The Presbyterian College men's basketball team fell to Winthrop in the regular season finale, 53-80. The Blue Hose were led by Jordan Downing's 15 points, while Will Truss chipped in ten points and DeSean Murray grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds, which tied the career record he set against Winthrop earlier this season. PC falls to 10-21 overall and 6-12 in the Big South, and secures the #8 seed in the conference tournament. The Blue Hose will play #9 Longwood on Wednesday, March 4 at 12 pm.
Winthrop recorded four players in double-digits, with Keon Johnson leading the way with his game-high 21 points. The Eagles improve to 17-12, 12-6 BSC and secured a first-round bye for the conference tournament next week in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
The Eagles put the first points on the board with a layup in the first minute of the game, but Markus Terry gave PC the early lead with a trey at 18:40. Both teams traded points over the next minute and a half until a three pointer by the Eagles gave the home team a 9-7 advantage with 15:59 left in the first half. Winthrop used a small 4-0 run to lead by six points, but Ruben Arroyo-Felix stopped the run with a jumper at 13:01 to bring the score to 13-9 in favor of Winthrop.
The Eagles answered with a 10-2 run to open their lead to 12 points, 23-11 with 9:14 left in the first half. PC responded with a 4-0 run of its own thanks to back-to-back baskets from Downing and Ed Drew, but Winthrop used two free throws at 6:58 to maintain their ten point advantage. Downing came alive and scored six straight points to pull PC back within six points, 21-27, but Winthrop pushed back for five straight points and led 32-21 with 4:30 left in the first half. The Eagles went on to lead by 14 points after a three pointer in the final seconds, taking a 38-24 lead into the locker rooms at half time.
DeSean Murray scored the first points of the second half for PC, but Winthrop answered with a layup at 18:50 to maintain its 14 point lead, 40-26. The Blue Hose chipped away at the advantage, however, using a trey from Downing and three straight points from Truss to trail by nine, 34-43 with just under 16 minutes in the game.
After a dunk for the home team, Terry hit his second three pointer to bring PC within eight, but the Blue Hose would not come any closer as the Eagles responded with a 9-0 run to push their lead back out to 17 points, 54-37 with 11:29 left. Truss hit a pair of free throws at 10:54, and after a strong possession with two PC offensive rebounds, Truss found the basket on a tip in to bring the score to 56-41 in favor of Winthrop.
PC struggled to score over the next couple minutes, and the Eagles pushed ahead by as many as 23 points before two free throw by Truss at the 6:46 mark broke the scoring drought for PC. Murray made the score 67-45 with his jumper a minute later, but Winthrop remained in control, leading by as many as 28 points on their way to the 80-53 win.
