LEXINGTON, Va. – Holding a ten-point lead with 2:38 left in the game, the Wofford College men's basketball team saw VMI rally and tie the game at 73-73 at the end of regulation to force overtime. The Keydets were able to close out the game in the extra period and win 87-83 at Cameron Hall on Wednesday evening.
 
"We didn't do what we needed to do to finish off the game in the last two minutes up ten," said interim head coach Dwight Perry. "Turnovers hurt us, not getting stops to close the game hurt us. Credit to VMI as they did a really good job finishing the game and we didn't."
 
Senior B.J. Mack led the Terriers in scoring with 21 points, with freshman Jackson Paveletzke adding 20 points. Carson McCorkle added 14 points off the bench and Messiah Jones finished with ten points and a team high nine rebounds.
 
Freshman Rickey Bradley led the Keydets in scoring with 24 and added three assists. Asher Woods had 21 points, while Taeshaud Jackson had 12 rebounds.
 
VMI (7-23, 2-15 SoCon) opened the game against Wofford strong, building up a 20-8 lead with 12 minutes left in the first half. The Terriers (15-15, 7-10 SoCon) were down ten points with four minutes to go in the first half, but tied the game with a 10-0 run. The Keydets hit their seventh three pointer of the first half to take a 36-33 lead at the break.
 
Wofford opened up the second half playing great defense and took their first lead of the game on a jumper by Corey Tripp five minutes into play at 42-41. The game would stay within five points until the Terriers were able to get the lead to 60-52 with 6:16 to play after a three pointer by Carson McCorkle.  
 
After Wofford held a 67-57 lead with 2:38 to play, VMI scored five quick points to make it a five-point game. It was still a five-point lead with 56 seconds left after a pair of free throws by Jackson Paveletzke. The Keydets made it a one possession game and then tied it with a three pointer with 28 seconds left. Wofford had two chances in the paint in the final seconds, but neither went in to force overtime tied at 73.
 
The Terriers were able to build a four-point lead in overtime at 82-78 after a three by B.J. Mack with 3:29 on the clock. From that point, Wofford scored only one point on a free throw and turned the ball over four times as the Keydets were able close out an 87-83 win.
 
Up Next
Wofford's senior day will be Saturday at 7 P.M. at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. They will take on Chattanooga with SoCon seeding on the line. Wofford, Chattanooga and ETSU go into the final game fighting for the fifth, sixth and seventh seeds in Asheville for the Southern Conference Tournament.

"This was very frustrating and very disappointing but the reality is we still have an opportunity to finish top five in this league" Perry said. "We have that opportunity at our fingertips, we're going to have to do a good job at preparing."
 
Quick Hits

• It was the third overtime game of the season for the Terriers, with an 0-3 mark in those games. The last time Wofford played three overtime games in a season was in 2016-17.
• VMI recorded 32 rebounds to 29 for Wofford.
• The Keydets scored 24 points off of 16 Terrier turnovers.
• VMI shot 22-of-27 from the free-throw line (including 8-of-8 in overtime), while Wofford shot 16-of-23 (with 2-of-5 in overtime).
• Both teams made 11 three-pointers, with Wofford attempting 26 to VMI's 24.