Walker, Harris Lead Eagles To First ACC Win With 66-61 Victory Over Clemson

    CLEMSON, SC--Tyrone Walker and Tywan Harris scored career highs with 25 and 17 points to lead the Winthrop Eagles to a 66-61 victory Tuesday night over the Clemson Tigers.

    The win ended an 0-25 record for Winthrop against Atlantic Coast Conference schools and was the first victory against Clemson in seven meetings.  With the victory, Winthrop improves to 3-5 while Clemson drops to 7-4.

    With Walker scoring 18 of his game-high 25 points in the first half and Harris having 10 at intermission, Winthrop led by as many as 17 points at 37-20 before taking a 39-29 lead to the locker room.

    Clemson, which came into the game with a 35-0 record all-time against Big South Conference schools, fought back in the second half, but was never able to take a lead.  The Tigers, behind the inside scoring of Chris Hobbs cut the Winthrop lead to one point at 62-61 with 1:17 left.  Greg Lewis gave Winthrop a three-point cushion with 19 seconds left when he converted both ends of a  bonus free throw. 

    Edward Scott's three-pointer from the right wing missed with nine seconds left and the rebound went to Winthrop.  After calling a time out to set up a play, Walker took a full court pass from Harris to jam the ball as time expired giving Winthrop the five-point victory.

    Lewis, despite shooting just 3-17 from the floor, scored 11 points and pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds to record his second double-double of the season.  Jamar McKnight led Clemson in scoring with 20 and kept the Tigers within striking distance in the first half as he scored 13.  Hobbs was the only other Clemson player in double figures as he finished with 12 points.

   After struggling the first seven games with its perimeter shooting, Winthrop connected on 9 of 18 in the game while limiting Clemson to only 5 of 29.  Walker and Harris each connected on three treys.