SPARTANBURG, S.C. – A career-high 26 points from Storm Murphy led the Wofford men's basketball team to an 89-61 victory over High Point at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium on Saturday night.
As a unit, the Terriers shot nearly 50 percent from the floor (48.3), going 15-for-37 from 3-point range and won the turnover battle 14-4 en route to the victory. In the process, Murphy also tied his career high of eight field goals (Samford, 2/7/18), setting a new personal mark for made 3-pointers, going 5-for-7 from beyond the arc.
"People don't know this, but Storm got food poisoning in walkthrough yesterday," said Wofford head coach Jay McAuley. "He gets here an hour before the game tonight, and scores a career high."
Wofford and head coach Jay McAuley, who just had his second child on Wednesday, are now out to a 2-0 start on the season and will return to the court on Tuesday, hosting William & Mary at 7 p.m.
Nathan Hoover, who knocked down a pair of 3-pointers, scored 15 points in the win, while Tray Hollowell went 4-for-7 from 3-point range, scoring 13 points off the bench for the Terriers.
"I get to coach such great kids," McAuley said. "And then I get to go home and see my new girl Charlie, life's good."
Trevor Stumpe got the Terriers on board with a three to start, but High Point would take a slight lead, extending it to nine after a 3-pointer from Eric Coleman Jr. made the score 23-14. Wofford turned its intensity up, forcing a shock clock violation and getting a four-point play from Ryan Larson to make the deficit five with under four minutes to play.
"I think at Wofford we've always prided ourselves on being really tough defensively," McAuley said. "They were making shots, so credit to them, but we just weren't active enough. Finally Ryan (Larson) brought the energy and it sparked us."
The Terriers kept the momentum going in the waning minutes of the first, as Hoover and Murphy drained back-to-back 3-pointers to knot the score at 24-24 and force a timeout from the Panthers. Out of the break, Wofford forced three consecutive turnovers, getting a slam dunk from Messiah Jones and a pair of buckets from Murphy that gave the Terriers a 32-26 lead at half.
Hoover and Murphy came out firing in the second, with Hoover getting into the paint for a 3-point play and Murphy knocking down a triple before a 3-point play of his own that pushed the lead to 12 (43-31). Wofford remained hot from behind the arc, getting threes from Hollowell, Isaiah Bigelow and Murphy to give the Terriers a commanding 55-33 lead.
"We have so many guys that can push the pace," Murphy said. "We're playing fast, sprinting to space and we have a lot of drivers that can pass, so we are really dangerous in transition because we are getting lots of open shots."
Wofford continued to attack, as Larson got into the mix, setting up a Hoover 3-pointer before scoring a layup and a deep three of his own that extended the advantage to 25. Bigelow and Hollowell kept scoring, putting the Terriers up 83-52 after a pair of buckets from Bigelow and two 3-pointers from Hollowell, before connecting one last time from downtown as Wofford closed out the game 89-61.
"I grew up idolizing Tubby Smith," McAuley said. "I'm from Marietta and he was at Georgia so I've always followed his career. It's been a really cool week."
