Box Score WOF-ASU box score (pdf)
BOONE, N.C. – The Wofford College men’s basketball team defeated Appalachian State 74-68 on Thursday night at the Holmes Center. The Terriers had a 16-point lead, but a 13-0 run by the Mountaineers erased the advantage late in the second half. Key free throw shooting down the stretch secured the win.
Wofford is 9-9 overall and 5-4 in the conference, while Appalachian State is 7-11 overall and 4-6 in the SoCon. The Terriers were led by Noah Dahlman with 23 points and eight rebounds, while Junior Salters added 21 points and Tim Johnson had ten points and eight rebounds. Donald Sims led Appalachian State with 19 points, including five three-pointers.
“Just another night in the Southern Conference,” said head coach Mike Young. “The outplayed us back at our place in December. We thought coming up that we were a better team at this point than we were then, but Appalachian State has made progress also. We just made a few more plays than they did on this particular night. I thought we had really good play from Johnson and Dahlman and Salters was terrific with a couple of huge shots. It was a good night for the Terriers.”
The Mountaineers scored the first seven points of the game and were up 12-6 at the 14:21 mark. Back-to-back threes from Junior Salters tied the game at 14-14 with 12:12 in the first half. The Terriers were able to take their first lead of the night after two free throws by Noah Dahlman at 10:03 for an 18-17 advantage.
Wofford took a 28-23 lead after a jumper from Terry Martin with 4:48 remaining in the first half. The Terriers kept putting the ball in the paint and added to the lead for a 36-28 advantage at the break. Wofford shot 53.8% for the first half and Noah Dahlman had 15 points.
In the second half, the Terriers scored the first four points to go up 40-28. The Wofford lead extended to sixteen points before a brief Mountaineer run cut it to 54-38 with 13:35 on the clock. Appalachian State then used back-to-back threes from Donald Sims to cut the lead to 56-51 with 10:08 left in the second half. The run continued for the Mountaineers as they tied the game at 56-56 at 8:32. Wofford ended the 13-0 run with a basket from Tim Johnson.
The score was tied at 58 and 60 before the Mountaineers took the lead at 62-61 with 5:23 left in the half. Wofford responded with baskets from Brad Loesing and Junior Salters to regain a four-point lead at 65-61. After Junior Salters hit a three, the Mountaineers answered with a three from Donald Sims for a 68-65 score with 2:04 in the half. Two free throws from Salters pushed the lead back to five points with 38 seconds left, but Donald Sims hit another three to make it a 70-68 game. Wofford was 4-of-4 from the line by Kevin Giltner and Junior Salters in the final 21 seconds to secure the 74-68 win.
Wofford shot 50.0% from the floor for the second-straight game and 46.2% from three. The Terriers were 73.7% from the line. The Mountaineers shot 41.5% from the floor and 45.0% from behind the arc. Appalachian State was 55.6% from the free throw line. Wofford was outrebounded 38-33, but forced 14 turnovers.
Wofford was without guard Corey Godzinski, who will miss approximately four weeks due to a broken hand. The Terriers ended a streak of five-straight wins by the Mountaineers and won in Boone for the first time since Feb. 2, 2006.
The Terriers wrap up the road trip at Western Carolina on Saturday at 7:00 pm before returning home on February 5 to host Chattanooga in a game to be televised by SportSouth.
