Asheville, NC -- (Sports Network) - Michael Jenkins tied a Big South final- record with 33 points and Winthrop punched its fourth consecutive ticket to the NCAA Tournament with a 66-48 victory over UNC-Asheville.

The Eagles (22-11) earned the Big South's automatic bid for the eighth time in 10 seasons, using dribble penetration and a hot shooting game from Jenkins to beat a Bulldog team that won both regular-season meetings by double figures.

"The pressure's been unbelievable," said Winthrop head coach Randy Peele. "For us, what we were focused on was the Big South Tournament. Our goal was to hold UNCA under 40 percent field goal shooting and we were 16-of-20 at the line. That's huge."

Jenkins drained 6-of-9 three-pointers and 11-of-19 overall from the floor. Taj McCullough joined Winthrop's leading scorer in double figures with 14 points.

The Bulldogs (23-9) had lost just twice at the Justice Center this season and beat the Eagles 71-56 in this building on February 2nd. K.J. Garland scored 26 points and Bryan Smithson added 14 points in that victory, but the duo struggled to five and 10 points respectively in this defeat.

Kenny George, who didn't play in the first matchup between the two teams this season but did fit into the equation in the Bulldogs' victory at Winthrop just one week ago, led UNC-Asheville with 13 points and Reid Augst added 12.

"This is very difficult," said Bulldogs head coach Eddie Biedenbach. "We've done a lot of great things this year. I want to congratulate Winthrop and what they did. I felt like we let the game get away from us."

Jenkins almost outscored the Bulldogs in the opening 20 minutes, scoring 12 points as Winthrop held a 22-18 lead. It quickly extended the lead to 33-21 on McCullough's three-pointer with just over 16 minutes to play in the contest.

Andy Buechert's field goal pushed the advantage to 41-26 and Jenkins drained a trey moments later for a 44-28 edge. However, the home-standing Bulldogs slowly chipped away.

Six straight points from George cut the deficit to 44-37, but the Bulldogs missed three straight free throws -- including the front end of a 1-and-1 attempt -- and Jenkins' three-pointer just over two minutes later pushed the edge back to 52-39.

Jenkins' three was part of a game-clinching 14-0 stretch for a 61-39 advantage. Mantoris Robinson's two free throws with just over 2 1/2 minutes to go capped the spurt.

Game Notes

The Bulldogs last won the conference tournament crown in 2003...Winthrop holds a 29-25 edge in the all-time series...The Eagles shot 41.2 percent from the floor and held the Bulldogs to 33.3 percent shooting and a 4-of-21 effort from beyond the arc...Robinson scored six points with 11 rebounds for the Eagles.