Junior forward B.J. Mack notched his third career double-double to lead Wofford in an extremely physical matchup that featured six technical fouls and nearly 40 foul calls in Birmingham on Wednesday night, as Samford (15-9, 5-7 SoCon) managed to climb back from a nine-point deficit in regulation to stun the Terriers in overtime, 65-60. The win for Samford ends a nine-game series skid against the Terriers, marking their first win since 2017,. Wofford hit a significant dry spell down the stretch that allowed the Bulldogs to rally and force an extra period at the Pete Hanna Center.
The loss drops Wofford to 14-11 overall and 6-7 in the Southern Conference." The two things we had to do to win the game was take care of the ball – we had 18 [turnovers]," said head coach Jay McAuley of the keys to Wednesday's matchup. "The other one was going to be to find a way to win the glass and we did but, plus-10 offensive rebounds in the second half [for Samford]. They had one in the first half." We made them miss and it was a choice thing. No matter who we put in the game, they were just coming in on incoming misses and wanting the ball more, thus they won the game."
Wofford led 37-28 after Larson dimed Sam Godwin inside for a big poster flush by the under-16 media timeout (15:23), in which the game took a physical twist after the break at the hands of a sequence of technical fouls given to Wofford's Ryan Larson and Isaiah Bigelow – resulting in a Bigelow ejection – and Samford's Jaden Campbell and Jermaine Marshall.
After a Ques Glover steal produced a fast break scenario, Larson stopped the break in fouling Glover for what would later be called a Flagrant I due to no play on the ball, though, Glover would go for a dunk after the whistle to see Bigelow pin the attempt; resulting in a brief scuffle on the baseline between Campbell, Marshall and Bigelow. Bigelow would be struck with two technicals for the play, causing the ejection, as Campbell and Marshall received one apiece.
Consequently, Glover knocked in both free throws at the line (37-33) before coming down to connect on a step-back that capped a 7-0 Bulldogs run at 37-35. Subsequently, a technical on Samford's Logan Dye, off a B.J. Mack shooting foul on the other end, saw Klesmit hit a technical free-throw prior to Mack hitting both of his respective free throws at the line to go back up, 40-35. Mack would net Wofford's next six points, after finishing a dish from Patterson and another pair of free throws, as the Terriers saw trio of free throws from Klesmit (1) and Larson (2) to lead 49-40 with 6:51 remaining.
In the midst of the lead, Wofford would be held for scoreless with four turnovers over a four-minute stretch to see a momentum-shifting 9-0 Samford run deadlock the score at 49-49 by the 3:28 mark. Mack nailed a trifecta to reclaim the lead and break the drought, though, Glover answered on the other end (52-52) before Samford's Jacob Tryon managed to convert a pair of free throws to hold a 54-52 edge for its first lead since 16:47 of the first half with just 13.2 seconds left. Max Klesmit would be fouled on the drive the next trip down, converting both at the line to send the contest to overtime at 54-54.
In overtime, Samford's Glover began to impact the game, scoring or assisting on six of the Bulldogs' eight opening points, to lead Samford to a 62-57 advantage with 1:12 remaining. Klesmit came down to drill a three off the helper from Mack to climb within one possession, 62-60 (0:51), though, the Terriers would get a defensive stop to see another Klesmit trey attempt come off the mark with 10 seconds left. Wofford fouled to ultimately see the Bulldogs seal the win at the line for the 65-60 final margin.
The Bulldogs shot 50 percent from the field in the final five minutes en route to finishing 38.3 percent for the game (23-for-60) and 16.7 percent from 3-point range. Samford was led by Ques Glover with 18 points, followed by Jermaine Marshall (15 points, 10 rebounds) and Jacob Tryon (13).
Wofford led for 31:32 of the contest in what was a defensive grudge match for most of the way, seeing the Terriers finish just 30.9 percent from the floor (17-of-55) and 22.2 percent from beyond the arc (6-of-27). The Terriers hit 87 percent of its attempts from the charity stripe on 20-of-23 shooting.
B.J. Mack led the way with his third career double-double and sixth 20-point outing this season with 20 points and 10 rebounds, as Max Klesmit recorded 15 points and matched a season-high seven free throws (7-of-10) to pair with three rebounds and assists apiece.
Senior Ryan Larson added nine points and a career-best 10 rebounds, while freshman Austin Patterson finished with seven points, three assists and two rebounds.
Wofford held a 31-22 advantage at the intermission, as both teams shot just 30 percent in the first half, though, the Terriers' four first-half treys (4-of-17) and 7-for-7 outing at the free-throw line made the difference. Wofford held Samford to just 1-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc (11.1%).
The Terriers held the edge in rebounds on the night, 40-39, though, Samford recorded 11 second-chance points that proved pivotal down the stretch, in addition to tallying 22 points off turnovers and 34 points inside the paint .Wofford (14-11, 6-7 SoCon) returns home to Spartanburg to host Western Carolina at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium on Saturday, Feb. 12. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 PM.
