CULLOWHEE, N.C.- The Wofford College men's basketball team dropped a game that was decided in the final minute to the Western Carolina 76-71 on Wednesday night at the Ramsay Center.
 
In a game where Wofford (11-9, 3-4) led by eight points with four minutes to play, the Catamounts (11-9, 4-3) were able to make a late run to secure the home win over the Terriers.
 
"I am really proud of our group," said interim head coach Dwight Perry. "We have one of the twenty youngest teams in the nation and to come on the road and battle the way we did against a really good Western Carolina team was a positive."
 
Corey Tripp led Wofford with a career-high 19 points while shooting 8-of-13 overall and 3-of-5 from three.  Jackson Sivills scored 13 points and tied for the team-high with seven rebounds, followed by B.J. Mack and Messiah Jones with 10 points each. Vonterius Woolbright had 20 points and seven rebounds for WCU. Tre Jackson and Tyzhaun Clyde added 17 and 16, with Jackson scoring 15 of his points on five threes.
 
"The things Jackson (Sivills) did on the court today, a lot of it showed up on the box score and some of it doesn't," continued Perry. "His talk, his energy, and his effort on both ends of the floor - he is invaluable to our team. When he got his fifth foul that definitely was a blow to our team but we still had the pieces to get the job done, but we just weren't quite able to do that tonight."
 
In the first half Wofford took a 37-32 lead into the break. Sivills and Corey Tripp each had a pair three-pointers in the first half to help give the Terriers that lead, as the team was 7-of-9 from behind the arc
 
In the second half, each team went on runs. With Wofford holding a 50-44 lead, the Catamounts answered with an 11-0 run to take a 55-52 lead. B.J. Mack ended the run with a pair of free throws and then the Catamounts led 58-54 after a three. Wofford responded with an 11-0 lead as well, taking a 65-58 advantage. With 33 seconds left, Wofford had a 71-67 advantage.
 
A few key baskets by Woolbright kept WCU in the game. Wofford was up 71-69 and fouled with 26.2 seconds to play in the game. Jackson Paveletezke missed the free throw and WCU hit the go ahead three by Russell Jones with 17 seconds to play at 72-71.
 
Paveletzke would drive in and get a goaltending call that appeared to give the Terriers the lead at 73-72. However, after a video review the referee's determined there was no goaltending and WCU got the ball back on the possession arrow.
 
Russell Jones extended the lead to three points on a pair of free throws. Another missed free throw on the front end of the one-and-one by the Terriers allowed WCU to extend the lead to five with two more free throws with only two seconds left and seal the win. The Catamounts scored the final nine points of the game.
 
"Tonight we shot 56% from three," said Perry. "We can build off that. We got great looks and shot the ball at a high clip. We did a really good job at taking advantage of what we saw on both sides of the floor."
 
Wofford will return home and take on Furman on Sunday at 4 p.m. in a game that will be broadcast on ESPNU.
 
Quick Hits

• Wofford shot 52.9% from three at 9-of-17 overall, while Western Carolina was 10-of-25 (40.0%).
• The Terriers out-rebounded the Catamounts 35-30.
• Wofford was 8-of-13 (61.5%) from the free throw line and Western Carolina was 12-of-17 (70.6%).
• B.J. Mack scored 10 points and moved to just two away from 1,000 career points.