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SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford men’s basketball team claimed the regular season Southern Conference championship with a 74-68 win over College of Charleston on Thursday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena. In front of a sold-out crowd, the Terriers used a 14-0 run to take the lead in the first half and held on for the win.

Wofford has won nine in a row and is 22-8 on the season and 14-3 in the SoCon. College of Charleston is 19-10 overall and 13-4 in the conference. With the win, the Terriers have claimed the #1 seed in the South Division in the upcoming Southern Conference Tournament. In addition, Wofford has claimed the conference’s automatic bid to the NIT Tournament if they do not reach the NCAA Tournament as the regular season champion.

The Terriers were led by Noah Dahlman with 20 points and Tim Johnson with 15 rebounds. Jamar Diggs added 19 points and Cameron Rundles had 15 points for Wofford. The Cougars leading scorer was Andrew Goudelock with 24 points and Jeremy Simmons had ten rebounds.

“It was a great win and they can’t take that away from us,” said head coach Mike Young. “It assures us postseason play with this win. That is huge. We get to keep this bunch together no matter the outcome next week. This team has set its sights on big things. We have a big one on Saturday against The Citadel, but we are going to go up to Charlotte with a fine basketball team. We are in pretty good shape.”

The Terriers scored the first five points of the game, but the Cougars responded and took an 8-7 lead at the 16:48 mark. A jumper by Andrew Goudelock at 14:18 gave the College of Charleston a 12-8 lead. Donavan Monroe gave the Cougars their largest lead of the night at 17-11 with 11:20 remaining in the first half. Wofford quickly cut the lead in half with a three by Jamar Diggs.

After Wofford tied the game at 21 with a lay-up by Noah Dahlman, Andrew Goudelock added a three for a 24-21 lead. After College of Charleston took a 26-22 lead with 5:17 left in the half, Wofford began a 14-0 run with a bucket from Terry Martin. Five different Terriers scored during the run, which included threes from Cameron Rundles and Corey Godzinski. The Wofford defense did not allow a basket for over five minutes during the run. The Cougars hit a bucket with one second left in the half to make it a 36-28 score at the break.

To open the second half, the Cougars scored the first five points and a three by Tony White, Jr. made is a 36-33 game. Wofford answered with two dunks by Tim Johnson and a lay-up by Noah Dahlman to push the lead back to 42-33 with 15:43 left on the clock. After College of Charleston cut the lead to nine at 46-37, Wofford scored the next seven points and had a 53-37 lead after a three by Junior Salters at 9:01.

The Cougars answered with a 7-0 run to make it a nine-point game at 53-44 with seven minutes on the clock, but a three by Cameron Rundles at 4:41 gave the Terriers a 60-48 lead. Andrew Goudelock hit a three with a free throw for a four-point play to make it an eight-point game. Brad Loesing hit two key free throws at 1:25, followed by two free throws by Jamar Diggs with just 41 seconds left to take a 70-58 lead.

However, the Cougars would use a three by Andrew Goudelock to make it a 71-63 game with 31 seconds remaining. Wofford missed three-of-four free throw attempts and College of Charleston added a bucket for a 72-65 score with 20 seconds on the clock. Cameron Rundles hit two free throws with 12 seconds remaining to seal the win before Ton y White, Jr. hit a three at the buzzer for the 74-68 final score.

Wofford shot 44.4% from the floor and were 42.1% from three. From the free throw line, the Terriers were 58.1%. College of Charleston was 39.4% overall and were 30.8% from behind the arc. They were 61.5% from the line. Wofford had a 44-35 lead on the boards.

Noah Dahlman scored in double-figures for the 30th time this season and has a streak of 43 games with ten or more points. Jamar Diggs’ 19 points ties his Wofford career high.

With the victory, the Terriers have 22 wins on the season which is the most since moving to NCAA Division I. It marks only the eighth 20-win season in school history and the first since the 1993-94 season. Wofford has won 15 of their last 16 games. It is the second regular season title for Wofford this season, as the men’s soccer team won the championship this past fall.

The Terriers will play the final home game of the season against The Citadel on Saturday at 7:00 pm.