ROCK HILL, S.C. – Xavier Cooks tallied 27 points and 10 rebounds, and Joshua Davenport blocked an Ike Smith jumper as the final horn sounded to lift Winthrop to an 86-84 non-conference men's basketball victory over Georgia Southern Tuesday afternoon in the Winthrop Coliseum.

Georgia Southern had the ball trailing by two points after Davenport missed a free throw with 27 seconds left. Mike Hughes' 3-point try from the wing hit the front of the rim and caromed all the way into the backcourt, where Jake Allsmiller retrieved it with 6.9 to go. GS got the ball to Smith on the wing, and the sophomore drew two defenders - one in front of him and one behind him - as he rose up for the last shot. Davenport managed to get a piece of the ball as the final horn sounded to give Winthrop the 86-84 victory.

Smith collected 26 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals to lead Georgia Southern (6-6), and Tookie Brown scored 20. Hughes finished with 17 points, four rebounds and two steals.

Cooks was 8 of 18 from the field and 8 for 10 from the free-throw line for Winthrop (7-3), and Keon Johnson went 8 of 8 from the charity stripe to net 22 points, 17 of which came in the second period. Roderick Perkins chipped in 11 points.

The story
Winthrop outscored Georgia Southern 25-17 from the free throw line for the game and shot 25 free throws in the second half as GS was whistled for 28 fouls in the game and had five players finish the contest with four fouls.

Georgia Southern had the lead for over 26 minutes in the game, and the margin was between 8-10 points most of the time. GS led 62-49 after a Brown layup midway through the second half but was whistled for fouls on the next four defensive possessions as well as two offensive trips. Already in the double bonus, Winthrop took advantage as Johnson knocked six straight free throws and Tevin Prescott nailed two.

The freebies with no time running off the clock keyed a 20-5 run, and the home side took a 69-67 lead on a Davenport jumper with 6:47 to go. Winthrop was ahead 85-81 in the final minute, but Smith stole a pass and Hughes made a 3-pointer with 29.6 to play. GS called timeout to set the defense and fouled Davenport after the inbounds pass. He hit the first and missed the second to set up the game's final frantic seconds.

Georgia Southern held Winthrop to 43 percent shooting for the game, but WU owned a 13-4 edge on the offensive glass to outscore GS 14-4 in second-chance points.

Quotables from head coach Mark Byington
"It's hard. The guys competed, they played really hard, they wanted to win, they prepped right and they were ready to go. Sometimes, when you are playing a good team, that happens. The defense was very good. We had to make some adjustments and the guys did, and I thought we clicked on offense at a pretty good pace. We shot 49 percent and we had a lot of guys step up and make some plays. There was a couple other opportunities around the rim I think at some point we're going to finish, but we did a lot of good things."

"We didn't adjust to the game being officiated differently. In the first half, things that weren't fouls were fouls in the second half, and we didn't adjust to that. So Keon Johnson, who is an unbelievable player, just got rolling at the free-throw line. We had done a great job on him, he was out of rhythm and he got to the free throw line. We just didn't adjust to that so we go from the first half holding them to eight free throws to where they shoot 25 in the second half. We fouled nine times in the first half and get called for 19 in the second half. We didn't adjust so that's what we have to work on and try to get better at." 

"I would have liked to have had one more timeout at the end of the game right there. We got the miss we wanted and we were about to run an action, and they switched up their defense. If I could have stopped it, I would have liked to and run something else. Ike came and got the ball, we fumbled it a little bit but still being down two, I didn't feel like we had to get a three. But when Mike Hughes rose up and shot it, I thought he was going to make it. He was playing great tonight and was in a good rhythm. That shot was good, but I wish we have got something else at the end, so the timeout would have been helpful there."

Next up
Georgia Southern returns home to play Fisk Thursday. Tipoff in Hanner Fieldhouse is set for 4 p.m. in the second end of a doubleheader with the GS women's team. Fans can enjoy photos and candy canes with Santa Claus, participate in an Ugly Sweater Contest, take a jab at the Fruit Cake Eating Contest and enjoy their favorite holiday music. Fans are also asked to bring a new, unwrapped toy to donate to the Toys for Tots Foundation.

Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA. For tickets to Georgia Southern athletics events, visit GSEagles.com/tickets.