SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Facing a nine-point deficit with under 2:15 to play, the Wofford men's basketball team rallied behind senior Spencer Collins to score the final 14 points and defeat Samford, 69-64, Saturday afternoon at Benjamin Johnson Arena.
 
Collins sparked the comeback by scoring 12 consecutive points. He got it started with a 3-pointer from well beyond the arc, right in front of Wofford's bench with 2:12 to go. The Terriers stopped Samford's next three possessions and Collins put Wofford in front on his fifth triple of the game with 53 seconds to play.
 
Collins finished the afternoon with 25 points – his second 25-point game in his last three outings. The Easley, S.C., native shot 7-of-11 from the floor and did not miss from 3-point land, going a perfect 5-of-5.
 
"I just shot the ball with confidence. They kept falling, so I kept shooting," said Collins in a postgame interview. "It just happens. I was locked in."
 
A Jamal Shabazz free throw put Samford up 64-55 at the 2:34 mark, but the Bulldogs did not score again. Collins took over, hitting two 3-pointers and all six of his free throws down the stretch.
 
"Goodness gracious. To come back and win after being down nine that late in the game is unbelievable," said Wofford head coach Mike Young. "We ripped a victory from the jaws of defeat. You've got to do that some in league play.
 
"Spencer Collins was the best player on the floor today. I could have called anything on that possession when we were down two with the ball. He was going to take the shot no matter what, and he hit it."
 
Wofford (6-9, 3-0 SoCon) shot 52.4 percent to win the game, including 58.3 percent (14-24) in the second half. Along with Collins' five triples, the Terriers ended the game 10-of-15 from beyond the arc (66.7 pct.). Senior Justin Gordon and junior Jaylen Allen scored 10 points apiece.
 
Despite the win, Samford's press caused a lot of issues for the Terrier offense. Wofford turned it over 13 times in the first half and on its first three possessions of the second half, ending the game with a season-high 19 turnovers.
 
"They tweaked some stuff in their coverages and I didn't make the necessary adjustments for us to be successful through the early part of the second half," added Young. "We figured it out and did a much better job in the last eight minutes."
 
Senior C.J. Neumann grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and senior Justin Gordon leapt for six. Collins had five boards to go with his 25 points, helping Wofford outrebound Samford 31-24.
 
For Samford (10-6, 1-2 SoCon), senior Darius-Jones Gibson led the way with 17 points. Sophomore Christen Cunningham had 13 and senior Jamal Shabazz had 11. Senior Iman Johnson grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.
 
A back-and-forth first half saw Wofford lead by as many as eight, 22-14, with 8 minutes before the break. Samford scored the next nine points to take a lead, but Collins responded with a 3-ball and Wofford maintained its two-point cushion, 29-27, at the break.
 
Samford scored the first 11 points out of the locker rooms to go on top. Jones-Gibson scored eight straight during the run, including a triple the 17:46 mark. Another one at the 12:47 mark gave the Bulldogs their largest lead of the game, 48-37.
 
Wofford chopped Samford's lead down to three with a 5-0 run, 58-55, with 5:36 to go, but the Bulldogs rebuilt it to nine with the game's next six points. Samford remained on top all the way until Collins' 3-pointer with under a minute left.
 
Wofford hosts preseason favorite Chattanooga (13-3, 2-1 SoCon) on Monday at 6 p.m. The Mocs are coming off their first league loss, a 70-55 defeat on Saturday at Furman.
 
Terrier Notes:
- Spencer Collins had his second consecutive 25-point game at Benjamin Johnson Arena. He scored 25 last Saturday to help Wofford defeat UNCG, 87-76. It is one point shy of his career-high 26 that he scored on Feb. 26, 2015 at Mercer.
- Collins passed Boyce Berry (1958-62) for 15th on Wofford's all-time scoring list. He now has 1,433 career points, which is 19 behind Stephon Blanding (1986-90) for 14th.
- Jaylen Allen's 10 points were his most November 18, when he scored 15 against then-No. 1 North Carolina.
- Freshman Matthew Pegram scored six straight Wofford points in the first half. He fininshed the game 3-for-3 from the floor in nine minutes.
- Wofford won its fifth straight series meeting against Samford and improved to 5-1 against the Bulldogs at home.
- Wofford moved into sole possession of first place in the Southern Conference standings at 3-0. The only other unbeaten team is ETSU (2-0).