Box Score Box Score (pdf)
CHARLESTON, S.C. – To wrap up a three-game road trip, the Wofford men’s basketball team defeated the College of Charleston 68-59 at TD Arena on Saturday afternoon. The Terriers used a 9-0 run early in the first half to build a lead and the Cougars could never get any closer than five points in the second half.
Wofford is now 14-8 on the season after five straight wins and 7-3 in the Southern Conference, while the College of Charleston is 12-9 overall and 4-6 in conference play. The Terriers were led by Brad Loesing with 18 points. Karl Cochran had 15 points and seven rebounds, while Kevin Giltner had 13 points. The Cougars were led by Trent Wiedeman with 18 points and ten rebounds.
“That is a good Charleston team with Coach Byington thrust into a difficult set of circumstances,” said Wofford head coach Mike Young. “You do not understand until you have done this how difficult it is to win when you are healthy as we are right now. To do what the Cougars are doing right now without Willis, Stitt and Baru is very hard. Charleston was very good offensively in the second half and getting shots. That is a reflection of their good offense more so than our defense. We have a really good defensive team, but they carved us up in the second half.
The Cougars opened the game with a three by Nori Johnson, but Wofford scored the next nine points to take a 9-3 lead five minutes into play. Drew Crowell added two buckets for the Terriers as they took a 13-6 advantage at the 12:22 mark. A lay-up by Lee Skinner with eight minutes on the clock pushed the lead to 20-10.
Wofford took a 24-12 lead before the Cougars answered with a three with 5:20 left in the first half. Karl Cochran took a short jumper for a 26-15 advantage at the 2:51 mark. The College of Charleston scored the final two points of the half for a 28-19 Wofford lead at the break. The Terriers were 61.9% from the floor in the first twenty minutes.
The Terriers scored first to open the second half, but the Cougars cut the lead to 32-25 after a three. Wofford answered with a three by Karl Cochran to keep a ten points advantage. Another three by the Cougars made it a 37-30 game after four minutes of play. Kevin Giltner hit a three for a 41-30 lead at 14:20, but College of Charleston hit a three at the other end. Brad Loesing added a three as well for a 44-33 lead with twelve minutes left in the half.
The College of Charleston scored the next three points, but Lee Skinner put a missed shot back and Aerris Smith dunked to push the lead to 48-36 with 8:40 on the clock. The Cougars hit another three, but Brad Loesing answered with a three as well. Seven straight points by the Cougars cut the lead to 51-46 with 4:37 remaining. Kevin Giltner ended the run with a three, but the Nori Johnson hit a three to keep it a five-point game with 3:50 on the clock.
Brad Loesing made a lay-up and a free throw for a 57-49 lead with 3:32 left. Two free throws by Karl Cochran with 1:38 remaining made it a 63-55 contest. A floater by Brad Loesing and a pair of free throws by Kevin Giltner pushed the lead to 67-57 with 29.5 seconds remaining. Brad Loesing added one more free throw for a 68-59 final score.
The Terriers shot 52.9% from the floor for the evening, while the College of Charleston shot 37.9% overall. Wofford finished 6-of-16 from behind the arc. The Cougars went 9-of-28 from three. Wofford was 8-of-11 from the free throw line, while the College of Charleston went 6-of-10 from the charity stripe. The Terriers had a 34 to 29 lead on the glass.
It marked the first win for Wofford at the College of Charleston since 2002 and it is the first win for the Terriers at TD Arena. The game was the first for College of Charleston head coach Mark Byington after Bobby Cremins took a leave of absence on Friday.
Wofford returns home on Monday, January 30 against Western Carolina. The 7:00 p.m. game will be part of a double-header, with the Wofford women starting at 4:00 p.m.
