SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Winthrop 82,
Little Rock 67
WINTHROP 82, LITTLE ROCK 67
ROCK HILL, S.C. - The Little Rock men's basketball team had a strong showing in the first half Saturday at Winthrop but couldn't keep the momentum in the second half as the Eagles took an 82-67 victory.
Winthrop (2-0) only led Little Rock (1-1) 32-28 at halftime after the Trojans held an eight-point advantage earlier in the first half.
However, the Eagles began the second half with 14-4 run giving them a 46-32 lead with 16:10 left in the game. Winthrop enjoyed its biggest lead of the game (23) at the 11:33 mark. The Trojans briefly trimmed the deficit to 15 with 7:33 left. Jonathan Lawson's layup cut the lead to 13 with just over six minutes to play capping off a 7-0 run. The Winthrop lead dropped to 13 on two other occasions in the second half but never lower.
Lawson led all scorers with 27 points and added 8 rebounds. Jordan Jefferson and Tuongth Gatkek each added 11 points. K.J. Doucet led Winthrop with 17 points.
Things looked good for Little Rock midway through the first half. The Trojans took advantage of the see-saw affair around the eight-minute mark as Lawson made two free throws to put the Trojans up 19-16 and ignited a 7-0 run over the next minute when he added a three-pointer. Ante Beljan capped off the burst with a layup following a steal to put Little Rock up 24-16 with 7:06 to play in the half.
Winthrop responded with a run of its own and took a 26-24 lead on a three-pointer by Doucet with 4:18 left. Creed Williamson's free throw tied the game at 26 with 2:10 remaining. Winthrop then scored on back-to-back possessions and went up 30-26 with just under a minute left in the half. Little Rock's Mwani Wilkinson cut the lead to two with two free throws moments later, but Doucet made it 32-28 with 21 seconds left with a pair of charity tosses, and that's where the score stayed at the intermission.