ROCK HILL, S.C. – The top of the Big South standings just got a bit more crowded.
 
Big South Preseason Player of the Year Keon Johnson went off for 20 points, six rebounds and four assists to lead preseason favorite Winthrop (11-4, 3-1 Big South) to an 83-65 win over first-place Longwood, handing the Lancers their first Big South loss and joining them in a five-team tie for the top spot in the conference.
 
Predicted to win the Big South in the preseason poll voted on by the league's coaches and media, Winthrop showcased its firepower and depth Saturday at home in Winthrop Coliseum, pulling away with a 49-point second half to snap Longwood's program-record three-game Big South winning streak.
 
All-Big South swingman Xavier Cooks complemented Johnson's production with 13 points and 11 rebounds, Roderick Perkins added 13 points, and Winthrop's bench outscored Longwood's 33-9.

"Our depth played a huge part," said Longwood head coach Jayson Gee, whose injury-decimated roster is down to just eight scholarship players, seven of whom played 20-plus minutes Saturday.
 
Longwood got 14 points from leading scorer Khris Lane, 12 each from Darrion Allen and JaShaun Smith and 11 from Isaac Belton. However, those four double-figure scorers did little to match a Winthrop team averaging a conference-best 78.8 points per game and holding opponents to a conference-low .413 shooting from the field.
 
"We were unselfish and we made some good decisions, but again, we just didn't have enough," Gee said. "Give Winthrop credit – this is the number one defense in the league, and we came out and shot 45 percent. We'll take that. We held them to 41 percent, we'll definitely take that. But those threes in the second half just really buried us."
 
Longwood (6-9, 3-1 Big South) entered the game in sole possession of first place in the Big South as the conference's lone remaining unbeaten team but could not keep up with a Winthrop squad that deployed 14 players and got off 77 field goal attempts, the second most by a Big South team this season.
 
Johnson took a team-high 16 of those shots, turning the high-volume night into his ninth 20-point game of the season. Cooks, meanwhile, hit just 5-of-14 shots but dished four assists and controlled the boards en route to his fourth double-double of the season.
 
"They're special players," Gee said of Johnson and Cooks, who form the top scoring duo in the Big South. "Johnson scored 20, but I thought we made him earn them. I thought Cooks just hit some timely shots. He had a double-double, and we didn't have an answer for him. We have to figure out a matchup. I thought Belton at times did a good job on him, but we have to find matchup on [Cooks] that can get him slowed down and get him stopped."
 
The Eagles leaned on that duo to run the floor from the opening whistle, overcoming an early 9-4 deficit with an 18-4 run during which six different players scored. Cooks sparked that charge with a pair of free throws and ended it with a jumper en route to a first half in which he scored nine points and Winthrop got off 39 shots in just 20 minutes of play.
 
Winthrop went on to string together a 14-4 rally early in the second half, expanding the lead to as many as 28 points before the Lancers whittled the lead back to under 20 by closing out the game with a 13-6 run of their own.
 
"At the end of the day, I thought our effort today was good," Gee said. "We fought to the end, the guys cheered for each other and we really stayed positive. It's an 18-game schedule, you're playing against the No. 1 team on the road, we just ran out of gas. We just didn't have enough to really combat all the things they did. Those two or three spurts they had, one in the first half and two in the second half, we just didn't have enough to combat that."
 
After opening the season with wins over Campbell, High Point and Presbyterian for Longwood's first 3-0 Big South start in program history, the Lancers will follow the Winthrop loss with another matchup against a Big South frontrunner when they face reigning Big South champion UNC Asheville on the road this Wednesday, Jan. 11.
 
"Another tremendous challenge against another really good team," Gee said. "We have to find some answers between now and then. We're not going to hang our heads, we're going to pick ourselves back up, go back to work Monday and Tuesday and get better and go back at it."
 
#GoWood