SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Despite a resilient, late rally in the closing minutes of the contest, a slow start and cold shooting in the first half would ultimately be the X factor in a loss for Wofford on Wednesday night, falling 78-66 to Chattanooga (15-5, 6-5 SoCon) at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium.
 
Wofford slips to 9-4 in the Southern Conference and 12-7 overall, as the Terriers prepare next for a crucial road matchup at ETSU – who fell at The Citadel tonight 79-71 – on Saturday, Feb. 13, for a 4 p.m. tip at Freedom Hall.
 
"It wasn't a pretty sight there to begin the game. They clearly were the aggressor," said head coach Jay McAuley of the Mocs. "A lot of threes going in on some comfortable looks and we wormed out to closeouts instead of being there on the catch and disrupting things, but credit to them. We started to be a little bit more aggressive late in the game but, by that time, it was too late."
 
The Mocs came out the gates firing on all cylinders, hitting eight of their first 11 shots to bust a 21-8 lead by the under-12 media timeout (11:12). Max Klesmit converted an and-one finish before Tray Hollowell would net a three from the top of the key, though, the Mocs continued to flourish on the offensive end, using a 13-6 run to hold a 31-14 lead by the 7:56 mark.
 
A Josh Ayeni free-throw for Chattanooga pushed its largest lead of the half at 19 points, 34-15, prior to a layup from Morgan Safford and corner three from Klesmit to cut the margin to 36-20 (4:03). Klesmit followed with a tough finish in the paint to pace the Terriers with eight first-half points, as the scoring was dormant for the remainder of the half to see the Mocs hold a 38-23 advantage at the intermission.
 
Chattanooga connected on 50 percent of its looks from beyond the arc (7-for-14), while hitting 15-of-27 attempts from the field for the half (55.6%).
 
Wofford struggled to find its rhythm on offense, hitting just 2-of-13 shots from 3-point range, while finishing 31.3 percent from the floor through the opening 20 minutes (10-for-32).
 
The Mocs picked up where they left off coming out the half, extending its largest lead of the contest, 49-26, by the 16:19 mark of the frame.
 
Freshman Keaton Turner provided a lift off the bench for the Terriers in a season-high 13 minutes on the night, drilling a three from the left wing before setting up Morgan Safford on a backdoor dunk to reel the game in slightly, 50-33 (12:32). Chattanooga remained a steady scoring presence to hold 18 to 20-point margins over the ensuing four minutes, prior to a Max Klesmit 3-pointer and Safford free-throw (66-40), though, the Mocs answered with timely scores in seeing a Stefan Kinic layup push another 20-point spread with 4:17 left to play, 69-49.
 
From the final media timeout at 3:43, Wofford kicked things into gear in making a last-chance comeback, seeing a corner three from Turner and Safford finish cut the deficit to 13, 69-56, with 2:46 left.
 
Full-court pressing, the Mocs would convert at the line before Klesmit would sneak a steal for a lay-in off a Mocs defensive rebound to see its closest margin at 11 points with 29 seconds remaining (74-63). Despite the efforts, Chattanooga would continue to hold steady at the line prior to a last-second three from Keaton Turner ending the contest at 78-66 in the Mocs' favor.
 
"Credit to our young guys," said McAuley. "We had to make a change at some point … some young guys, I thought, really stepped up to get to where we needed to be [back in the ball game] in the second half."
 
The freshman trio of Morgan Safford, Max Klesmit and Keaton Turner led the Terriers in double figures, seeing Safford finish with a team-high 18 points, on 50 percent from the floor (6-of-12) and a career-high six free throws, four rebounds and two steals in a game-high 37 minutes.
 
Max Klesmit reached a career-high 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field, including 2-for-3 shooting from beyond the arc on the night (66.7%), while recording a team-high five rebounds, two assists and two steals in 28 minutes. Klesmit has reached double-figure scoring in three of the last four games, as the Neenah, Wisc. native has also upped his contributions on the glass, averaging 4.4 boards over the past five games (2.7 average overall on the season).
 
Keaton Turner showcased his potential in making the most of his minutes with a career-best 14-point performance, hitting 83.3 percent of his shots (5-for-6) while splashing a career-high three 3-pointers on the night (3-for-4). Turner also dished a career-best two helpers in his 13 minutes.
 
Sophomore B.J. Mack finished with eight points, hitting 2-of-4 from 3-point land, while grabbing two rebounds and recording an assist and steal in 17 minutes, while classmate Messiah Jones finished with six points, a rebound and steal in 14 minutes.
 
After an improved second-half performance offensively, despite the loss, Wofford finished 45.3 percent from the field (24-for-53) and finished hitting 8-of-24 attempts from 3-point range on the night (33.3%). The Mocs finished 48.1 percent overall, 44.0 percent from long distance (11-for-25) and net 17-of-20 from the line (85.0%), as Malachi Smith and David Jean-Baptiste led the way for Chattanooga with 21 points apiece.
 
The Terriers outscored Chattanooga for the contest in bench points (39-6) and points inside the paint (28-20), though, the Mocs won the battle on the boards, outrebounding Wofford 34-27 on the night.
 
"I still think in a lot of stretches we're young, so we're going to have to learn from some things. So we can't necessarily flush all of this," added McAuley of tonight's performance. "We've got to look at it unemotionally and really look at some things that we've got to get better at moving down the home stretch. We'll have to learn from it, quickly regroup. We always have, we always will and still a lot of ball left to be played."