Winthrop Wins 16th Straight Home Game With 76-63 Big South Victory Over Liberty

    ROCK HILL, SC--Marcus Stewart scored 15 of his game-high 24 points in the first half to lead Winthrop to a 15-point lead at intermission and the Eagles went on to defeat visiting Liberty 76-63 in a Big South Conference game. Stewart had the first double-double of his career as he grabbed 11 rebounds to go with his scoring output.

    The victory, Winthrop’s fourth in a row, was the Eagles’ 16th straight at home and improved them to 4-0 in league play and 9-8 overall. Liberty falls to 1-3 and 8-8 overall.

    With Stewart muscling his way inside and Tywan Harris bombing away from 3-point range, Winthrop went on a 17-5 run during a five-minute stretch of the first half to take a 26-13 lead at the 7:01 mark. Harris scored 11 of his career-best 17 points in the first period.

    Winthrop led by as many as 17 three times in the second half, the last coming at 69-52 with 4:34 left in the game. The Eagles won by double figures despite Liberty’s 51 percent field goal shooting for the game (22-43). Winthrop, however, forced seven more turnovers and outrebounded the Flames by 10 as it took 11 more shots and finished with a 48 percent from the floor (26-54). The Eagles connected on 41 percent from beyond the arc on 9 of 22.

    Liberty was led in scoring and rebounding by Nathan Day with 19 points and eight rebounds. Chris Caldwell added 12 for the Flames.