LEXINGTON, Va. – Chevez Goodwin, the reigning Southern Conference Player of the Week, continued his dominant play, totaling a career-high 27 points on 8-of-11 shooting as the Wofford men's basketball team topped VMI 79-73 at Cameron Hall on Wednesday night.
Wednesday marks the second time in the last three games that Goodwin has scored 25 or more points, grabbing nine rebounds and knocking down a career-best 11 foul shots in the process.
"Yes, in high school," Goodwin said of being fouled 13 times. "Most players take that as disrespect, but I look at it as thanks for the free points. At the end of the day, make or miss I'm confident in myself so they are just giving me free points."
Nathan Hoover totaled 18 points, while Storm Murphy and Trevor Stumpe each scored nine in the win. The Terriers shot 45.1 percent from the floor, outrebounding VMI 40-36 and handing out 16 assists while shooting 43 free throws.
"With about four minutes to go, they wouldn't go away," Wofford head coach Jay McAuley said of VMI. "We have to do a little bit better job of closing games out and knocking down free throws but they are a tough bunch. They made us earn this one tonight."
Wofford is now 16-8 overall, moving to 8-3 in the Southern Conference, while VMI falls to 6-18 (1-10 SoCon). Wofford tips off its three-game home stand on Saturday, welcoming Chattanooga to Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium for a 7 p.m. start.
"We owe them a lot," said Goodwin of the rematch with Chattanooga. "Records don't matter. We know how tough this conference is and Saturday they are coming to our place so we'll see what happens. But we are definitely looking forward to that game."
The Keydets scored the first five points of the game before back-to-back 3-pointers from Murphy and Ryan Larson gave Wofford a one-point advantage. VMI would jump ahead again by five but Hoover began to feel it, scoring eight points to give the Terriers a 22-18 lead.
Stumpe showed his versatility, finding Goodwin and Murphy in transition as Wofford extended its lead to nine. VMI responded, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers that cut the deficit to three (29-26). Goodwin would add another pair of buckets, including a dunk that gave the Terriers a 40-30 lead at the break.
Goodwin and Hoover each connected out of the gate in the second, but the Keydets kept it close, trailing by just six with just under 13 minutes to play. Goodwin fed Donovan Theme-Love and Isaiah Bigelow for a pair of buckets, and a layup from Messiah Jones made the score 56-43 with just over nine minutes left in the second.
VMI would not go down easily, scoring seven unanswered with less than two minutes to play that made the lead just six (73-67). With 27 seconds left, Travis Evee connected from downtown to make the deficit five, but Hoover and Stumpe knocked down four free throws to ice the game.
"He's putting in the work and I think he's really comfortable around the rim," McAuley said of Goodwin. "We probably have to do a little bit better of feeding him early, but really proud of him and hats off to our team for figuring out a way to get out of here with a win."
