Box Score Game Book (pdf)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Wofford men’s basketball team used a big comeback in the second half to defeat Samford 59-54 at the Pete Hanna Center on Saturday afternoon. The Terriers were down eight at the half but used strong defense and thirteen second-half points by Junior Salters to secure the victory.
Wofford has won six in a row and is 19-8 on the season and 11-3 in the SoCon. Samford is 10-16 overall and 4-10 in the conference. The Terriers had four players in double-figures, led by Junior Salters with 15, Cameron Rundles with ten and Noah Dahlman with twelve. Tim Johnson had a double-double with 16 rebounds and 13 points. Samford was led by Trey Montgomery with 17 points and Matthew Friday with eight rebounds.
“The great thing about the course of the season is that you find yourself in so many different situations,” said head coach Mike Young. “We were down nine at The Citadel when we played poorly. It did not look good, but we knew we were going to find a way to get back in. We had to hang in there and that is what we did. We came back in the second half. We defended very well with a tremendous amount of effort and enthusiasm and we got another road win and we move along.”
Noah Dahlman scored first for the Terriers, but back-to-back threes enabled the Bulldogs to take a 9-4 lead four minutes into the game. Jason Dawson hit a three to make it a 10-9 game with 14:00 on the clock. Samford then went on an 11-0 run over the next five and a half minutes as they built a 21-11 lead. Noah Dahlman ended the run at 8:27 in the first half.
Five straight points by Tim Johnson cut the Samford lead to 23-16 with just under six minutes to play in the half. The Bulldogs scored seven of the next eight points to push the lead to 30-17. Corey Godzinski hit a three to make it a ten-point game with three minutes on the clock. After two free throws by Trey Montgomery, Wofford used lay-ups by Noah Dahlman and Tim Johnson in the final 40 seconds to make it a 32-24 score at the half. Samford was 4-of-7 from three in the first half as they shot 50% from the floor.
The Terriers opened the second half with a three by Junior Salters and a basket by Tim Johnson to cut the lead to 32-29. Wofford added another three by Salters to make it a 34-32 game at 15:05. Samford scored the next four points before another three by Salters made it 38-35 with eleven minutes remaining.
After the three by Salters, Wofford scored the next six points to make it a 9-0 run and took the lead at 41-38 after two free throws by Salters at 8:50. The Terriers slowly increased the lead to 49-42 after a three by Cameron Rundles with 5:50 on the clock. Another three by Rundles at the three minute mark gave Wofford their largest lead of the game at 53-44.
Samford’s Jeffrey Merritt hit a three with 1:47 left to cut the Wofford lead to 54-49. The Bulldogs cut the lead to 55-51 with 44 seconds on the clock. Kaylin Johnson hit a three for Samford with seven seconds left to make it a 57-54 game. Cameron Rundles made two free throws with four seconds on the clock and the Bulldogs missed a three at the buzzer to make it a 59-54 final score.
Wofford shot 41.3% from the floor and were 35.0% from three. From the free throw line, the Terriers were 56.0%. Samford was 45.2% overall and were 35.3% from behind the arc. They were 66.7% from the line. Wofford had a 33-26 lead on the boards.
The eight-point deficit at the half was the second-largest of the season (nine at The Citadel 1/21). With the victory, the Terriers have 19 wins on the season which is the most since moving to NCAA Division I. Noah Dahlman scored in double-figures for the 27th time this season. Wofford has won twelve of their last thirteen games.
The Terriers continue the four-game road trip at Davidson on Wednesday at 7:00 pm. The next home game is Wednesday, February 25 against the College of Charleston.
