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SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford College men’s basketball team made senior night memorable with an 80-55 win over Furman on Monday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena. Seniors Marcus Jackson and Matt Estep both hit three pointers in the final 21 seconds in their final home game.
Wofford is 16-13 overall and 12-8 in the conference, while Furman is 6-23 overall and 4-16 in the SoCon. The Terriers were led by Junior Salters with 18 points, Noah Dahlman with 16 points and Tim Johnson with 12 points and eight rebounds. The Paladins were led by Jordan Miller with 14 points, Brandon Sebirumbi with eleven points and Bryson Barnes with ten points and seven rebounds.
“We fell behind ten nothing, but we reshuffled the deck and went from there,” said head coach Mike Young. “When we win, it has really been a team effort and I think we are getting solid play from a lot of guys. To this point of the season, this has been a pretty special group of players. We have a lot of nice pieces in the post and at the perimeter whom share the ball and are selfless on the defensive end. We are through with the regular season and looking forward to heading to Chattanooga and see what happens.”
The Paladins jumped out to a ten point lead three minutes into the game. Wofford responded with a 10-0 run to tie the game with a Noah Dahlman lay-up at the 13:31 mark. Furman then scored the next four points, but were matched by Wofford with two free throws from Terry Martin and a three by Junior Salters for a 15-14 lead with 11:12 left in the first half.
Furman was able to regain the lead and had a five point advantage after a three from Connor Nolte for a 24-19 score at 5:08. Wofford was able to regain the lead at 27-26 following a three from Jason Dawson, but a minute later the Paladins held a 30-27 lead with just 1:44 left in the half. Wofford then went on an 8-0 run to close the first half with all eight points by Junior Salters.
To open the second half, the Terriers gradually pushed the lead to ten points in the first five minutes. Furman would pull within six points at the 13:27 mark, but that was as close as the Paladins would get. A jumper from Brad Loesing gave Wofford a 59-45 lead with 7:57 remaining in the game.
At the four minute mark, Tim Johnson hit a lay-up to give Wofford a 68-51 lead, which extended to 21 points at 75-21 with a bucket from Corey Godzinski. Wofford’s two seniors re-entered the game at the 1:48 mark. After a dunk from Terry Martin, Marcus Jackson hit a three with 21 seconds on the clock for a 77-52 score. Furman answered with a three from Jordan Miller with three seconds left. However the Terriers had one more shot. Brad Loesing passed the ball to Matt Estep, who took a dribble then heaved a shot that went two-thirds of the court and hit nothing but net as the horn sounded for the 80-55 final score.
Wofford shot 48.1% from the floor and 37.5% from three. The Terriers were 78.6% from the line. The Paladins shot 41.7% from the floor and 31.3% from behind the arc. Furman was 66.7% from the free throw line. The Terriers had a 43-24 advantage on the boards and had a 17 assists. Turnovers were a factor, as Wofford had 17 and Furman 19 in the game.
With the win, the Terriers are 12-8 in the conference and have secured the first winning conference record since joining the SoCon in 1997-98. The 12 wins are the most ever for Wofford in the Southern Conference. The 16 overall wins are tied for the most by Wofford in the Division I era. The Terriers swept the season series with Furman for the first time since the 1998-99 season.
The Southern Conference Tournament will begin on Friday, March 6. Wofford will be the #4 seed in the South Division and will play Elon, the #5 seed in the North Division at 7:00 pm at McKenzie Arena in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The winner of the game will face Chattanooga at 7:00 pm on Saturday evening.
