Wofford 54, Gardner-Webb 42
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The Wofford men's basketball team used a late run to defeat Gardner-Webb 54-42 on Wednesday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena. The game was tied at 42, but a 12-0 run by the Terriers over the final four minutes of the contest pushed Wofford to the win.
Wofford moves to 4-5 on the season, while Gardner-Webb is 5-5. The Terriers were led by Lee Skinner with 19 points, while Karl Cochran added ten points and four rebounds. John Swinton had six points, four rebounds, and two assists along with two steals. For the Runnin' Bulldogs, Tashan Newsome had ten points, while Kevin Hartley had nine points and a team-high seven rebounds.
"We have played nine times and we have guarded every night and I think our benchmark is holding a team under 39 percent from the floor," said head coach Mike Young. "That is a good win and I am happy with our team. We were not good offensively and Gardner-Webb had something to do with that. It was a nice win and one that we really needed to get. We made a lot of nice plays down the stretch to win the game."
The Runnin' Bulldogs scored first, but the Terriers took a 5-2 lead after a three pointer by John Swinton three minutes into the game. Karl Cochran banked in a three pointer to give Wofford a 10-2 lead with 15:20 left in the first half. Indiana Faithfull added a three to push the lead to 15-4.
At the 10:33 mark of the half, the Terriers had a 19-10 lead following two free throws by C.J. Neumann. Neither team scored for nearly five minutes before a jumper by Karl Cochran made it a 21-12 advantage with 4:50 left in the half. John Swinton hit a three at the two minute mark to give the Terriers a 25-13 lead. The Runnin' Bulldogs hit the final five points of the half to make it a 25-18 game at the break.
Wofford scored the first four points of the second half to take a 29-18 lead. A three by Karl Cochran pushed the advantage to 32-20. After taking a 36-22 lead, the Runnin' Bulldogs went on a 6-0 run before a fall-away jumper by Lee Skinner made it a 38-28 score with twelve minutes on the clock. Gardner-Webb continued to chip away at the lead and at the 9:18 mark the score was 38-34 in favor of the Terriers.
Gardner-Webb cut it to a four-point contest before two free throws by Spencer Collins gave Wofford a 42-36 lead with seven minutes remaining. A bucket off a steal by the Runnin' Bulldogs made it two-point game and a lay-up by Kevin Hartley with 4:28 on the clock tied the game at 42. Two free throws by Spencer Collins and a three by Lee Skinner gave Wofford a 47-42 lead with 2:32 remaining. The Terriers added seven more free throws to extend the run to 12-0 and take a 54-42 lead with under twenty seconds on the clock. Gardner-Webb missed their final two shots in the last ten seconds to give Wofford the 54-42 win.
Wofford shot 41 percent from the floor while Gardner-Webb shot 33 percent overall. The Terriers were 6-of-14 from three, while the Runnin' Bulldogs were 2-of-18 from behind the arc. Wofford was 18-of-22 from the free throw line, while Gardner-Webb was 6-of-8 from the line. The Runnin' Bulldogs had a 32 to 23 lead on the glass and each team committed 17 turnovers.
Wofford begins Southern Conference play on Saturday, December 8 at Davidson.
Charlotte 73, Davidson 69
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Pierra Henry hit a baseline jumper with 24 seconds remaining to lift Charlotte over Davidson, 73-69, in non-conference men's basketball action Wednesday evening at Belk Arena.
Charlotte (8-0) used a 34-25 rebounding advantage, including 14 offensive rebounds for 18 second-chance points. Both teams placed four in double figures as Charlotteconverted 28-of-59 (47.5 percent) attempts from the field to the Wildcats' 23 field goals on 47 attempts (48.9 percent).
Jake Cohen led Davidson and all scorers with 15 points, scoring 14 in the second half. Tom Droney matched his career high with 14 points, scoring 12 in the first half. De'Mon Brooks scored 13 points and led the 'Cats with eight rebounds. Nik Cochran added 12 points.
Chris Braswell paced the 49ers with 15 points and also had four rebounds. Darion Clark led the way on the glass with nine rebounds to go along with 14 points, shooting 7-of-8 from the field. Henry had 11 points and eight boards, whileWillie Clayton scored 12 points to go along with six rebounds.
The lead changed 10 times, including seven times in the second half. A Cohen layup with 3:51 to go gave Davidson a 65-62 lead, but Braswell, playing with four fouls, hit a pair of free throws with 3:06 to go and then sank a 3-pointer with 2:20 to give Charlotte a 67-65 lead.
Cochran drew a foul for Davidson and hit both free throws to tie the game at 67-67 with 1:52 remaining, but Henry scored the Niners' final six points, hitting a pair of free throws and answering a Brooks layup with the eventual game-winner to put his club up, 71-69.
In the first half, Davidson used a 20-7 run to go up, 22-15. The 49ers responded with a small spurt of their own to tie the game, 23-23. Sparked by back-to-back Droney treys, the Wildcats scored eight unanswered points for their largestlead of the game before going to the half with a 33-29 lead.
Just like the first half, the second featured runs by both teams to find themselves deadlocked. Charlotte opened the second half on a 15-4 run for their largest lead of the game, 44-37, with 14:34 to go. Davidson answered with nine straight points capped by a Droney layup giving the 'Cats a 46-44 advantage with 12:17 remaining.
Davidson will continue its three-game homestand with a 7 p.m. tip against SoCon foe Wofford Saturday evening at Belk Arena.