Eagles Shoot 60 Percent In 83-77 Big South Victory At Coastal Carolina

CONWAY, SC--Marcus Stewart's return to Coastal Carolina was a triumphant one as he scored a career-high 26 points to lead his Winthrop Eagles to a crucial 83-77 victory.  The win improves the Eagles to 10-3 in Big South Conference play and 15-12 overall.

Winthrop, which shot a season-igh 60 percent from the floor (28-47) closes out the regular season Saturday against UNC Asheville, who entered tonight's action tied with the Eagles for second place in the league race.

Stewart, who played at Coastal for two seasons, scored 13 points in each half and was 12 of 15 from the free throw line.  His previous high came this season against Elon with 24 points.  Also having a career game for Winthrop was Tywan Harris who scored 17 points.  He was 5 of 8 from three-point distance.

After trailing for the first 14 minutes of the game, Winthrop came back to take a 41-33 halftime lead as Tyron Myers came off the bench to score a bucket at the buzzer.  Winthrop jumped out to a quick 12 point lead at 45-33 in the second half when Roger Toxey drilled a trey and the Eagles still led by 11 at 55-44 with 12:44 left in the game.  Coastal then made a run that saw the Chanticleers outscore the Eagles 21-9 in a eight minute stretch to take a brief 65-64 lead.  Pierre Wooten connected on a 3-pointer from the top of the key just seconds later to give Winthrop the lead back and the Eagles never trailed again.

Winthrop scored its last eight points from the free throw line to seal the victory.