SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Senior Tray Hollowell recorded a career-high 22 points, as Wofford managed to hold off a late Mercer rally in the first of its crucial three-game home stand, sealing the victory at the line to find its way back into the win column with a 72-69 win over the Mercer Bears at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium on Saturday night.
 
The win moves Wofford to 10-5 overall and 7-2 in the Southern Conference. Mercer drops to 10-6 and 3-5 in the SoCon.
 
"A really talented team. Well coached. Obviously, they were missing the head of their snake in [Neftali] Alvarez in our first matchup and we knew he'd be a terror," said head coach Jay McAuley of the Bears.  "They certainly challenged us in some transition defense. We didn't handle some things really well after the eight-minute mark of the first half, but, I clearly thought we were the more physical, aggressive, connected team for the first eight to 10 minutes."

"That kind of leveled off evenly," said McAuley. "We just kind of hung on for dear life there the last five to eight minutes, but that's what a good team does. They find different ways to win and how about Tray Hollowell? Had a great night and he's pretty jacked up and so is our team for him."

Hollowell led all three Terriers in double figures on the night, hitting 9-of-15 from the floor (60%) and 4-of-8 from beyond the arc (50%) to pace the team in a game-high 37 minutes. The Hopkinsville, Ky. native was critical for Wofford in many stretches of the game, scoring from both inside and outside the paint, as Hollowell has added a multi-faceted attack to his scoring over the past few games.  

"That's just a conscious decision. Just expanding on my game," said Hollowell of his thought process attacking the paint and scoring in different ways. "Players are flying out at me because I like to shoot the three ball. So a shot fake or a simple move will get me by them sometimes if they're flying out at me and I'm able to finish at the rim."

The occurrence marks Hollowell's third time this season eclipsing his previous career-high, as the senior did so against Toccoa Falls (Nov. 25) and again against South Florida (Dec. 12) prior to tonight's performance. 

Junior Ryan Larson and sophomore Messiah Jones finished with 12 points each, as Larson was perfect from the beyond the arc (2-for-2) and matched a season-high with his crucial four free throws (4-for-4) to seal the win at the end of the game. Larson additionally grabbed five rebounds and dished two assists in 31 minutes, while Jones pulled down a team-high six boards to go with an assist and block on the night.

Sophomore B.J. Mack continues to provide productive minutes off the bench with nine points, two assists and a block in 20 minutes, while Storm Murphy added nine points, three rebounds and two assists. Freshman Max Klesmit rounds out Wofford's scoring with a solid eight points and two rebounds on the night.

The Terriers came out the gates with the momentum, grooving to push leads as large as 18 points through the opening 20 minutes.

After a Larson 3-pointer and finish from Messiah Jones pushed a 7-2 lead, the Terriers erupted for a brief 10-0 run that got things going for Wofford, up 17-4, by the 14:25 mark.

A pair of finishes at the rim for Max Klesmit kicked the run off before Storm Murphy drilled a three off an inbound to push a 10-point lead. Larson would then come off a Jones handoff to bury his second three of the half to hold the 13-point lead.

A Murphy layup and Hollowell three extended the lead, as Messiah Jones corralled his own miss for a tough finish in the paint to grant Wofford's largest lead, 29-11, and force a Mercer timeout with 7:17 left.

The Bears came out the timeout with a pair of buckets before Hollowell nailed another three to hold a 17-point margin, 32-15 (5:10). A 5-0 spurt from Mercer just a couple minutes later cut the lead to 11, though, B.J. Mack answered on a 3-point find from Austin Patterson to suppress Mercer's momentum with 3:29 left, 35-21.

Both teams traded baskets from that point on, seeing Wofford go on to maintain the double-digit spread at the intermission, 39-27.

Wofford was firing on all cylinders in the first half, shooting 48.5 percent from the floor (16-of-33) and going 7-for-17 from 3-point range (41.2%) to hold the 12-point cushion. The Terriers also received 18 points in return for seven Mercer turnovers in the half.

The Terriers opened the half with the momentum, as a Morgan Safford block set up a transition attack that resulted in a Hollowell no-look dish to Messiah Jones for a two-hand slam (41-27). However, the Bears started to find their footing, netting 12 of the following 16 points, as a Ross Cummings three produced a six-point margin by 14:57, 45-39.

The squads exchanged baskets, though, the Bears continued to chip away, managing to bring the margin to five points before a pair of scores from B.J. Mack and Tray Hollowell reclaimed a nine-point cushion at the under-12 media timeout (53-44).

Mercer then came out the timeout spirited, capitalizing on a pair of back-to-back turnovers by Wofford with a 7-0 run to bring the game within one possession with 9:55 to play, 53-51.

With the Bears trailing 59-57 (6:27), a five-point spurt from Tray Hollowell, seeing a pair of tough finishes at the rim before capping it with a big knockdown 3-pointer, extended a 64-57 advantage for the Terriers.

"I got a great screen," added Hollowell of the crucial play. "I can't remember from who, but they [Mercer] shot the gap and I was able to bump back and hit the flare and it was a great screen by one of my teammates. I was just able to knock the shot down."

Continuing to trade baskets, Wofford held a 68-65 lead with 1:57 to play, as a sequence of blank possessions for both teams eventually led to Mercer having to exhaust fouls to get Wofford shooting at the line for one-and-ones.

Wofford didn't shoot any free throws in the first half for the first time since November, 27, 2016 (at Colorado), as the Terriers had drawn just two team fouls up to the final 22 seconds of the game.

A turnover on an overthrown inbound allowed Mercer to cut the lead to one, 68-67, though, Wofford eventually entered the bonus to see Ryan Larson convert at the line to make the score 70-67 with 10 seconds left. An Alvarez layup for the Bears replicated the one-point margin, though, Larson would hold steady at the stripe, hitting both shots with two seconds to play to ultimately claim the 72-69 win for Wofford after a desperation 3-point heave by Mercer's Neftali Alvarez fell off the mark.

"Our guys kept their composure. Had to handle six inbound plays versus pressure, versus guys pushing us in the back," added McAuley of the late-game scenario. "We eventually got there [seven fouls]. I've never seen that, where we have two fouls with 15 seconds to go, but you know, that's a sign of a tough team to keep their composure when things aren't going their way and make free throws and make enough plays down the stretch. Really proud of them."

The Bears were 56.7 percent from the floor (17-for-30) and 54.5 percent from beyond the arc (6-of-11) in the second half, though, Wofford held Mercer off to finish shooting 50 percent for the contest (30-of-60) and 29.6 percent from 3-point range (8-of-27).

The Bears were led by Ross Cummings and Neftali Alvarez with 18 and 16 points, respectively.

Next, Wofford (10-5, 7-2 SoCon) welcomes in league-leading ETSU (10-5, 6-1 SoCon) for a heavyweight matchup at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium on Monday, February 1. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.