SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Behind 40 minutes of solid defense and senior Lee Skinner's first double-double of the season, the Wofford men's basketball team bounced back to defeat Western Carolina, 62-43, Saturday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena.
 
The Terriers held their counterpart to 28 percent shooting. A seven-point halftime lead ballooned to as many as 21 before it was all said and done. Wofford used a 10-1 run that spanned three minutes to blow the game open and shot 56 percent in the second half.
 
"That's how we're supposed to guard," Wofford head coach Mike Young said. "We haven't been able to sustain that for 40 minutes like we did tonight. We've done it in spurts and for one half but not the other, but to do it for 40 minutes shows the edge that I want this team to show. It's the edge we have to play with moving forward."
 
The win was a nice recovery after Wofford (14-5, 5-1 SoCon) dropped its first SoCon game of the season on Thursday at The Citadel. Meanwhile, Western Carolina (8-11, 3-4 SoCon) has dropped three of its last four league contests.
 
Skinner had a dominating performance inside. The senior out of Lombard, Illinois scored a team-high 13 points and grabbed a season-high 11 rebounds en route to his 18th career double-double. It helped the Terriers collect a season-high 46 rebounds and beat the Catamounts by 13 on the glass.
 
"We were aggressive on defense and let our defense dictate our offense," said Skinner, who scored in double figures for the fourth time in five games. "It's not about individual accolades for us. All 16 guys on this team play for each other and that's what we did tonight."
 
Junior Spencer Collins scored 10 points with a season-high eight rebounds, while also matching his career-high with four assists. Senior Karl Cochran was all over the stat sheet, finishing with nine points, five rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks. Junior C.J. Neumann had another good game as well, going for six boards and six points.
 
For Western, senior James Sinclair scored a game-high 16 points, but the Terriers held him to just 5-of-18 (.278) shooting. Juniors Torrion Brummitt and reigning SoCon Player of the Week Mike Brown had eight points apiece, combining to shoot 6-of-20 (.300).
 
The win improved the Terriers to 8-0 at home for the first time since going 12-0 in the 1991-92 season. It's also Wofford's first 5-1 start in SoCon play since winning the tournament title in 2010-11.
 
Wofford scored the first four points of the night and got the game started on a 10-2 run. The Terriers never trailed and, In fact, haven't trailed Western since the 2:49 mark of last year's regular season meeting, which spans 102 minutes and 49 seconds of game time.
 
Western opened the game 2-of-16 before eventually finding some shots. The Catamounts mounted a 9-2 spurt that got them within a point at the 5:13 mark of the opening half, capped by a triple from Brown.
 
Wofford responded with the next eight to go back in front by nine. Collins and sophomore Jaylen Allen were good from deep with a Skinner layup sandwiched between.
 
It was a 24-17 Terrier lead at the half. Wofford shot 33 percent (11-33), but held the Catamounts to 27 percent (6-22). Skinner had eight and Sinclair had nine to lead all scorers.
 
The second half was all Wofford. Senior John Swinton, making his third consecutive start in the place of injured Eric Garcia, nailed a three to get it started. Baskets by Cochran and junior Justin Gordon followed, putting Wofford in front by 13 and forcing Western head coach Larry Hunter into a quick timeout.
 
The stoppage was briefly effective. WCU stopped the bleeding momentarily with the game's next four points, but back came the Terriers, scoring eight straight to take a 17-point lead, 39-22, with 14:11 to play.
 
Wofford's lead remained in double figures the rest of the night. The Terriers did not quit on either end of the floor and shot 14-of-25 (.560) in the second half to Western's 9-of-32 showing (.281).
 
The Terriers are home for both of their SoCon games next week, beginning Thursday against Furman at 7 p.m. inside Benjamin Johnson Arena.
 
Postgame Notes:
- The win is Wofford's third straight in the series against Western Carolina, and its sixth straight when playing at home.
- Wofford starts 8-0 at home for the first time in 23 years (1991-92).
- The Terriers are 5-1 in the SoCon for the first time since the 2010-11 championship season.
- Collins tied a career-high with four assists.
- Freshman Cameron Jackson made his return after missing the last two games with an ankle injury. He tied his career-high with six points.
- Attendance was 2,012 at Benjamin Johnson Arena.
- Wofford improved to 22-25 in the all-time series against Western Carolina.