Box Score Game Book (pdf)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Wofford men’s basketball team defeated UNC Greensboro 59-47 on Saturday at Bojangles Coliseum in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Southern Conference Tournament. With the win, the Terriers advance to the semifinals on Sunday against Western Carolina.
Wofford has won eleven in a row and is 24-8 on the season and 15-3 in the SoCon. UNC Greensboro ends their season 8-23 overall and 6-12 in the conference
The Terriers were led by Noah Dahlman with 13 points, Junior Salters and Jamar Diggs with twelve points each and Brad Loesing with ten points. Tim Johnson had seven rebounds. The Spartans were led by Ben Stywall with 18 points and eleven rebounds, while Kyle Randall added ten points.
“We were not great but as I was telling our guys the only thing that mattered to me walking in today was winning the game,” said head coach Mike Young. “We did that and Junior Salters and Noah Dahlman had a lot to do with that. Junior’s three at a critical juncture was a big shot for us. We are excited to be in the semifinals and play a very good Western Carolina team tomorrow.”
The Terriers scored first, but after a three by Kendall Toney the Spartans had a 9-4 lead at 16:55. Wofford answered with a three by Jamar Diggs and another three by Diggs tied the game at 12 with 14:09 on the clock. Wofford continued the 9-0 run with buckets by Kevin Giltner, Corey Godzinski and Diggs for an 18-12 lead with 11:29 in the first half.
Wofford made it an 11-0 run and a 20-12 lead after a bucket by Noah Dahlman. The Spartans ended the run with a basket by Kyle Randall, but the Terriers responded with a three by Brad Loesing to take a 23-14 lead with 7:38 on the clock. Four minutes later, Wofford had only added a bucket by Noah Dahlman but held a 25-14 advantage. The Spartans outscored the Terriers 8-3 over the final three minutes for a 28-22 score at the half.
To open the second half, the Terriers scored the first six points and forced the Spartans to call a time out just 1:35 into play after Wofford took a 34-22 lead. Junior Salters added a three to make it a 9-0 run and a 37-22 lead before Ben Stywall scored five straight for the Spartans for a 37-27 score. Noah Dahlman added a lay-up and free throw to push the lead back to 40-27 and another bucket and free throw by Terry Martin gave Wofford their largest lead of the game at 43-27 with 13:53 on the clock.
The Spartans used a 10-3 run over the next four minutes to get the lead down to nine points at 46-37. After the Spartans cut the lead to seven at 48-41, Wofford ended a four-minute scoreless span with a huge three by Junior Salters to make it a ten point game with 4:57 left in the second half. The Spartans got the lead down to seven points again with 3:44 on the clock, but Junior Salters put back in a missed shot by Tim Johnson and a quick lay-up and free throw by Brad Loesing made it a 57-45 game at the two minute mark. Wofford struggled at the line in the final minute, but secured the 59-47 win to win.
Wofford shot 51.2% from the floor and were 41.7% from three. From the free throw line, the Terriers were only 57.1%. UNC Greensboro was 32.7% overall and were 8.3% from behind the arc. They were 87.5% from the line. Wofford was out-rebounded 36-26, just the seventh time this season the Terriers have been out-rebounded.
Noah Dahlman scored in double-figures for the 32nd time this season and has a streak of 45 games with ten or more points. With the victory, the Terriers have 24 wins on the season tied with the 1963-64 season when Wofford also had 24 victories. The team advances to the SoCon semifinals for just the second time in school history (2000).
The Terriers will next play on Sunday, March 7 at 6:00 pm in the semifinals of the Southern Conference Tournament against Western Carolina, who defeated Elon 68-57 in the first game of the day. The game will air on SportSouth and be played at Time Warner Cable Arena.
