SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Sophomore
Max Klesmit and junior
B.J. Mack caught fire in the second half against The Citadel (7-10, 1-5 SoCon) on Wednesday night, finishing with 27 and 25 points, respectively, to lift Wofford to its third consecutive Southern Conference victory with an 89-77 win over the Bulldogs at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. Junior guard
Isaiah Bigelow also notched his first career double-double on the night, as the Terriers shot over 50 percent for their third-straight game and poured in 14-of-28 from beyond the arc (50%) as a season-best tally from 3-point range through league play.
The win moves Wofford to 12-7 overall and a 4-3 mark in the SoCon. The Citadel drops to 7-10 and 1-5 in league action.
"Very excited about this win. The Citadel is a really good, well-coached team and they add a lot of stressful things to your attack that you don't deal with on a daily basis," said head coach
Jay McAuley of the Bulldogs. "I thought our guys handled that message really well over the last 48 hours. That there's going to be some runs and there's going to be some issues where things didn't go our way with calls and them banging two or three threes in a row, and I thought our guys settled in on that. And obviously, in the second half, we were able to make some shots and stretch our lead out."
Wofford recorded 49 second-half points en route to its third consecutive 80-point output, in which the Terriers are 7-0 this season when doing so, hitting 17-of-29 shots (58.6%) and nine 3-pointers over the final 20 minutes with leads ballooning to as large as 20 points.
The Terriers finished the contest 53.2 percent from the floor, as the league's leader in field-goal percentage (.481), and 50 percent from beyond the arc. Wofford additionally finished 75.0 percent from the line on 9-of-12 from the charity stripe.
"Anytime I look down there [at the box score] and we've got balanced scoring and somewhere between 17 to 20 assists and less than 10 turnovers, we're playing good ball," added McAuley.
Wofford dished 17 assists to eight turnovers for the night, continuing to lead the SoCon in turnover margin on the season (+3.0).
Sophomore guard
Max Klesmit matched a career-high with a game-best 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting, while matching a single-game high of five 3-pointers (5-of-8) and hitting 2-of-2 at the line in 34 minutes. Klesmit also added five rebounds and two assists and steals apiece en route to his fifth 20-point performance this season.
"As a player, just once you see a few go in, the hoop starts to look bigger for everybody," said Klesmit of matching his season and career-high. "But, you know, that was a credit to our posts playing inside-out. Throwing the extra pass to guys and just really moving the ball and sharing it with each other, which opened everything up for us."
Having averaged 18.0 points per game through league action heading into Wednesday night (3
rd in SoCon), junior forward
B.J. Mack continues to impose his will with 25 points, including 17 in the second half and a perfect 6-for-6 outing from the free-throw line, for his eighth consecutive double-figure performance. Mack additionally tallied three rebounds and four assists.
"B.J.'s awesome in the post," added Klesmit of teammate
B.J. Mack. "He requires a lot of attention down there and, as the other four guys on the court, we trust him. Got all our trust in him to make the right play and make the right decision and just keep sharing the ball inside-out, which is going to work for us."
Junior
Isaiah Bigelow registered his first career double-double with 15 points, on 4-of-8 from 3-point range (50%), and a career-best 14 rebounds to pair with four assists and a block.
"I just feel like every time I look down there, I see one arm up there and it's No. 4's [Bigelow] atop the stratosphere," added McAuley of Bigelow's rebounding efforts. "He's gobbling up a lot of rebounds. Heck, we need them. We're short-handed with some things and he obviously makes up a huge difference and, when he can play like that, I think it helps his confidence and his feel for being in the flow of the game."
Austin Patterson chipped in eight points with a pair of 3-pointers and three rebounds, followed by
Ryan Larson with seven points and five assists to zero turnovers - leading the league with a 2.8 assists to turnover ratio on the season. Sophomore
Morgan Safford added five points and six rebounds in 29 minutes.
The Terriers led 40-34 at halftime behind 13 points from Klesmit and nine and eight points from Bigelow and Mack, respectively, on 48.5-percent shooting (16-of-33) over the opening 20 minutes.
Larson dimed Mack for a dunk to open the second half (42-34), though, The Citadel crept within a five after a five-point swing from Jason Roche, 46-41.
Austin Patterson followed up with a pull-up off a Mack handoff prior to Klesmit drilling a step-back three and Mack free throws pushing Wofford's first double-digit spread at 53-43 (16:32).
A Patterson 3-pointer from Larson on the left wing pushed the lead to 11, 56-45, though, the Bulldogs quickly erased the deficit with a 6-0 run to bring the game within two possessions at 56-51. However, on the ensuing possession, Klesmit would swing the extra pass to
Morgan Safford for a timely corner trey that pushed the edge back to eight points, 59-51, by the under-12 media timeout (11:57).
Safford's three-ball would be the catalyst for a momentum-swinging 14-0 run that pushed Wofford's largest lead at 73-53 by the 8:19 mark, as a Mack layup pushed another 10-point spread at 61-51. The Terriers then unleashed a barrage of 3-pointers, seeing Bigelow cash one from deep before Klesmit caught fire on three consecutive treys to push the margin to 20 at a Bulldogs timeout (8:02).
Wofford kept the margin after a 3-pointer from Mack and floater from
Ryan Larson (80-60), as The Citadel began to start pressing in making a final push. Leading 84-67 after a Mack fast break dunk with 2:45 to play, the Bulldogs briefly rallied to come within 12 points (86-74), though, ultimately running out of gas to see Wofford come away with the 89-77 victory at the end of regulation.
Wofford finished plus-10 on the glass for the contest (33-23), holding The Citadel to just 23 rebounds for the contest as the league's leader in rebounding defense (27.1/g). The Terriers hold a 9-3 mark on the season when outrebounding opponents.
The Citadel was led by Hayden Brown and Rudy Fitzgibbons III with 18 points apiece, while Brown tallied seven rebounds for the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs finished the contest 45.6 percent from the floor (26-of-57) and 34.4 percent from beyond the arc (11-for-32).
Next, Wofford (12-7, 4-3 SoCon) prepares to host SoCon rival Furman in a pivotal league matchup at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium on Saturday, Jan. 22. Tip-off is slated for a 7 p.m. start to be broadcast on ESPN+,
as Saturday's contest will also feature the honoring of Wofford's 2020 and 2021 inductees to the school's Athletics Hall of Fame.
