Area college basketball: Winthrop’s Keon Johnson scores 24 against Liberty
Keon Johnson scored 24 points and Winthrop beat Liberty 84-67 on Saturday to join the Flames in a second-place tie in the Big South Conference.
The Eagles (21-6, 13-3) swept the season series from Liberty (18-11, 13-3). The two teams trail UNC Asheville (14-2) with two games remaining.
Anders Broman scored 17 points and Xavier Cooks scored 14 points with 13 rebounds for the Eagles, who shot 50 percent and were 10 of 25 on 3-pointers.
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Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz scored 15 points, Ryan Kemrite 14 and Lovell Cabbil 10 for the Flames, who saw a seven-game winning streak snapped.
Winthrop outscored Liberty 14-2 to open the game and led 43-32 at halftime with Johnson and Broman scoring 11 points each and the Eagles shooting 59 percent.
Winthrop led by double figures the entire second half.
Lincoln Memorial 81, Queens 79: Despite a game-high 24 points from the Royals’ Jalin Alexander, the Railsplitters (22-4, 17-3 South Atlantic Conference) outscored Queens (23-3, 17-3 SAC) by 10 points in the second half to win a battle of nationally ranked Division II rivals.
Shaw 63, Johnson C. Smith 62: Robert Shaw missed a shot at the buzzer for the visiting Golden Bulls (10-16, 6-10 CIAA) in the regular season finale. JCSU will be the No. 5 seed from the South in the CIAA Tournament.
WOMEN
Saint Joseph’s 69, Davidson 54: Despite a 23-point outing from Justine Lyon, the Wildcats (6-21, 4-11 A-10) dropped a 69-54 decision at Saint Joseph’s (14-13, 11-4). Lyon has recorded at least 20 points in five of her last seven games.
Shaw 74, Johnson C. Smith 73: The Golden Bulls (19-7, 12-4 CIAA) were outscored 24-18 in the final quarter at Shaw (11-17, 8-8). Junior forward Blaire Thomas led JCSU with 17 points off the bench.
Gardner-Webb 63, Winthrop 57: Tierra Huntsman scored 15 points to lead a quartet from the host Runnin’ Bulldogs (10-14, 9-5 Big South) in double figures. Winthrop (2-24, 1-13), led by Erica Williams’ game-high 21 points, dropped its seventh straight.
Lincoln Memorial 97, Queens 45: The Royals (4-21, 4-16 South Atlantic) fell behind quickly – 11-2 in the first five minutes – to the host Railsplitters (23-2, 18-2). Queens scored just five points in the second quarter.
This story was originally published February 18, 2017 at 7:16 PM with the headline "Area college basketball: Winthrop’s Keon Johnson scores 24 against Liberty."