JOHNSON CITY, TENN. – The Wofford men's basketball team trailed at the break but roared back in the second half to earn a gritty 81-78 win over ETSU at Freedom Hall on Saturday afternoon. The Terriers hit their first nine shots of the second half to take a double-digit lead. Jackson Sivills totaled 13 second half points along with Dillon Bailey scoring 14 points in the second stanza to lead the comeback.
 
"I was really proud of our group," said head coach Dwight Perry. "It was really good to see us show resiliency and figure out a way to win the second half. This was a big-time group effort, and I am really proud of our team."
 
Kyler Filewich surpassed the 1,000-point milestone for his career after his 16-point outing tonight, making him the second Terrier to accomplish the feat this week. Filewich has totaled 689 points in his three years at Wofford while scoring 312 points at his previous school, Southern Illinois.
 
Both teams eclipsed the 50 percent mark from the field, with ETSU shooting 54.3 percent (25-46) from the field while knocking down nine three-pointers at a 42.9 percent clip. Wofford shot a season-high 61.7 percent (29-47) from the field while cashing in on nine threes at a 45 percent rate. That was the best shooting night for the team against a Division I opponent since shooting 62 percent against Samford in 2022. Wofford hit 14 free throws compared to 19 from the Bucs.
 
Four Terriers finished in double-digits with Dillon Bailey scoring 18 points to lead the way. Kyler Filewich added 16 points in his historic night along with Jackson Sivills tying his season high of 15 points. Corey Tripp rounded out the group with 11 points.
 
"We found a rhythm," said Kyler Filewich. "Guys were finding me in the right spots, and I felt like I could get to all my spots. We came through when it really mattered. It was a little closer than we would've liked, but our execution on the last couple plays was really good."
 
It was a hard-fought, physical game, as the two teams entered the contest as two of the top three offensive rebounding groups in the conference. Wofford won the battle on the glass, though, outrebounding the Bucs 26-23, which featured eight offensive rebounds. Kyler Filewich led the team with eight rebounds.
 
Wofford totaled 17 assists on 29 made baskets while holding ETSU to 11 assists and forcing 13 turnovers. Corey Tripp led the team with five assists, along with Kyler Filewich and Jeremy Lorenz tallying four each. Filewich also led the team on the defensive end, totaling three steals and two blocks.
 
The Terriers scored the first four points of the game, taking an early 4-0 lead. The team kept the momentum going as the four points were the beginning of an 8-2 run. Back-to-back deep balls from the Bucs cut the deficit to two points at the first media timeout of the half.
 
Even with ETSU closing in on Wofford, the Terriers held the lead for the first nine minutes of the game. The Bucs gained their first advantage of the afternoon after that, but the teams would trade blows over the next few minutes, swapping leads. ETSU finally grabbed the lead for the remainder of the half after a made three-pointer just before the eight-minute media timeout. The Bucs went up by as many as nine points, but Wofford used two-straight buckets to close the half to shorten the lead to five points and enter the half trailing 39-34.
 
Both teams shot over 58 percent from the field in the first half, but the difference maker was behind the three-point line. ETSU hit eight threes in the first frame on 57 percent shooting, while Wofford knocked in only two on nine attempts.
 
The Terriers started the second half where they ended in the first, as the team used those four-straight points before the break to execute an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to one point early in the second stanza. Those eight unanswered points were the start to a 24-4 run spanning from the final 40 seconds of the first half all the way to 15:39 left in the second half.
 
Jackson Sivills came alive in the final frame, hitting four threes in the span of two minutes. "I was happy to see something go through the net," said Sivills on his 13-point second half. "Tough conference games and figuring out ways to win only gets you tougher. I'm glad we are getting these experiences now so that we are ready when it matters most."
 
Wofford led by as many as 12 points with 7:14 left in the game, but ETSU did not give up. The Bucs scored eight points over the next two minutes compared to just one made free throw from the Terriers to cut the lead to five with five minutes of action remaining.
 
The Terriers held an eight-point lead with 1:50 left on the clock, but a pair of free throws from ETSU slashed the lead to six points. A missed shot on the offensive end followed by a turnover allowed the Bucs to close in on the lead even more, now trailing only two points with 34 seconds remaining. Jeremy Lorenz converted on a free throw to make it three points, but ETSU was fouled on the other end.
 
The Bucs only cashed on in one attempt, still trailing by two points with 22 seconds left. ETSU found another opportunity at the line just moments later with a chance to tie the game, but the player once again only made one of the attempts. After a pair of missed free throws from Wofford, ETSU found themselves with a chance to win the game. The Bucs missed the final shot attempt, and Jackson Sivills came up with the rebound and was fouled, sending him to the charity stripe. The senior made the first attempt and missed the second, but an offensive rebound tapped from Filewich to Tripp sealed the game. The Terriers would earn their first conference win of the season in an 81-78 road battle against ETSU.
 
Wofford will be back at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium against Western Carolina on Wednesday night. The game will tip-off at 7:00 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+.