CHARLESTON, S.C. – Senior C.J. Neumann recorded his first collegiate double-double and the Wofford men's basketball team held off a late rally from The Citadel, 86-83, Thursday night at McAlister Fieldhouse.
 
Wofford's 10-point lead with 1:30 to play was hacked all the way down to three in the final seconds. A shot clock violation gave The Citadel the ball with a chance to tie, but P.J. Boutte's 3-point attempt from the top of the arc that would have sent the game to overtime was well defended and missed badly, as Wofford improved to 4-1 in Southern Conference play.
 
"We just had to survive," said head coach Mike Young, who earned his 224th career coaching victory to move into seventh in Southern Conference history. "We've got a lot of issues to get to, but I told the team in the locker room that the stat sheet doesn't matter to me. The only thing that matters is stacking another win on the left side of the ledger, and that's exactly what we did in here tonight."
 
On a night in which there were 56 fouls called, Wofford (7-10, 4-1 SoCon) survived by doing what they've done all season at the free throw line. The Terriers entered the game as the top team in the SoCon in free throw shooting (75.9 pct.) and they continued to impress by knocking down 24 of 33 (72.7 pct.). It was enough to keep pace with The Citadel (7-10, 0-4 SoCon), which finished at 27 for 34 (79.4 pct.), 17 of which were taken in the final 6 minutes of the game.
 
"It was just another great job by our guys stepping up there confidently and getting the ball in the basket," added Young. "We knew we had to be successful at the line tonight and to make 24 of them was big."
 
Wofford also did a tremendous job on defense. The Bulldogs entered the game with the nation's No. 1 scoring offense at over 90 points and also ranked second nationally in 3-point makes with an average of 12.1. On The Citadel's home floor, the Terriers held the Bulldogs to just 29 points in the first half – The Citadel's lowest first-half output of the season – and also limited the Bulldogs to eight 3-pointers.
 
The other big statistic was rebounding. Wofford collected a season-high 42 boards and outrebounded The Citadel by 19. Neumann's 12 marked a new career-high. The 6-foot-7 senior had nine at halftime, nearly matching The Citadel's team total of 13.
 
Senior Spencer Collins scored a team-high 18 points to lead a group of four Terriers in double figures. He went 7-for-8 at the foul line and 3-for-5 from beyond the arc. Sophomore Eric Garcia scored nine of his 14 points in the second half after being limited in the first half due to foul trouble. Freshman Fletcher Magee also had 14 and Neumann matched his career-high with 12.
 
For The Citadel, graduate student Derrick Henry scored a game-high 20 points. Henry, who entered the game as the second-leading scorer in the SoCon (17.3 ppg), shot 5-of-10 from the floor and was 10-of-11 at the charity stripe. Senior Quinton Marshall went 4-for-5 from long range on his way to 19 points. He also grabbed a team-high six rebounds.
 
Wofford outshot The Citadel 51 percent to 43 percent. The Terriers were also 8-of-18 (44 pct.) from the 3-point line.
 
The Citadel held the lead for all of 32 seconds. It came from scoring the game's first basket before Magee drained a triple to give Wofford the advantage for good. The Terriers jumped ahead 10-4 when Justin Gordon muscled his way through the lane and banked in a jumper. Trevor Stumpe put Wofford in front by eight for the first time, 18-10.
 
Wofford led by as many as nine points on a Collins 3-pointer just 6 seconds before halftime. Tim Broom was able to beat the first-half buzzer with a long triple to make it 35-29 at halftime.
 
After sitting most of the first half with foul trouble, Garcia made an immediate impact to start the second half. He scored five straight with a layup in transition before knocking down a 3-pointer. It was part of a 15-5 run that put the Terriers up 13 and forced an early Bulldog timeout.
 
Wofford took its largest lead of 14 points for the first time on a Collins 3-pointer midway through the period. The Terriers would lead by the same margin with 6:40 to play, 72-58, and maintained a double-digit lead all the way until the game's final two minutes.
 
The Terriers stay on the road for a big early season Southern Conference showdown on Saturday against Mercer (13-4, 3-1 SoCon). Tip is scheduled for 4 p.m., at Hawkins Arena. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Southeast.

Terrier Notes:
- Mike Young earned his 224h career coaching victory, moving him to seventh in Southern Conference history.
- Spencer Collins passed Jim Littlefield for 13th in school history in points scored. Collins now has 1,472 career points.
- CJ Neumann recorded his first collegiate double-double, tying his career-high of 12 points and setting a new career-high with 12 rebounds.
- Collins tied his season-high of six rebounds.
- Wofford improved to 54-47 all-time against The Citadel. Mike Young improved to 22-6 against the Bulldogs.
- The Terriers won their eighth consecutive road game in league play.