Copyright Charleston Post and Courier
ROCK HILL — Armed with caffeinated drinks and free biscuits, hundreds of bleary-eyed fans entered the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center to a chorus of dribbling basketballs and booming music. Most of these people normally would have been on their way to work or school to start the week. Instead, they headed toward stadium seating and the tip off to men’s college basketball. Just after 8 a.m. Nov. 3, the early morning entertainment took center court in front of a sold-out crowd. A local rivalry, Winthrop University vs. Queens University of Charlotte, stood alone in an unusual time slot, as the game to start a new season of college hoops. The Field of 68 Media Network tapped the city of Rock Hill as one of two host locations for its six-game, 15-hour marathon of mid-major basketball marking the sport’s annual return. From there, Winthrop, Queens and a crowd of about 1,000 fans delivered the fireworks, shaking off a sluggish start to shine in the national spotlight as nearly 100,000 people watched the game broadcast across the Field of 68’s social media pages. “My phone's blowing up with buddies all across the country going, ‘Are you all really starting college basketball?’ I said, ‘Well, who else would?’" Rock Hill Mayor John Gettys told The Post and Courier. Winthrop outlasted Queens with a final score of 81-74 in a back-and-forth game that saw the lead swing eight times before the Eagles grabbed control late and refused to give it up in the final minutes. “This is just a really unbelievable way to start the college basketball season,” Mark Prosser, head coach of Winthrop men’s basketball, told the media afterward. “An unbelievable way to showcase this facility, the Rock Hill area and certainly Winthrop University.” Visit York County partnered with Field of 68 to make Rock Hill the host for its slate of games in the Eastern Time Zone — Sioux Falls, S.D., also hosted three games on the day. Fans followed, and not just from the Carolinas. The day’s second matchup saw Bradley University play St. Bonaventure University, bringing fans from the Northeast and Midwest to a city many said they had not heard of before it was added to their favorite team’s schedule. Others had this game marked. Abi Westbrook, an 11-year-old, Winthrop basketball superfan, said she’s been waiting all offseason to meet this year’s team, which includes nine new players. She wasn’t going to let a routine day of fifth grade stand in the way. “We love the Eagles and we can't miss the first game of the season, so I kind of forced (my mom) to take me out of school,” Westbrook said. Visit York County partnered with Rock Hill Schools to bus in students who play basketball at local schools for a field trip to the game. Some university professors offered extra credit to students who set their alarms and made the short trek to the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center, a walk that’s closer to campus than the team’s typical home court at the Winthrop Coliseum. “We have to come out and support our students, no matter what time of the day it is,” said Josephine Koster, a faculty member in the school’s College of Arts and Science. Along with hosting elite basketball camps and ESPN: The Ocho events, the Sports and Event Center is home court for a few Winthrop basketball games each season. Starting center Logan Duncomb said he’s played in the building before, but hasn’t seen it quite like it was at 8 a.m.
