RICHMOND, Va. – The Wofford men's basketball team nearly escaped Richmond with a top-20 upset, however, the 19^th-ranked Richmond Spiders managed to hold off a late Wofford rally to come away with a 77-72 win at the Robins Center on Thursday afternoon. Despite a pair of impressive 20-point performances and clutch scores down the stretch from senior Storm Murphy and sophomore Messiah Jones, the Spiders would capitalize on a late 3-pointer with 19 seconds left to provide just enough cushion to pull away with the win.

"I was really proud of our team's effort and fight tonight," said head coach Jay McAuley. "Clearly that's just something that's been our calling card for years here and that will need to continue, especially when you go on the road with a quality opponent like Richmond."

"With such a young team, for us to find out we're going to play this team basically 48 hours ago, learn how to defend a Princeton style offense and limit them in a lot of ways to what they wanted to do was really encouraging. Showed me that the guys were really locked in on how we wanted to defend. We were first on the floor in a lot of ways – loose balls, getting rebounds. To outrebound a top-20 team on the road is a testament to how we're going to have to play moving forward, so really proud of our guys effort."
 
Murphy led the way for the Terriers with a game-high 21 points, including four made threes, and four assists. Messiah Jones net a career-high 20 points, on 9-of-12 shooting (75%) from the field, and 10 rebounds en route to his second double-double of the season and third of his career. 

Senior Tray Hollowell rounds out the double-figure scorers for Wofford with 15 points, knocking down three treys, a team-high five assists and four rebounds. Sophomore B.J. Mack also provided solid efforts with eight points, eight rebounds and two assists in 26 minutes of action. 
 
Wofford (2-1) got off to a slow start in the first half, trailing by as many as 13 points, before shooting 55.2 percent from the floor (16-29) in the second half, including seven made threes, to give the hosts a scare late in the game. 

The Terriers opened the contest scoreless through the first six minutes of play, as Richmond came out active on the defensive end and used balance scoring to open an 11-0 lead.

"Four out of seven guys that played tonight was their first either true college game or first road game playing college basketball, so we were a little jittery to start. Certainly, our older guys made a few there to calm us down and I thought our defense and energy started to really pick up after that," added McAuley.
 
After a Hollowell free throw and pair of and-one finishes from Jones got Wofford on the board, a Storm Murphy three would spark a 6-0 run to cut the Richmond lead to single digits, 19-14, by the 7:44 mark. Hollowell and Murphy, with 10 and eight first-half points respectively, would come alive with a pair of treys, as the Terriers continued to close the gap within four points, 30-26. However, a timely 5-0 run to end the half would allow for a 37-30 Richmond lead heading into the intermission.
 
Wofford opened the second half firing away, as a Murphy score and back-to-back 3-pointers from freshman Morgan Safford cut back into the Spiders lead. Richmond's Jacob Gilyard and Tyler Burton then paced the Spiders over a 3-minute span to extend a 12-point Richmond lead, 56-44, forcing a Wofford timeout at the 13:22 mark. Messiah Jones and Storm Murphy would use an 8-0 run, capped by Jones' first career made 3-pointer, to bring the score within two, 56-54.

The teams traded baskets before a B.J. Mack three, Jones layup and Hollowell three gave Wofford its first lead of the day, 64-63, with 4:30 left. The trio would each score again to push its largest lead at 70-65, though, the Spiders quickly answered with a four-point possession that saw a made three from Grant Golden and off-ball foul that led to a trip to the line to reclaim a one-point lead (71-70, 1:35).

The lead fluctuated after a pair of Murphy free throws and layup from Richmond's Tyler Burton gave the Spiders another one-point edge, as Preseason All-Atlantic 10 First Team selection Jacob Gilyard came down and extended the Spiders lead with a daggering stepback 3-pointer to make the score a two-posession game with 19 seconds left, 76-72. The Terriers got one last look, with a Murphy three rimming in and out, as Gilyard would go on to seal the deal at the free throw line to secure the 77-72 win for the Spiders.
 
Overall, Wofford finished shooting 44.3 percent from the floor (27-61) and 35.3 percent from beyond the arc (12-34). The Terriers also hit just 6-of-11 (54.5%) from the charity stripe. Richmond finished shooting 48.3 percent from the field (28-58), 44.4 percent from 3-point range (8-18) and hit 13-of-20 (65%) from the line to come away with the victory.
 
The Terriers controlled the rebound battle over Richmond, 41-32, though, the Spiders were able to capitalize on its size advantage with 38 of their points coming from inside the paint. Additionally, The Spiders forced 14 turnovers in return for 15 points throughout the contest.

"For a young team with two and a half [minutes] to go and we're up five [points], we've got to learn how to really value the ball and bear down defensively," added McAuley. "We give up a four-point play one possession and the momentum changes. We've got to respond better a little bit moving forward because we're going to be in this situation again. I think our guys are up for that challenge and that's why you play 40 minutes together."
 
Wofford (2-1) returns to action on Thursday, December 10, when they travel to Columbia, S.C. to face SEC foe South Carolina for a 6 p.m. tip. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.