Winthrop Loses Consolation Game To Birmingham-Southern, 87-80

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX–Birmingham Southern gave notice that it will be an immediate factor when it begins Big South Conference play next year with a 87-80 victory over the Winthrop Eagles in Friday night’s consolation game of the Koch Petroleum Islander Invitational.

Winthrop, which drops to 5-8 on the season, turned in its best offensive performance of the season, but couldn’t slow down Birmingham Southern’s Joe Ransom who finished the game with 32 points, including 20 in the first half. Ransom scored 60 points in the two tournament games.

The Panthers (6-6), who won two national championships on the NAIA level before joining the NCAA this year, connected on 13 of 22 three-point field goals in the game, including 7 of 12 in the second half as they overcame Winthrop’s 46-40 halftime lead.

"Effort-wise and in our offensive execution it was probably our best performance of the year," said Winthrop head coach Gregg Marshall. "But the 87 points we gave up is really disappointing. We can’t abandon what we’ve been doing and we need to stick to our principles. We played a good ball club, one that went to Texas A&M and won by 20 earlier this season.

"Birmingham-Southern will come into our league and compete for championships right away. They are very, very good," said the Eagles’ coach. The 87 points scored by the Panthers was the most given up in a regulation game during Marshall’s three-year tenure.

The loss overshadowed Winthrop’s best first half of the season and its best offensive performance of the year. The 80 points was a season high. The Eagles jumped out to a quick 12-3 lead in the opening four minutes as Derrick Knox and Roger Toxey knocked down a pair of three-pointers, Marcus Stewart battled inside for two baskets and Pierre Wooten drove for a layup. The Eagles led by 13 at 24-11 with 11:37 on the clock when Toxey scored on a layup, and then took its biggest lead on the next trip down the floor at 27-11 when Harris nailed a trey from the right corner. Ransom then went to work for the Panthers as they outscored Winthrop 22-8 to draw to within a point at 35-34.

Birmingham-Southern trailed by as many as 11 points at 63-52 with 12:21 left in the game when Neal Broome and Michael Anspach ignited the Panthers on a 27-11 run in the next nine minutes to take a 79-74 lead. Broome, who was scoreless in the first half, scored 18 in the second period while Anspach added eight. His trey with 2:45 left to play gave BSC the 79-74 lead.

Tywan Harris cut the deficit to three at 79-76 with two free throws at the 1:27 mark, but the Panthers were deadly from the free throw line in the final minute connecting on eight of nine shots as Winthrop was forced to foul.

"They are not the kind of team you want to get into a shoot-out with," said Marshall, "but that’s what we decided to do. By the same token they have some unbelievable players. Ransom can play at a lot of places and I’m talking a lot higher than the Big South."

Four Winthrop players reached double figures with Stewart, Harris and Knox scoring 13 each while Wooten added 11. In addition to Ransom’s 32 and Broome’s 18, the Panthers’ T.R Reed scored 19 and Rashard Willie added 10.