Winthrop Holds Off Gardner-Webb, 60-55, Wednesday
February 18, 2009 | Men's Basketball
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – Gardner-Webb lost its fourth game
in a row Wednesday, falling 60-55 at home to Winthrop in a Big
South Conference matchup.
The Runnin' Bulldogs (11-15, 7-9 Big South) have fallen from third
place into seventh during their recent dive in the standings, which
has seen the team lose five of its last six games in league play.
The ‘Dogs also fell to 2-5 this season at home in league
play.
Winthrop (8-18, 7-9 Big South) gritted its teeth on defense early,
and led 29-19 at halftime after limiting GWU to just eight first
half field goals and swatting away eight shots in the period.
GWU fell behind by 13 early in the second half before making its
move. A 12-2 run pulled the ‘Dogs to within 37-36 on a layup
by Joshua Henley with 9:28 to play and – after Winthrop worked
its margin back to four points – Gardner-Webb got a
three-point play from Henley and three free throws from Nate Blank
to go up 42-40 with 6:08 left.
Grayson Flittner nailed a three-pointer at the 5:35 mark to put GWU
up 45-40, but Winthrop went on a 12-1 run of its own to go up 52-46
with 2:07 to go on a dunk by Byron Faison. The lead would grow to
five for the Eagles, but Gardner-Webb got back within one point
with 17.7 seconds on a Flittner three from the corner.
Justin Burton made both free throws on his next trip to the foul
stripe, however, for a 58-55 lead and – after a Bulldog
timeout, George Valentine stole a pass up top to prevent the tying
shot from ever being taken. Valentine then hit Burton for a layup
for the final margin with three seconds left and Mantoris Robinson
capped a fine individual effort by stealing the inbounds pass and
dribbling out the clock.
Gardner-Webb suffered through its second icy shooting night in a
row, hitting just 30.2 percent for the game (19-of-63) and only
4-of-21 from long range. Flittner missed his first five shots
before finishing 3-of-11 for nine points, and point guard Aaron
Linn had trouble getting several open jump shots to fall en route
to a 1-for-14 shooting performance himself.
Henley finished with a team-high 13 points and 16 rebounds to pace
Gardner-Webb, and established a new Big South Conference freshman
season record with his rebounding performance. The Madison, Tenn.,
native passed Campbell's Joe Spinks (1990-91), who had 262 rebounds
during his rookie year. Henley now has 265 on the season, and is
averaging a nation-leading 10.2 boards per game among NCAA
freshmen.
Auryn MacMillan added 13 points and Nate Blank added 10 off the
bench for GWU. Linn had just four points, but pulled down a
season-high 10 rebounds.
Burton netted 16 points to lead all scorers, as Winthrop shot a
respectable 42.1 percent from the floor (24-of-57). Valentine
scored a career-high 11 points and pulled down eight caroms and
Faison came off the bench to put in 11 points in 22 minutes. Chris
Malcolm swatted five shots in the game for the Eagles.
Gardner-Webb will travel to face James Madison on Saturday,
February 21, at 7 pm ET as part of the ESPNU BracketBusters
weekend. Winthrop will host Appalachian State Saturday in
conjunction with the same event.
