochran and John Robinson with 15 each while Jake Muhleisen had 14. Robinson’s play off the bench proved huge in the Nebraska win as he had a career-high.

    After trailing 29-23 at halftime and getting no offensive rebounds, Winthrop scored the first eight points of the second half to take a 31-29 lead as Walker opened with a trey just 15 seconds into the period, Lewis worked inside for a layup and Marcus Stewart converted a three-point play with 18:29 left in the game. Nebraska battled back to take a 38-33 lead at the 15:44 mark when Robinson made a steal and scored on a layup.

    With Lewis scoring on an assortment of inside moves, Winthrop bounced back over the next two minutes and 12 seconds to retake the lead at 41-40. The game then had six lead changes and two ties before Winthrop took a 52-49 lead with 8:35 left on a trey by Walker. Corey Simms broke free for a layup to cut the Eagle lead to one and then with 6:21 to go, scored a layup off his own steal and then converted a free throw after being fouled on the play to put the Cornhuskers ahead to stay at 54-52.

    Winthrop was forced to foul down the stretch and made a couple of crucial turnovers that allowed Nebraska to stretch the lead out to as many as 11 at 71-60 with 26 seconds remaining.

    "It was great to see Greg Lewis have the kind of game he had. It doesn’t mean anything to him right now because I hope this stings and really makes him mad. But this showed for the first time since a year ago that he does have a future playing this game," said Marshall. "He played like a pro tonight. He did a wonderful job tonight playing with composure and making the shots. He was a man-child down inside."

    As a team the Eagles turned in their best shooting performance of the season finishing at 44.6 percent (25-56), but they were just 4 of 23 from behind the arc. Nebraska finished with an even 50 percent (22-44) and 4 of 15 from 3-point range. Winthrop’s Tywan Harris went 0 of 8 from long distance.

    "I thought we had one bad look out of 23 shots and we made four of them. It’s going to take some gym time from the young men, but they will certainly do that and when we don’t have to shoot over 6-11 players that will help as well," said Marshall.

    Just like its game last Sunday at Ohio State, Winthrop stayed with Nebraska for the first 15 minutes of the first half and led 21-19 with just under five minutes when Nebraska outscored the Eagles 10-2 down the stretch of the opening period as Robinson connected on two baskets including a three-pointer, Muhleisen hit a baseline jumper and a free throw, and John Turek put back a missed shot just before the buzzer.

    The Eagles three-point shooting woes prevented Winthrop from possibly taking control of the game in the first half. Winthrop was 0 for 10, including an 0-6 effort by Harris. Inside the arc, Winthrop connected on 11 of 13 field goals in the first period.