Condolences to our neighbors, Winthrop

Winthrop player Adams dies of injuries
Single-car accident on Saturday
GARY McCANN

De'Andre Adams, the fiesty backup point guard for Winthrop’s basketball team, died early today in Atlanta Medical Center from injuries sustained in a Saturday morning single-car accident.

He was 20.

Adams had been in a drug induced coma with swelling of the brain since the accident around 4 a.m. Saturday morning about five minutes from his home in Austell, Ga.

Adams swerved to avoid a tree that had fallen into Clay Road. The car flipped several times before hitting a tree. Adams was wearing his seat belt. It took rescue personnel 45 minutes to cut the top off the car and get him into an ambulance.

He had been holding his own, but took a turn for the worst on Tuesday night. The 5-foot-6, 156-pound Adams would have been a junior this year. In two seasons with the Eagles he had endeared himself to his teammates and fans with his aggressive, energetic play.

Nicknamed “soy sauce” by his teammates because, they said, “he spiced things up” when he came on the floor, Adams played in all of Winthrop’s 65 games the past two seasons and was a key player in the Eagles’ first-ever NCAA Tournament win, a 74-64 victory over Notre Dame in Spokane, Wash. last March.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete.