Play-In Game: Arkansas-Pine Bluff Rolls Winthrop, Gets Chance To Lose To Duke

Dayton, OH (Sports Network) - Allen Smith scored a team-high 14 points and grabbed six rebounds, leading Arkansas-Pine Bluff to a convincing 61-44 win over Winthrop in the opening-round contest of the 2010 NCAA Tournament.

The win earned the Golden Lions (18-15) the No. 16 seed in the South Region and the right to play No. 1 seed and ACC champion Duke in Jacksonville on Friday in the first round of the Big Dance.

The winner of this clash will become the South Region’s 16th-seed and take on top-seeded Duke in the first round.

Winthrop, which is 19-13 overall, won its ninth Big South Conference championship in the past 12 years with an 11-point victory over Coastal Carolina in the league’s title game. The Eagles are winners of 14 of their last 18 outings and are making their fifth trip to the “Big Dance” in the last six years. They have made eight NCAA Tournament appearances in all, and their only victory came during the 2007 event over Notre Dame.