Box Score WOF-WCU Box Score
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford College men’s basketball team won it’s third straight game with an 83-73 win over Western Carolina on Saturday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena. Junior Salters led Wofford with a career-high 26 points in the victory.
Wofford is 11-8 overall and 4-5 in SoCon play. Western Carolina is 6-13 on the season and 2-7 in conference play. The Terriers were led by Junior Salters with 26 points and Tim Johnson with a career-high 17 points. Drew Gibson had eight rebounds. For the Catamounts, Brandon Giles had 24 points and six rebounds. Negus McKenna had 19 points as he was a perfect 7-of-7 from the floor, including 5-of-5 from behind the arc.
“I was very disappointed with our lack of energy in the first half,” said Wofford head coach Mike Young. “Western Carolina has very capable players and for them to score 43 points on our defense in the first half was not pleasant. We played a much better second half and Tim Johnson won the game for us. He had a couple of great finishes on stick-backs and played excellent in the post. Junior Salters was outstanding with 26 points and played the way I know he can play.”
The Catamounts scored first, but the Terriers went on a quick 6-0 run to take a 6-2 lead. Western Carolina jumped back out to an 11-7 lead. Matt Estep then scored the next eleven points for the Terriers, which included three three-pointers to retake the lead at 18-14 at the 10:40 mark in the first half.
After a put-back by Tim Johnson for a 20-16 lead for Wofford, Negus McKenna went on a nine-point run with three straight three-pointers to give the Catamounts a 25-20 lead at 8:31. A three-pointer by Junior Salters pulled the Terriers to within one point at 27-26, but another 6-0 run by Western Carolina increased the lead to 33-26 with 5:53 remaining. A long three-pointer by Junior Salters and a couple free throws by Drew Gibson tied the game at 33 with 3:39 left in the half. However, the Catamounts went on a 10-3 run to end the half and took a 43-36 lead at the break.
Early in the second half, the Catamounts were able to keep a comfortable lead and at the 12:53 mark were up eight points at 53-45. Then, Tim Johnson took over for the Terriers and scored eight points in a 12-0 run for Wofford over a four minute span to take a 57-53 lead at 9:12.
At the 5:40 mark, Negus McKenna hit his fifth three-pointer of the game to give the Catamounts a 63-62 lead. The game was tied briefly at 65 each before the Terriers went on an 8-0 run, which included another three-pointer by Junior Salters as Wofford took a 73-65 lead with 2:52 left in the game.
It was a free throw contest for the last two minutes, with Corey Godzinski hitting five-of-six attempts to give Wofford an 80-70 lead with 38 seconds left in the game. Drew Gibson scored the last three points for the Terriers, while Brigham Waginger hit a three pointer with three seconds left for the Catamounts for the 83-73 final score.
The game was the second in a stretch of five conference games in ten days. Shane Nichols (ankle) and Marcus Jackson (shoulder) did not dress for the contest. Wofford has now won three straight conference games, scoring 80+ points in all three games. The Terriers have come from behind at the half in the last two games, making up nine and seven-point deficits, respectively.
Wofford shot 60.0% from the floor and 60.0% from three. The Terriers were 66.7% from the line. The Catamounts were 45.6% from the floor and 52.6% from behind the arc and 73.3% from the free throw line. Wofford had a 31-25 edge on the boards. Jake Robinson fouled out for the Catamounts with 28 seconds left in the game.
Continuing the five games in ten days, Wofford will host College of Charleston on January 28 at 7:00 pm. The College of Charleston game will be broadcast live on CSS. The Terriers will travel to Davidson on Wednesday night.
