SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford men's basketball team dropped a hard-fought matchup against VMI on Wednesday night, as the Keydets erased an eight-point deficit with under two minutes left in regulation to force overtime and stun the Terriers in the final five minutes, 84-80, at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium.
 
The win for VMI (10-9, 5-5 SoCon) marks its first in 19 years over Wofford (Feb. 10, 2001), as the Terriers slip to 11-6 overall and 8-3 in the Southern Conference.
 
"I told our team, and credit to VMI, that they clearly sustained the toughness needed to come out of here with a win and made enough plays obviously," said head coach Jay McAuley. "We were really sluggish to start. Really sloppy, I thought. Settled on in and then, the last two or three minutes, we got really really out of sorts … giving up easy baskets, losing our minds with personnel and you just can't do that."
 
"They just started pouring those things in – easy baskets – and, obviously, they had all the momentum and we've got to respond better when those things happen," added McAuley. "It can't be just because we're missing shots. We've already played that game this year. We've got to be tougher in those moments, when things aren't going our way, to lay our foot down and collectively be tougher that way, and we will. We will be moving forward."
 
Five Terriers finished in double figures on the night, as junior Ryan Larson led Wofford on the night with a career-high 14 points on 5-for-8 from the floor and 2-for-4 from distance (50%), while grabbing five rebounds and two steals. Larson leads the team in rebounding in SoCon contests, averaging 5.3 in conference games, while the St. Paul, Minn. native shoots 51.4 percent from 3-point range on the season (19-for-37).
 
Senior Storm Murphy followed with 13 points, seven assists, four rebounds and a season-high three steals in a team-high 38 minutes, while freshman Sam Godwin also added 13 points on a perfect 4-for-4 from the field and 5-for-6 from the free-throw line, additionally dishing a career-high three assists and grabbing two rebounds.
 
Classmates Morgan Safford and Max Klesmit both finished with 12 points apiece, as Klesmit reached double figures for the second consecutive contest, matching a season-high for threes on 4-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc (66.7%). Klesmit also pulled down five rebounds and collected a career-high three steals on the night, while Safford hit 2-of-4 from deep (50%) and recorded two rebounds.

Sophomore B.J. Mack added seven points and three rebounds in 18 minutes.
 
The Keydets were steady in its attack throughout the contest, finishing 51.7 percent from the field (31-for-60) and hitting 40 percent of its tries from 3-point land (10-of-25) for the game.

VMI made all the difference in overtime, clamping down for the final five minutes to hold Wofford to 40.6 percent for the contest and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc (13-of-39). The Terriers were 11-for-12 from the stripe, finishing 91.7 percent at the line for the night.
 
VMI came out the gates firing on all cylinders, seeing four different Keydets score to open a 9-2 lead by the 16:42 mark. Sam Godwin paced the team with a pair of buckets inside, before a Murphy transition three and short-corner jumper from B.J. Mack cut the deficit to one, 12-11, over the ensuing four minutes (12:41).
 
VMI's Greg Parham answered with a three, as both teams traded buckets up until a Larson layup and 3-point find for Max Klesmit trailed 23-20 just under the midway point of the half. Back-to-back scores for VMI then reclaimed a seven-point cushion (27-22), as the lead would fluctuate over the following three minutes to see the Keydets lead 31-25 with 6:15 left.
 
Wofford then found itself, as back-to-back treys from Morgan Safford and Storm Murphy followed to deadlock the score at 31-31 (4:38). The Keydets would reclaim a four-point lead, 37-33, though, five points from Safford and a Klesmit three from the corner beat the buzzer to give Wofford the lead at halftime, 41-37.
 
The Terriers built on their momentum to start the second half, seeing a corner three for Austin Patterson and five points from B.J. Mack to hold a 54-47 differential by the 14:44 mark. The Keydets responded scoring eight of the following 11 points to bring the game back within one possession, 57-55.
 
A transition 3-pointer from VMI's Kamdyn Curfman cut the margin to one (61-60), though, the Terriers managed to net nine of the next 11 points, seeing a Larson three-ball and pair of free throws extend Wofford's largest lead of the contest, 70-62, with 5:16 remaining.
 
Another Larson finish held the eight-point margin, 74-66, though, the Keydets came out a 30-second timeout spirited to summon a swift 6-0 spurt that cut the score to 74-72 with 1:03 left.

The Terriers failed to convert on the offensive end, as VMI would call a timeout to draw up a play, seeing its efforts subsequently come to fruition with a backdoor layup that tied the contest at 74-74 with 13 seconds left. Murphy would come down the court and get a last-shot look on a pull-up from just outside the elbow, though, the look fell off the mark to send the game into overtime.
 
Wofford led for 19:39 of the second half prior to final 21 seconds of regulation. The final five minutes would be all VMI, as the Keydets managed to string together stop after stop, while converting on the offensive end, to hold an 82-74 lead with 34 seconds remaining.
 
Wofford was just 2-of-11 from the field in the overtime period (18.2%) and connected on just two of its final eight 3-point looks in frame.
 
Fouling on the inbound for one-and-ones, Larson would find Murphy off a missed free throw to come down and drill a three with 29 seconds on the clock to give Wofford life, trailing 82-77. Wofford would foul to see a pair of VMI free throws push a 84-77 advantage before Klesmit nailed his fourth three of the game to summon an 84-80 spread with nine seconds to play.
 
Wofford fouled, seeing Greg Parham miss both at the line, though, a final 3-point look would fall off the mark and ultimately result in VMI coming away with the 84-80 victory at the horn.

VMI also saw five Keydets finish in double figures, led by the tandem of Greg Parham and Jake Stephens with 22 points each, followed by Kamdyn Curfman (15), Sean Conway (14) and Myles Lewis (11). 
 
Next, Wofford (11-6, 8-3 SoCon) returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 6, facing SoCon rival Furman in the Ingle SoCon Game of the Week at Timmons Arena for a 6 p.m. tip.