By: Cat Martin, Contributing Writer
The Wofford men’s basketball team ended the season with an overall conference record of 11-7. They faced a tough season ending, losing the first round in the Southern Conference tournament to Western Carolina. However, the team still finished strong taking the 4th spot in the Southern Conference men’s basketball standings.
The terriers battled it out in their last game versus Western Carolina, going into double overtime. The team kept up their fight until the last second but suffered a loss at 88-83.
Senior Justin Gordon says, “The mentality we had for the game was just to be tough and to be the attacker all game both defensively and offensively. The mental toughness was needed throughout the game as there were high and low points in regulation and in overtime.”
This game was the last for Gordon as well as fellow seniors Spencer Collins, C.J. Neumann and Zach Korkowski. Collins finished his season scoring a total of 473 points and averaging 14.8 points per game. Gordon played in all 32 games and finished with a field goal percentage of .486.
Commenting on his last game and on the season, Gordon says, “I thought we grew a lot as a team, even though we didn’t get the results we were hoping for. It’s tough ending on a loss. It’s a foreign feeling to me really. I feel like there’s something I can do to change that, like another game or something, even though it’s actually over.”
Although he will be graduating from Wofford and from his team, Gordon mentions that he hopes for nothing but the best for his teammates next year.
Taking the lead as rising seniors will be Jaylen Allen, Eric Garcia and Ryan Sawvell. All three of these players competed in at least 30 games this past season and contributed greatly to the team’s success.
Also greatly contributing to the team was freshman Fletcher MaGee, who finished with a free throw percentage of .925 and a 3-pt field goal percentage of .479. Magee also received the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year award.
The terriers won 8 out of the 9 conference games played at home this season and averaged 71.8 points per game. In just a few weeks, the team will start its preparation for 2016-2017 season.