SPARTANBURG, S.C. – In a game that saw a total of eight lead changes and four tied scores on Saturday afternoon, the Wofford men's basketball team managed to defend a pair of last-chance looks from ETSU on its final possession to come away with a crucial 62-60 victory inside Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. The win grants Wofford its first series sweep over ETSU since the 2018-19 season, while pushing a two-game streak on its home court.
Wofford moves to 14-10 overall and evens its SoCon record at 6-6, as the Bucs drop to 12-13 and 4-8 in the league.
"We made it interesting a little bit, but we fought like crazy," said head coach
Jay McAuley of Wofford's sixth league win. "Our guys had some things stacked against them with foul trouble, but we played really smart I thought down the stretch, in terms of our defensive end, and we got some good looks to stretch it out to six, nine a couple times."
"We knocked down our free throws, we got the stops we needed to," added McAuley. "I'm going to focus on the fact that they shot around 40 percent from the field in the second half, and 30 [percent] from three. If we do that, and hold teams to six made threes in this league, we're going to be in a lot of ball games."
Wofford held the Bucs to just 12-of-29 shooting in the second half (41.4%), including 25 percent from beyond the arc (2-of-8), while coming alive to hit 52.2 percent of its looks from the floor and six threes at a 42.9 percent clip over the final 20 minutes to rally for the win.
The Terriers finished the contest 41.5 percent overall and hit 11-of-30 from 3-point range (36.7%), while finishing 70 percent from the line (7-of-10).
Sophomore guard
Max Klesmit led three Terriers in double figures with 15 points, including three 3-pointers, five rebounds and three assists. Junior
B.J. Mack finished with 14 points and five rebounds, in addition to dishing a team-high five assists, while classmate
Isaiah Bigelow tallied 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting to pair with four boards in 29 minutes off the bench.
Freshman guard
Austin Patterson recorded eight points and a career-best six rebounds, while senior guard
Ryan Larson added six points on a pair of threes, in addition to five rebounds and an assist.
Wofford led for just 15:46 of the contest, as ETSU finished the contest 42.9 percent from the floor, marking just the second time in conference play the Terriers have won with a lower shooting percentage for the game.
Additionally, the Terriers tightened up their 3-point defense, holding the Bucs to just 6-of-20 from distance (30%) for the afternoon.
The Bucs were led by Jordan King with 18 points, followed by Ledarrius Brewer (16) and David Sloan (15).
Wofford trailed 30-26 after the first 20 minutes of play, hitting 5-of-16 from beyond the arc on solid looks (31.6%), though, finishing just 33.3 percent from the floor overall to see the Bucs hold a two-possession lead at the intermission.
After King free throws pushed a 35-28 margin out of the break, a Patterson finish inside and
Isaiah Bigelow three-ball brought the Terriers within two just two and a half minutes in, 35-33. After a Bucs layup,
Luke Turner finished a dish from
B.J. Mack prior to Patterson finding Bigelow for his second trey of the day to trail by two again by the 14:28 mark, 40-38.
Bigelow's three would be the catalyst for a critical 11-0 run that gave Wofford control of the lead by the 12:08 mark (46-40), as the Terriers got a defensive stop to see Klesmit dime Patterson for the lead out of a Wofford timeout, 41-40. The next trip down, Klesmit drove inside to finish a floater that beat the shot clock before canning a three off a
Sam Godwin handoff to get the Terrier faithful engaged and force an ETSU timeout up 46-40.
The lead would see-saw from two to five points over the ensuing six minutes, as Wofford had a timely answer for each time the Bucs came within one possession, seeing a pair of threes from Klesmit and
B.J. Mack hold a 54-51 edge by the under-eight media timeout (6:42).
Four points from Bigelow held a 58-53 spread with 4:57 to play, though, the Bucs' Ty Brewer capitalized with a pair of dunks to bring ETSU within one, 58-57. A crucial finish inside from Mack reclaimed a 60-57 cushion, though, ETSU's Sloan found Jordan King for the equalizer on a corner three, 60-60, with 2:19 remaining.
A Wofford turnover on the next trip down squandered a go-ahead opportunity for the Terriers, though, Klesmit managed to corral a block on a Brewer jumper before being sent to the charity stripe and converting on the other end for the final 62-60 advantage (1:12).
ETSU would call a timeout with 17 seconds remaining to talk things over for the final shot, as the Bucs' Sloan drove inside to see
B.J. Mack swat the layup out of bounds with 0:07 left on the clock. ETSU's Ledarrius Brewer then sized up
Max Klesmit for the go-ahead bucket, launching a step-back three from the top of the key that ended up falling short to see Bigelow corral the rebound at the buzzer and grant the Terriers the win.
The Terriers finished with a 33-27 advantage on the glass for the contest, tallying eight offensive boards for 10 second-chance points for the contest. Additionally, Wofford's reserves chipped in 16 points off the bench to ETSU's five.
Wofford (14-10, 6-6 SoCon) takes the road again this upcoming week, preparing to travel to Birmingham, Ala., for a midweek tilt at Samford on Wednesday, Feb. 9. Tip-off is slated for a 7 p.m. CT / 8 p.m. ET start at the Pete Hanna Center.
