SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford men's basketball team concluded the weekend on a high note, winning the inaugural Terrier Classic, held at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium, upon a 70-52 victory over Georgia Southern (4-1, 0-0 Sun Belt) to hand the Eagles its first loss of the season on Sunday evening. The Terriers shot 50 percent from the floor in the second half (15-for-30), including 41.2 percent from beyond the arc (7-of-17), as senior guard
Ryan Larson led all scorers in double figures with a game-high 19 points to match a career-high.
"Guys like that don't come around very often. Guys that put in the work, treat their body like a pro and, in those moments, don't blink," said head coach
Jay McAuley of
Ryan Larson's commitment to winning. "We had five charges as a team today. You know he's throwing his body in there … He wants to win more than anybody, made some timely shots and leads our team. Really good effort by our guys, especially Ryan."
Wofford held Georgia Southern to just 17-of-43 from the field for the contest (39.5%), while forcing 19 turnovers in return for 21 points on the Eagles.
"Defense is going to travel, so will toughness … We're just trying to get a little bit better every day and I think the guys are really buying in to emptying the tank on every possession we can and getting our hands on more balls. Contest more shots," added McAuley of Wofford's defensive presence. "Still some late-clock threes ... But, for the most part, we're emptying the tank on those possessions and it's going to be much-needed moving forward."
The Terriers edged Georgia Southern on the glass for the contest, 28-27, while possessing nine offensive boards that allowed for 13 second-chance points throughout the evening. Additionally, Wofford finished with the advantage in points inside the paint for its fourth-straight contest, 30-22.
"We knew coming in it was going to be a physical game," said Larson of the Eagles. "Some of the keys to the game were winning the glass and that's something we did. Coach just preached 'be the more physical team' and I think our whole team bought into that, and ultimately I think that was a big success to our night."
Larson finished the contest 7-of-11 from the field, including matching a career-best five threes at a 62.5-percent clip (5-for-8), in addition to three assists and two steals.
"My teammates did a great job finding me, finding all the open guys tonight, and we knew playing off penetration was going to be a big part of our success coming into the game," added Larson of his shooting. "I wouldn't have been able to shoot any of those shots if they didn't have to double-team
Messiah Jones,
B.J. Mack and
Sam Godwin in the post. Those three played terrific tonight.
Max Klesmit,
Isaiah Bigelow and
Luke Turner all playing off penetration. Just all credit to them and how I got so many open shots tonight."
Junior forward
B.J. Mack added a 17-point performance after a career night against Hampton on Friday, finishing 6-for-9 and a perfect 5-for-5 on the line while pulling down six boards and dishing three assists. Sophomore
Max Klesmit rounds out Wofford's scorers in double digits with 13 points on 3-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc. Klesmit also recorded three assists and a steal.
Junior
Isaiah Bigelow finished with nine points, including an emphatic baseline dunk in the second half, and six rebounds, as
Luke Turner finished with five points and a rebound in 10 minutes off the bench.
The Terriers trailed 16-10 through the opening 10 minutes prior to finishing the half with a 19-8 run to hold a 29-24 edge at the intermission.
Larson got things going with a floater in the paint before Mack would corral an offensive rebound to feed Larson for a second-chance trey ball that found the bottom of the net trailing 18-15 (8:00). Jones would dime
Luke Turner on a cutting layup to come within one (20-19), as consecutive
B.J. Mack post finishes then handed Wofford the lead at 21-20 with 4:31 remaining in the half.
Larson would pick-pocket a steal to dish to
Isaiah Bigelow on the fast break for a four-point margin, 24-20, as Mack free throws and a big
Luke Turner trey ball from the right wing capped the run before GSU free throws would ultimately end the half at 29-24.
Wofford would push its first double-digit lead in the opening minutes of the second half, using a 10-0 run to bust out a 42-30 lead by 16:03 mark at a Georgia Southern timeout.
During the run, Larson knocked down a pull-up jumper prior to
Max Klesmit nailing a pull-up three to summon a 37-30 advantage. Bigelow would convert two free throws at the line, as Klesmit then dimed Larson for a deep left-wing 3-pointer to force the Eagles to talk things over with the 12-point spread.
Mack found a cutting
Austin Patterson for a layup to push a 14-point margin by the 14:36 mark, 46-32, as
Morgan Safford would dish to
Isaiah Bigelow on a backdoor cut for a baseline tomahawk that posterized an Eagles defender, followed by a Safford finish to hold a 50-37 lead.
The Eagles used a brief 7-2 run to cut the margin back to single digits by 6:35 mark, 52-44, however, Larson would knock down his third three of the game to push the lead back to double figures, 55-44. On the very next possession, Klesmit would dime Larson for a corner three that brought the spread back to 14 (58-44) as the Terriers maintained double digit leads with a Klesmit floater, up 62-50 (2:25).
Larson would nail his fifth three of the game off the find from
B.J. Mack in front of Wofford's bench, pushing a 15-point lead before Mack free throws summoned a 67-50 lead with 1:28 left to play.
Max Klesmit then put the nail in the coffin, mixing an Eagles defender for a stepback three with a 20-point lead as a last-second Eagles layup went on to end the contest at 70-52 at the end of regulation.
Wofford finished the contest shooting 47.3 percent from the field (26-of-55), while connecting on 10-of-29 shots from deep on the evening (34.5%).
Georgia Southern was led by Andrei Savrasov with 10 points and five rebounds, as Wofford held the Eagles to 33.3 percent in the second half (8-of-24), though, hitting 5-of-10 shots from beyond the arc for the contest (50%).
Wofford (4-1, 0-0 SoCon) returns to action on Tuesday, Nov. 23, when the Terriers travel to Columbia, S.C., for an SEC bout with the South Carolina Gamecocks at Colonial Life Arena. Tip-off is slated for a 7 p.m. start on SEC Network+.
