The men’s basketball team celebrated senior night in victory as they beat Charleston Southern in double overtime. This was the 15th double overtime game in program history. Senior Adam Pickett hit two free throws with five seconds remaining in to lead the Eagles to an 80-78 win. “After missing the free throws prior to the last minute, it made me pretty nervous to make the last two at the free throw line,” Pickett said. “The atmosphere for senior night was a high level, and the stands looked the fullest that I have seen all season.” Pickett led the team in points with 20 on the scoreboard.
This was the first overtime game of the season for the Eagles and the first double overtime since February of 2017, but was the first win in double overtime since Feb. 18, 2006 when the Eagles defeated Northern Illinois.
Senior Bjorn Broman was named the Comporium Player of the Game. Broman made two back-to-back three pointers for a big lead in overtime. “It was a great atmosphere for all the seniors on the team. The crowd was loud and the game was intense,” Broman said. “It was fun to hit those two threes in the second overtime, but it was a total team effort to get that win. So many guys contributed.” Broman is now 18 points away from becoming the 25th player in program history to score 1,000 career points.
Other seniors, Jermaine Ukaegbu and Austin Awad, made the most of their starts as Ukaegbu grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds and finished with four points while Awad had six points and six rebounds. “Senior night was one that I will never forget. The toughness that my team and I brought at the end of the game was amazing,” Ukaegbu said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to play with incredible men and basketball players. I loved every part of being a Winthrop Eagle due to the students and community. I will forever cherish my time here.”
The Eagles shot 40 percent for the game while the Charleston Southern Bucs were held to 34 percent. Pickett led the Eagles with 20 points, Broman had 15 and junior Josh Ferguson had 14. Overall, there were contributions from several different players on the Winthrop bench.
“It was a great senior night for all of the five seniors. They’ve been a big part of the Winthrop legacy and making Winthrop better as a whole on and off the court,” said sophomore guard Kyle Zunic. “I’m going to miss them a lot because they have taught me so much in my first two years here. The crowd was amazing that afternoon. They were energetic, and it really helped us to get that double overtime win. It was important for our whole team to get that win because we wanted to make sure that their senior night was one to remember.”
Eagles now have 363 three-pointers on the year, which moves the team into third most in a single-season in Big South history and is four away from cracking the Top 20 all-time in NCAA DI history for a single season.
