SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Down by as many as 17 points, the Wofford men's basketball team put together a furious second-half rally that came up short. A potential game-tying 3-pointer rimmed out in the final minute and the Terriers dropped their first ever meeting against Coastal Carolina, 71-63, Monday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena.
 
Coastal Carolina (6-4) shot 85 percent (17-20) in the first half to put Wofford in a hole. The Terriers (3-6) stepped up their defense in the second half, limiting CCU to 33 percent (7-21) and chipped away at the lead to make it a one possession game.
 
Fletcher Magee had what was Wofford's only look at a tie all game. The freshman came off a screen and pulled the trigger from the right wing, but it did not go down. Coastal grabbed the board and hit 5-of-6 free throws in the final minute to cement the victory.
 
"I told our team to never let somebody tell you that [Coastal Carolina] couldn't miss a shot, or that they were just unconscious shooting the ball," said Wofford head coach Mike Young. "We had to play a lot better than we did defensively. We'll go back and look at it on film, but that was not a lot of fun to see."
 
Coastal Carolina jumped out to a 13-2 lead and never trailed. The Chanticleers hit all five of their first-half 3-pointers and, at one point, connected on 11 consecutive shot attempts. The only way the Terriers hung around was by forcing 10 turnovers as they went to the locker room down 43-29.
 
Six minutes into the second half, Wofford cut the deficit under 10 on back-to-back triples off the hand of Magee. Later, the Terriers used an 11-2 run to get within a bucket, 58-55, with 4:56 still to play.
 
"We were quicker to the ball. We were aggressive," said Young on Wofford's second-half defense. "If you've got anything in you, you're going to fight and swing and make a game of it."
 
After Coastal Carolina built the lead back to as many as nine, senior Spencer Collins stepped up with a big play. Justin Gordon missed a pair at the foul line, but Collins was there, grabbed the offensive board, scored and was fouled, converting a 3-point play to get the Terriers back within five. Two possessions later, he was fouled again and brought Wofford back within three with 1:29 on the clock.
 
The Terriers forced an offensive foul to get the ball back with just over a minute remaining. However, Magee, who ended the night with 14 points, couldn't get the shot that would have tied it up to go down.
 
Three Terriers scored in double figures. Along with Magee's 14, Collins had 10 and junior point guard Eric Garcia had a season-high 18 – one point shy of his career high. Garcia was also a perfect 10-for-10 at the charity stripe.
 
"He's going to play his tail off every time out. He's terrific," added Young on the play of Garcia. "You know what you're going to get from him. He's going to lace 'em up and lay it all on the line. Whether he scores 18 or five, he's going to give you everything he's got."
 
Coastal Carolina had four in double figures. Shivaughn Wiggins led the way with 14, followed by Badou Diagne with 13. Diagne, who averaged a team-leading 7.3 rebounds heading in to the night, came up with seven boards. Tristian Curtis had 10 points and eight rebounds and Colton Ray-St Cyr added eight more boards, leading to a 35-25 advantage on the glass.
 
Senior C.J. Neumann led Wofford's effort on the glass with eight, six of which came in the second half.
 
Wofford heads to Nashville to take on No. 23 Vanderbilt on Saturday. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m., local time, 8 p.m. ET, at historic Memorial Gymnasium.

Terrier Notes:
- Eric Garcia scored a season-high 18 points. It was one point away from his career-high 19, which he scored against The Citadel in the 2014 Southern Conference Tournament.
- Garcia went 10-for-10 at the foul line. He is the first Terrier to hit at least 10 free throws without a miss in a single game since Jamar Diggs went 10-for-10 against Western Carolina in the 2010 Southern Conference semifinals.
- Fletcher Magee missed his first free throw of the season after sinking his first 18 to begin his collegiate career.
- It was the first game played between the two programs.