COLUMBIA, Mo. – Playing in his first collegiate basketball game and on his 19th birthday, freshman Fletcher Magee impressed with a game-high 22 points. However, it was not enough to lift the Wofford men's basketball team to victory, as the Terriers fell in their season opener, 83-74, Friday night at Missouri. The game was Wofford's first of four as part of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic.
 
Magee hit five 3-pointers and finished 6-of-11 from the floor. He connected on his very first attempt just minutes into the game and became the first Terrier to score 20 points off the bench since Cameron Rundles did so in the 2010 SoCon Championship game against Appalachian State.
 
Head coach Mike Young said he was impressed. "He had great poise and took great shots. He's got to do a better job defensively, but I have confidence that he will continue to get better as he goes along."
 
Wofford (0-1) struggled defensively as a whole. The Terriers, who were 19th in the NCAA last season in scoring defense at 59.7 points per game, allowed Mizzou (1-0) to shoot 56 percent on the way to 83 points. Kevin Puryear, also playing in his first collegiate game, scored a team-high 20 points for the Tigers. The freshman hit eight of his 14 shot attempts.
 
"We have buttered our bread on the defensive end and to give up 83 points is unacceptable," added Young, who was on the bench as an assistant coach the last time Wofford visited Mizzou in 1995. "I tip my hat to the Tigers. They were the better team in here tonight."
 
Mizzou outshot Wofford by nearly 20 percent from the field. The Tigers also completed the night with a 37-29 edge in rebounding.
 
The Terriers led 8-2 in the early going until the Tigers went on a 20-2 run to take the lead by 12. Wofford made it as close as a five-point game in the second half and kept the deficit within single digits. One last push in the final few minutes got the Terriers back within six, but Mizzou knocked down its free throws to secure the win.
 
"We could never quite get that one stop or one flurry that would have really made it interesting," Young added.
 
Three other Terriers joined Magee in double figures. Senior Justin Gordon netted a career-high 19 on 6-of-12 shooting and 6-of-8 at the foul line. Gordon also pulled down a team-high six rebounds. Junior point guard Eric Garcia had 14 points and senior Spencer Collins went for 10.
 
For Mizzou, Namon Wright added 18 points to go with Puryear's 20. Wright was 3-of-4 from long range and grabbed a game-high seven rebounds.
 
Following the 20-2 run, Mizzou maintained its double-digit lead most of the first half. Two free throws from Magee capped an 8-2 spurt to get it back within a half-dozen, but the Tigers scored the next seven points to go back up 13. Wofford freshman Matthew Pegram knocked down a pair with 25 seconds left, the first two points of his career, to make it a 10-point game at the half.
 
The Tigers took eight more shots and pulled down six more rebounds through the first 20 minutes. The Terriers did a better job in the second half, taking 32 shots to Mizzou's 19 and holding their own on the glass.
 
Junior Jaylen Allen hit a catch-and-shoot three to make it a five-point game, 47-42, with 13:38 remaining. Wofford stopped Mizzou's next possession and had a chance to make it a one-possession game, but redshirt junior Ryan Sawvell's shot was no good. Wright came down the floor and hit a triple to spread the margin back to eight.
 
Mizzou's lead climbed to as many as 15 with 4:39 to play, 70-55. Wofford came back with one final run, scoring 15 of the next 21 points. Magee's final trey of the night made it 76-70 with 56.8 seconds to play. Wofford fouled and Missouri hit enough free throws to come away with the win.
 
Wofford gets a crack at No. 1 North Carolina in its next game, which takes place Wednesday at the Dean E. Smith Center. The game is part of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic with tip set for 7 p.m.
 
Terrier Notes:
- Magee scored 22 points in his collegiate debut, becoming the first Terrier to score 20 points off the bench since 2010.
- Magee, Pegram, Sawvell and Trevor Stumpe all made their Wofford debuts.
- It was Wofford's first meeting with Mizzou since Nov. 25, 1995, when the Terriers made their Division I debut against the then-15th-ranked Tigers. Wofford falls to 0-2 in the series.
- Gordon scored a career-high 19 points.