Box Score Wofford-GSU Box Score
SPARTANBURG. S.C. – The Wofford College men’s basketball team was defeated 77-66 by Georgia Southern on Thursday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena. The Terriers were only 2-19 from three on the night and Louis Graham scored 29 for the Eagles.
Wofford is 14-12 overall and 7-9 in SoCon play. Georgia Southern is 18-8 overall and 11-5 in conference play. The Terriers were led by Noah Dahlman with 13 points and Drew Gibson with eleven points. Tyler Whatley had seven rebounds for Wofford. Georgia Southern was led by Louis Graham with 29 points, including 4-of-4 from three. Matthew Fields led the Eagles with nine rebounds.
“The flow was not good on offense for us tonight,” said Wofford head coach Mike Young. “We had some good shots, just did not connect. It was a battle tonight and we did not have the pop to beat a good Georgia Southern team. We played better in the second half, but just could not get the wind under our sails to go out front. We have got to play harder and play better to win on Monday night.”
The Terriers had their biggest lead of the night at 6-2 just 3:45 into the game. Wofford took the lead at 12-9 at 13:34 after two free throws by Tyler Whatley. The Eagles then went on a 9-0 run, which included two three-pointers by Louis Graham, to take an 18-12 lead less than two minutes later.
After cutting the lead to four points at 20-16, Georgia Southern went on an 8-0 run to take their largest lead of the game at 28-16. Three foul shots by Shane Nichols cut the lead to 32-26 with 1:49 left in the half, but the Eagles were able to go into the locker room with a 36-26 lead.
In the second half, the Terriers were able to close within six points on four occasions in the first seven minutes, but the Eagles always answered. Tim Johnson made a lay-up with 12:13 left in the game to make it a 48-43 lead, then the Terriers’ first three-pointer of the game at 11:08 gave the Eagles a 51-46 lead.
With 8:53 left, Noah Dahlman made a lay-up to cut the lead to three points at 53-50, but Louis Graham answered with a three pointer. The Eagles built an eleven-point lead at 5:33. The Terriers continued to battle and got as close as six points with 3:42 on the clock, but a quick 6-0 spurt by the Eagles put the game away for good and a 77-66 final.
Wofford shot 39.0% from the floor and a season-low 10.5% from three. The Terriers were 69.2% from the line. The Eagles were 48.3% from the floor and 40.0% from behind the arc and 56.5% from the free throw line. The rebounds were even at 38.
The Terriers have now dropped their last three conference games and have only their second three-game losing streak of the season. Noah Dahlman fouled out with 1:04 remaining in the game. Marcus Jackson did not dress for the game due to injury.
Shane Nichols reached the 300 career three-point mark with a basket at 11:03 in the second half. He now has 301 career three-pointers. His 231 three-pointers at Wofford have moved him into third place all-time in school history.
The Terriers will face Furman on Monday, February 18 at Timmons Arena before road games at Chattanooga and at Western Carolina. Wofford returns home for the final regular season game on March 1 against The Citadel.
