SPARTANBURG, S.C. -  Eric Garcia scored a career high 31 points and the Wofford Terriers picked up their first Southern Conference win with an 88-71 victory over Mercer on Saturday afternoon in the Benjamin Johnson Arena. With the win, the Terriers improve to 6-8 and 1-0 in the Southern Conference, while the Bears fall to 6-8 overall and 0-1 in conference play with the loss.
 
Garcia's 31 points led all scorers. His previous high of 23 was set two games ago at Coastal Carolina and Garcia tied it the next game at Georgia Tech before breaking it tonight. He is averaging 25.6 points per game over the last three contests. Garcia went 6-8 from the field and 3-5 from beyond the arc, but almost half of the senior's points came from the free throw line as Garcia went 16-16 from the charity stripe. His 16 makes were the most by a Wofford player in a game since Robert Mickle made 15 free throws against Winthrop in the 1984-85 season. Garcia is 42-43 from the line this season (97.7%). 
 
"I think my success at the line just comes from concentration and confidence. Fletcher (Magee) and I were in the arena last night shooting three throws at 10:00 last night so I think I'm just confident and it paid off," said Garcia.
 
Garcia also dished out six assists with zero turnovers. In the last two games he has 12 assists to just one turnover and entering the game Garcia's 4.3 assist to turnover ratio was best in the conference and fifth best in the country.
 
Three other Terriers finished in double figures to complement Garcia. Cameron Jackson finished with 14 points and five rebounds in 21 solid minutes of play and Ryan Sawvell finished with 12 points and eight boards, six of which were on the defensive end. Fletcher Magee finished with 10 points as the sophomore guard has finished in double digit scoring in all 14 games this season. Magee also had four steals, a career high.
 
Magee scored the first basket of the game 45 seconds in before Mercer's Desmond Ringer tied it up seconds later. However, Wofford then went on a 16-0 run to jump out to an 18-2 advantage. Wofford hung on to a sizable lead for the entire half, stretching the lead to as much as 25 points when Eric Garcia made a three pointer with 2:37 to go in the half. Mercer fought back and went on an 11-0 run of its own to cut the advantage to 42-28 with under thirty seconds left in the half. Eric Garcia made a pair of free throws to stop the run and Wofford took a 44-28 lead into the locker room at the half.
 
Out of the half Mercer sunk back to back threes to continue picking away at the Terrier lead, cutting it to 10 just less than a minute into the second half. Mercer cut the lead to eight twice but the Terriers were able to hold the Bears at bay.
 
"As a starting five, we talked about not letting them back in it and keeping the momentum before the second half started," said Garcia. "We have to set the tempo to start the game and it sets the tone and gives the younger guy energy to help continue what we are doing so that is credit to the starting five and everyone on the bench who came out with good energy and was ready to play in a big game like this."
 
Ria'n Holland led Mercer with 23 points and Jordan Strawberry followed with 18 points and seven assists.
 
The Terriers shot 50.9% from the field and 86.7% from the line while holding Mercer to 42.9% shooting. Wofford had a 15-3 advantage on second half points and had 20 assists to just seven turnovers.
 
Wofford has a quick turnaround and returns to action Monday against the Citadel. The game is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Benjamin Johnson Arena. The Citadel fell 83-68 at Furman on Saturday. The Bulldogs are 7-8 on the season and 0-2 in SoCon action.