SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford men's basketball opened the 2020-21 season on Wednesday with an 88-49 victory over Toccoa Falls at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. The Terriers led by 34 points at the half and shot 50% from the floor in the win.
Wofford begins the season 1-0, while the contest counted as an exhibition for the Screaming Eagles. The Terriers were led by
Messiah Jones with 12 points and 12 rebounds for his second career double-double. Trey Hollowell added a career-high 19 points and
Storm Murphy had 19 points as well. The Screaming Eagles were led by Alex Forde with 13 points.
"It was fantastic to be back out there today," said head coach
Jay McAuley. "A lot of people put a lot of work in to make this a reality and we are thankful for that. The guys did a good job for the most part in bringing their own juice today and we are really happy to start our season. We are a little deeper and more athletic down low, but on the other hand we are a little limited right now at guard. We really had to chase balls and get second chance points, spread the floor and when we get teams in rotation make a play. Messiah was a big part of that tonight and the freshmen played really well."
Storm Murphy hit a three pointer to begin the game. The Screaming Eagles took a 10-9 lead after four minutes of play, but Wofford responded with a quick 9-0 run to make it 18-10 two minutes later. The Terriers continued to slowly build a lead and were up 29-13 with 7:24 left in the first half. At the under four media time out, the advantage was 41-15 after seven straight points by Murphy. Wofford added eight more points to take a 49-15 lead at the break.
The Screaming Eagles scored first to open the second half, but Wofford answered and a three pointer by Trey Hollowell made it a 57-21 game. The Terriers led by as much as 44 points at the midpoint of the second half. With seven minutes left in the game, the Terriers had a75-35 advantage. A dunk by
Sam Godwin with ten seconds remaining ended the contest with an 88-49 final margin.
Wofford shot 50.0% from the floor. Toccoa Falls shot 35.8% overall. The Terriers were 11-of-30 from with three, while the Screaming Eagles were 6-of-23 from behind the arc. Toccoa Falls was 5-of-8 from the line while Wofford was 21-of-29 on free throws. The Terriers had a 47 to 20 advantage on the glass and committed 13 turnovers.
Wofford was originally scheduled to play Brewton-Parker, but they were unable to compete due to COVID-19 protocols. Toccoa Falls last played in Spartanburg in 2007 and Wofford leads the series 10-0. The team was without
Keaton Turner,
Isaiah Bigelow,
Max Klesmit,
Ryan Larson and
Alex Michael due to injuries. All ten other players saw time in the game.
The Terriers will host Carver College on Saturday at 2:00 p.m., followed by a home contest against North Carolina Central on Thursday, December 3 at Richardson Indoor Stadium.
