ROCK HILL, S.C. – The Hampton University men's basketball team held tough on Sunday at Winthrop Arena, but lost a close contest to Winthrop 50-43.

Junior guard Ramon Mercado (Hollywood, Fla.) led the Pirates with 10 points off the bench, hitting three 3-pointers. Redshirt-sophomore forward Emmanuel Okoroba (Garland, Texas) added nine points and a team-high seven rebounds.

The Pirates (2-9) are 0-6 on the road this season.

Winthrop opened the game on a 10-1 run, and the Pirates didn't get their first field goal until freshman guard Ke'Ron Brown (Savannah, Ga.) hit a 3-pointer with 13:52 left in the first half to cut the Eagles' lead to 10-4. Joab Jerome later gave Winthrop at 23-11 lead at the 5:25 mark with a layup.

The Pirates answered with a 10-0 run toward the end of the half, though, cutting Winthrop's lead to 23-21 with 1:04 left after a Mercado 3-pointer. Jerome hit a free throw with 32 seconds left in the half to give the Eagles a 24-21 lead at the break.

Senior guard Jasper Williams (Washington, D.C.) opened the second half with a trey to tie the game at 24-24, but the Eagles answered with a 13-4 run to take a 37-28 lead at the 13:05 mark after a layup from Larry Brown.

Hampton then went on a 14-5 run to take a 43-42 lead after Okoroba hit a jumper with 4:06 left to play.

From there, though, Winthrop closed the game on an 8-0 run, with Derrick Henry hitting a pair of free throws with 32 seconds remaining to push the game to its final margin. The Pirates went 0-for-5 from the floor down the stretch.

The Pirates shot just 23.7 percent (14-for-59) from the floor and hit seven of their 29 3-pointers (24.1 percent). Hampton only turned the ball over seven times.

Winthrop (6-5) shot 33.3 percent (19-for-57) from the floor and made five of its 19 3-pointers. The Eagles also out-rebounded the Pirates 52-38.

Gideon Gamble led Winthrop with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

The Pirates will return to action on Wednesday, when they head to Spartanburg, S.C. to take on USC Upstate at 7:30 p.m. For more information on Hampton University basketball, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.