Box Score Game box (pdf)
PEORIA, Ill. – The Wofford men’s basketball team rallied late, but was defeated 56-54 by Bradley at Carver Arena on Sunday night. After leading by two at the half, Wofford fell behind by 13 before pulling to within one with under a minute to play but were unable to regain the lead.
Wofford is 2-2 overall, while Bradley is 2-1. The Terriers were led by Junior Salters with 15 points and Noah Dahlman with eleven points and six rebounds. The Braves were led by Taylor Brown with 16 points and Chris Roberts with 13 points and nine rebounds. Wofford was only 33.3% from the floor on the night.
“We were up two at the half and in pretty good shape,” said head coach Mike Young. “We had not played real well in the first half but were right there against a pretty good basketball team. Bradley’s shots were comfortable in the second half and we did not have the shots contested that we needed to. Our match-up zone was effective, but they got a couple down. I thought we were back on our heels a little bit down 13, but battled back and got some shots down finally. If that is our biggest concern offensively, no worries, we are going to be just fine. We just did not do it tonight. We let this one get away from us, and our guys know that.”
The Terriers had an early 5-2 lead, but a 6-0 run by the Braves gave them an 8-5 lead at 14:17 in the first half. Neither team was able to generate much offense over the next seven minutes with the score 14-12 in favor of Wofford. Bradley them went on another 6-0 run to take an 18-14 lead with 4:29 on the clock. With Bradley holding a four-point lead, Jason Dawson and Cameron Rundles hit three pointers to give the Terriers a 22-20 lead at the half.
Early in the second half, the game was tied at 24 each. Bradley then went on an 11-0 run to take a 35-24 lead at the 13:33 mark in the second half. Jamar Diggs ended the run with a three-pointer, but it was matched at the other end by Andrew Warren to keep the lead at 38-27 with 12:09 on the clock.
After building a 13-point lead, Junior Salters hit a basket and a free throw to cut it back to ten points. Noah Dahlman added a bucket to cut it to 42-34 at 9:32, but Bradley hit the next two shots to extend the lead back to twelve. Wofford used two three pointers from Junior Salters and two free throws from Corey Godzinski to cut the lead to 48-44 with 4:13 left in the game. After a steal by Jamar Diggs, he hit two free throws to cut the lead to 48-46 with 3:45 on the clock.
Junior Salters hit a three and made it a one point game at 50-49 at 3:13. Noah Dahlman put back an offensive rebound with 56 seconds on the clock to make it a 54-53 game. Bradley missed a shot and Wofford came up with the defensive rebound, but a turnover by the Terriers ended with a dunk by Bradley’s Andrew Warren with 4.2 seconds left on the clock and a three point lead. With 3.2 on the clock, Bradley fouled Jamar Diggs before he could get a shot off. He hit the first and missed the second, but the Braves got the rebound.
Wofford shot 33.3% from the floor and 25.0% from three, both season lows. The Terriers were 86.7% from the line. The Braves shot 41.7% from the floor and 12.5% from behind the arc. Bradley was 66.7% from the free throw line. Bradley had a 40 to 33 lead on rebounds and each team had twelve turnovers. Wofford has had the lead at halftime in all four games this season and both losses were by a combined five points.
The Terriers will continue the four-game road trip as part of the HoopTV Las Vegas Invitational with a visit to Illinois on Tuesday night that will air on ESPNU. On Friday and Saturday, the Terries will play Southern and Seattle in Las Vegas. Wofford will then play two more road games before hosting Appalachian State at Benjamin Johnson Arena on December 7.
