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SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Noah Dahlman poured in 34 points as the Wofford men’s basketball team defeated Western Carolina 75-66 on Saturday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena. The Terriers used an 18-2 run in the first half to take the lead and the Catamounts could not recover.
Wofford is 12-10 on the season and 9-2 in the Southern Conference and Western Carolina is 9-13 overall and 5-5 in SoCon play. With the win, Wofford moves into first place in the SoCon South Division, a half-game ahead of the College of Charleston. The Terriers were led by Noah Dahlman with 34 points on 15-of-17 shooting. Cameron Rundles added 19 points and Tim Johnson led all players with seven rebounds. The Catamounts were led by Trey Sumler with 16 points and Harouna Mutombo with 15 points.
“Noah Dahlman played a great game and his team mates did a great job of getting him the ball,” said Wofford head coach Mike Young. “It wasn’t pretty, but last time I looked as we approach February getting out of here with a win is the most important thing. We were ready to go but did not play particularly well. You are going to have nights like that during the season.”
The Terriers scored the first four points, but the Catamounts took an 8-7 lead four minutes in to the game. The score was tied at twelve points when Wofford went on a 10-0 run to take a 22-12 lead. After a jumper by Western Carolina at 11:36, the Terriers stretched the run to 18-2 for a 30-14 lead with 9:26 left in the first half.
Western Carolina was able to answer with an 11-2 run to cut the lead to 32-25 with 6:29 on the clock. The Wofford lead was at eleven points with 3:21 left in the half and at the break the score was 40-30 in favor of the Terriers.
In the second half Wofford was able to push the lead to 47-34 with 16:23 on the clock. The Catamounts cut the lead to nine, but after a lay-up by Kevin Giltner with 13:19 remaining the lead was 51-39. With six minutes left, Western Carolina was able to chip away and make it a six-point game. Eventually the Catamounts would cut the lead to four points at 59-55 with five minutes left. Wofford scored two quick buckets to push the advantage back to eight points.
With just over a minute remaining, Cameron Rundles hit a lay-up, which was followed by a steal by Jamar Diggs who added two points for a 68-57 lead. After a three by the Catamounts, Brad Loesing hit two free throws for a 72-60 score with 44 seconds remaining. The Terriers struggled from the free throw line in the final 35 seconds, going 3-6, but were able to come away with a 75-66 win.
Wofford shot 57.7% from the floor and was 25.0% from three. From the free throw line, the Terriers were a season-low 52.2%. Western Carolina was 46.4% overall and was 15.4% from behind the arc. They were 60.0% from the line. Wofford had a 33-32 lead on the boards and had 19 assists in the game. Jamar Diggs set a new career-high with four blocks on the night and Brad Loesing tied his career-best with eight assists.
Next up for the Terriers will be a trip to the College of Charleston on Thursday, February 3. The 7:00 p.m. game will be televised nationally on ESPNU and will feature the top two teams in the Southern Conference South Division. On Saturday, Wofford will be at The Citadel at 7:00 p.m. The next home game will be on February 9 at 7:00 p.m. against Davidson.
