The Wofford Terriers entered the Southern Conference tournament Sat., Mar. 10 with a record of 26-4, 15-0 in conference as the first seed in the tournament. The Terriers began their weekend in Asheville with a 99-72 victory against the eighth seed Virginia Military Institute Keydets led by second team all-SoCon guard Bubba Parham. The Keydets had to play into the tournament, and Parham was coming off a 41-point explosion against Western Carolina. Parham again tried to carry the Keydets, but fell short despite another valiant effort, finishing with 22 points on 8-20 shooting, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals all without ever turning the ball over. The Terriers proved too much for the Keydets who failed to help Parham out much aside from a decent game from Garrett Gilkeson, who added 11 points and four rebounds.
The Terriers on the other hand, had 6 players score double digits and produce in other areas as well. Nathan Hoover led the team with 17 and 3 rebounds, Chevez Goodwin off the bench provided 14 points, 5 rebounds (4 of which came off the offensive glass) and shoot 7-8 from the field. Keve Aluma flooded the stat sheet with 12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 assists and shot 5-6 from the floor as well. Three terriers all scored 11 points: Fletcher Magee, Cameron Jackson and Storm Murphy. Both Murphy and Magee finished with 3 rebounds, and combined for 7 assists (4 for Murphy, 3 for Magee). Jackson led the team with 8 rebounds and added 2 assists himself.
Coach Mike Young was thrilled with the overall performance his team put up during the game stating, “These guys score like they breathe… We have a lot of guys who can really shoot it, a couple guys in the post who have great hands and great feet, and they’re just big people.” Fletcher Magee, the usual first option of the offense, added, “Any given night, we have a bunch of guys who can come out and get you… We have so many guys who score the ball so efficiently, it makes it a lot easier for everyone because you know you don’t have to go in forcing shots.”
The Terriers continued Sun. with a much closer 81-72 win over the fourth seed East Tennessee State University Buccaneers. The game was intense, even though Wofford gained the lead with 11:36 left in the first and never again lost the lead. ETSU was led by a near double-double effort from Mladen Armus, who finished with 15 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals, and Daivien Williamson, who added another 17 points off the bench. The Terriers, however, watched Fletcher Magee and Cameron Jackson each dominate. Magee finished with 26 points, shooting 10-14 from the field, 6-7 from 3, only missing a wild fallaway from the left wing. Jackson scored 20 points and added 7 rebounds as well as 4 assists. The Terriers never led by much more than a handful of points. At one point, ETSU even cut the difference to just 4 points with 8:39 left in the second half, but the Terriers responded with a momentum killing 3 from Magee to ice the ETSU momentum.
Ensuing plays fully sealed the competitive and hard-fought game, most notably by Magee when he hit a circus and 3-pointer with 3:59 left. Coach Young was asked after the game how he handles the team when Magee begins to heat up like he did that night, and coach answered “It’s not a democracy, we load him up… We don’t get into feelings around here, Hubie Brown I think it was said ‘you run special plays for special players’ and both these guys (Magee and Jackson) are special players, so we tend to run a number of plays for them.”
The Southern Conference Championship game was played on Mon. against the UNCG Spartans. Wofford students loaded the student section from floor to ceiling, taking advantage of short hour-long bus ride which only costed them $5 for a seat and a ticket. They were treated to a tight, come from behind 70-58 victory where Wofford only led for 4 minutes, 3 of which were the final minutes spurned on by a 16-0 run including 9 Wofford free throws.
UNCG led for 33 minutes, Francis Alonzo finished with 21 points and Isaiah Miller added 19 on 8-9 shooting. Wofford looked ready to waver against the bigger UNCG squad, but Nathan Hoover stepped up to supply 20 second half points (5-9 overall, 2-5 from 3, 8-8 from the charity stripe), 5 rebounds and a key steal that all but locked the Spartans out of the ball game.
Until Hoover began cooking, Magee and Jackson steadily contributed all game to hold the Terriers close. Magee finished with 20 points (4-15 overall, 4-13 from 3, 8-9 from the line) and added two steals of his own. Jackson contributed another 15 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals. Coach gave his MVP of the game to Hoover, and while talking about Hoover’s second half, he said, “We were in a bad place, a couple times in that half I’m thinking to myself ‘I don’t know if can get out of here. The he hit a big three, hit eight foul shots and was fouled on two 3’s, he was phenomenal… he put us on his shoulders when you get right down to it.”
With this victory, Wofford has won the Southern Conference Championship five times in the last ten years under Coach Young, despite the slow start he admits his time started with. By winning this tournament, the Terriers have ensured a birth in the NCAA tournament. Selection Sunday occurred just two days ago, and the Terriers’ ranking is now available, but was not during the writing of this article. But where ever they have been placed, it is likely the highest the team has ever been seated.
For the rest of the SoCon, the team with the best shot to make it to the dance is UNCG, who finished the year 28-6, 15-3 in conference. Whether or not they made it to the NCAA tournament is also available at this article’s publication time.
Caption: The team returns home to a joyous Wofford welcome.
