Smith scores 23, Winthrop rallies to beat USC Upstate

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) Nych Smith scored 23 points and Winthrop dominated the second half to defeat South Carolina Upstate 82-72 on Saturday.

After trailing by eight at halftime, Winthrop outscored the Spartans 43-25 in the second half. Winthrop first took the second-half lead, 54-53, when Kyle Zunic’s 3-pointer capped a 15-6 run with 14:17 remaining. Later, the Eagles went up 62-61 on a layup by Smith with 8:27 remaining and Winthrop led the rest of the game.

Winthrop, which lost to Longwood on Wednesday, improved to 12-6 overall and at 4-1 in the Big South remains one game behind Radford (5-0).

Adam Pickett scored 16 points and Zunic had 14 for the Eagles.

Deion Holmes made 6-of-9 3-pointers and scored 31 points for Upstate (5-15, 0-5).

Winthrop had a 47-34 rebounding advantage and outshot the Spartans 44 percent to 38 percent. Both teams were 11 of 29 on 3-pointers.