WU men’s basketball lords over Queens in Homecoming game

By David Thackham

thackhamd@thejohnsonian.com

Coach Randy Peele asked Winthrop junior forward George Valentine this summer to “step up” after his redshirt season. Valentine easily surpassed everyone’s expectations in Winthrop’s Homecoming matchup against Queens, earning his first career double-double in a 70-61 win over the Royals.

Winthrop easily dominated the opening period of play, going into the half with a 14-point lead. Although Queens came out of the half invigorated, the pressure eventually waned, and the Eagles kept their opponents at arms length to the delight of a particularly vocal home crowd.

“I’m happy with it,” Peele said about the outcome of the game. 

A raucous student section was in full voice for Homecoming Week to support their Eagles as they began the 2010-2011 regular season. Memories from last season’s title-winning triumphs had to have been flowing back as Winthrop shot out of the gates and never looked back.

Justin Burton (10 points/ 2 assts) and Matt Morgan (8 points/ 4 rebounds) broke the ice, taking the Eagles to a 14-10 lead before a stellar defensive span by Winthrop stifled every Royal attack for nearly 4 minutes. The confidence in the backcourt allowed forwards Reggie Middleton and Valentine to rebound hard, accruing 12 unanswered points.

Queens head coach Wes Long admitted, “that stretch of [time] in the first half was the turning point.”

The lead margin never shrunk below eight points after that and Winthrop coasted into the halftime festivities of Homecoming King and Queen.

Although the game’s excitement originated from its end-to-end action, the night was won and lost from the free throw line. Winthrop’s free throw percentage of 12-14 (85.7%) set the tempo during the first period, yet when it dropped to 47.1% in the second half, it was clear that the Eagles were starting to falter.

It didn’t help that Queens were regrouped, refocused and revitalized after the break. The Royals’ defense created havoc for Winthrop in the opening stages, harrying and flocking the ball until Middleton finally broke through to score after 2 minutes 48 seconds of frustration. 

The emotions were beginning to come to light when Matt Morgan got into early foul trouble. The junior center ended up playing only 13 minutes of the contest in an effort to keep him from fouling out prematurely.

 “We almost played today without Morgan,” said Peele, illustrating the impact of the early fouls. “Not having Matt come up was tough, but it’s the stuff we have to work through to get better.”

Meanwhile, emotions of a different kind were plain to see from the performance of George Valentine. Coming off of a tough broken wrist last year, it was hard to imagine the big man from Fayetteville, NC would start out the season with a bang. Yet the center defied the odds, leading his team with 11 total rebounds, shooting 5-10 from the floor and even chipping in from the free throw line to earn 13 points and finally put to rest any fear of a Royal comeback.

“Valentine played tremendous,” Peele gushed afterwards. “He rebounds the ball as well as anybody in our league.”

In the post game press conference, Royals forward Antonio Stabler knew what the final nail in the coffin for the visitors.

“We had a lot of turnovers.”

More accurately, Winthrop took those costly mistakes and converted on them. Queens committed eight turnovers in the 2nd half, stopping any progress the Royals had made early in the half, by handing the momentum back to the Eagles. Seventeen Winthrop points were scored off of turnovers alone.

When the final buzzer blew, Winthrop fans could only be feeling a sense of accomplishment and curiosity coursing through their blood. While pleased to see the win, Eagles fans have more to look forward to with a visit to the NIT Season Tip-Off and an intriguing first game against Virginia Commonwealth University. The game is on November 15, 2010 at 9:30 pm.

The next home fixture includes the Lander Bearcats on November 27, 2010.