Box Score Game Box (pdf)
ROCK HILL, S.C. – On Saturday afternoon, the Wofford men's basketball team survived a late Winthrop rally for a 62-56 win at Winthrop Coliseum. The Terriers used an 11-0 run in the first half, along with holding the Eagles without a field goal for twelve minutes, to build a 15 point lead at the break. Wofford led by twenty points with four minutes left before Winthrop went on a 19-5 run to close the game.
Wofford is 4-7 on the season and Winthrop is 6-4 overall. The Terriers were led by Lee Skinner with 13 points and 10 rebounds for the first double-double of the season. Spencer Collins had 19 points and Karl Cochran added 13 points. Keon Johnson led the Eagles with 18 points, all in the second half.
"The last few minutes were a tad long but I always thought we were okay," said head coach Mike Young. "They had nothing to lose so in the last five minutes Coach Kelsey put in some guys he knew would play hard. We did not handle some things well, but we are getting better. We played a good basketball game against a pretty good Winthrop team and I am excited to get out of here with a win before the break. We will enjoy our families for a couple days and get away and catch our breath. We will come back the 26th excited with one more game against High Point before league play begins on the 2nd."
The Terriers scored first and after a three pointer by Karl Cochran at the 16:12 mark had a 7-2 advantage. Buckets by Lee Skinner and Karl Cochran pushed it to 12-4 with 14:19 on the clock. The Eagles scored the next four points, but a lay-up and free throw by Justin Gordon and lay-up by Spencer Collins made it 17-8 two minutes later.
A pair of free throws by Lee Skinner and a long jumper by Karl Cochran gave the Terriers a 21-8 lead at the 7:57 mark. Wofford's 11-0 run ended with a free throw by the Eagles. A lay-up by Karl Cochran with 4:41 on the clock made it a 25-11 game. Back-to-back buckets by Eric Garcia pushed the score to 29-11 a minute later and the Eagles called their second time out of the half. After two free throws by Winthrop, Wofford answered with a jumper from Spencer Collins. Winthrop scored the final points of the half on a dunk for a 32-17 margin at the break.
To start the second half, Winthrop hit a three pointer to make it a 32-20 score. Spencer Collins was fouled on a three and made all three for a 35-20 game after two minutes of play. The Eagles cut the lead to 37-27 with a three pointer at the 15:19 mark. Wofford scored the next eight points for a 45-27 advantage with 12:45 left in the half. Spencer Collins hit a three from the near corner with 9:35 on the clock for a 48-29 lead.
The Eagles answered with back-to-back three pointers by Keon Johnson to make it a 49-35 game with 7:35 remaining. Lee Skinner hit a fade away jumper to end the run and Spencer Collins added two free throws for a 53-35 score at the six minute mark. A lay-up by Justin Gordon gave the Terriers a 20-point lead with 4:13 left in the game. Winthrop went on a 14-0 run to make it a 57-51 game with 34 seconds remaining. Wofford ended the run with a free throw by Spencer Collins, but Keon Johnson hit his fourth three pointer of the second half to make it a 58-54 score with 16 seconds left. Lee Skinner made four free throws in the final seconds to secure the 62-56 victory.
Wofford shot 37.5% from the floor while Winthrop shot 36.2% overall. The Terriers were 2-of-15 from with three, while the Eagles were 7-of-19 from behind the arc. Winthrop was 15-of-21 from the line while Wofford was 18-of-27 on free throws. Wofford had a 38 to 33 lead on the glass and forced 22 turnovers.
After an eight-day break for Christmas, the Terriers return home on December 30 against High Point at 7:00 p.m. before beginning Southern Conference play. Buy a ticket for the High Point game for only $1.00! Simply log onto woffordterriers.com (or for the direct link, click here) and enter the Special Promo Code: SOCIAL. From there, general admission tickets are discounted to just $1.00 each.
