Eagles Blister Nets from 3-Point Range but Lose at Wofford
2/14/2009 5:28:00 AM | Men's Basketball
SPARTANBURG, S.C. ? Georgia Southern blistered the nets from long range in the second half, making a run at completely erasing Wofford's 20-point lead, but the Terriers made 12-of-16 free throws in the final two minutes to hold on for an 82-75 win Saturday night (Feb. 14). With the loss Georgia Southern falls to 7-17 overall, 5-11 in the Southern Conference.
Down 12 at the half, the Eagles came out firing as their first five made field goals were all from long range. Antonio Hanson (Fort Worth, TX/Independence CC) drained three ?3s' and Tyler Troupe (Gallatin, TN/Iowa Western CC) nailed two. However, Wofford kept on answering and took its largest lead of the game at 45-25 with 16:29 remaining.
The Eagles hit 11-of-18 from long distance (61.1 percent) over the final 20 minutes. Colby Wohlleb (Boca Raton, FL/Boca Raton) hit four 3-pointers, Hanson had three, Troupe and Ben Drayton III (St. Marys/Camden County) made two each. Overall, the 13 3-pointers were the second-most this year (13-of-24, 54.2 percent).
Down 17 with 4:25 left, Drayton nailed a three and Wohlleb hit back-to-back treys to key a 9-0 run and make it 70-62 with 2:10 remaining. That's when Wofford started connecting from the charity stripe.
With 67 seconds left, Drayton made the first of a 1-and-1 but missed the second. Troupe got the rebound and was immediately fouled. He sank the first to make it an eight-point game with just over a minute. That would be the closest the Eagles would get until Jeb Brannen (Register/Pinewood Christian) scored his first collegiate points on a putback off a missed shot for the final margin.
“We need to learn to play 40 minutes. We can't afford to fall behind like we did tonight. We dug too big of a hole at the start of the second half,” said head coach Jeff Price. “I'll give our guys credit, we fought back to get back into the game. But we spent a lot of energy in the comeback that we just didn't have enough at the end, and to Wofford's credit they made their free throws.”
Wofford (12-12, 8-7) scored the opening basket but the Eagles responded with a 3-pointer from Hanson and basket from Kenith Ward (Warner Robins/Northside).
Krzysztof Janiszewski (Dzierzoniow, Poland) hit a jumper in the lane to cut the deficit to 17-15 with 10 minutes left in the half. From there the Eagles went cold, getting a 3-pointer from Troupe with just under six minutes remaining and jumper from Sandy Perry (Perth Amboy, N.J./Barton County CC) coming out of the four-minute media timeout. Wofford staged a 12-3 run to take control.
Perry finished with eight points in the first half as the Eagles shot 36 percent in the first half. Drayton hit the team's only free throw attempts in the half.
Wofford hit five 3-pointers and shot 43.3 percent for the half. The Terriers also held a 21-16 edge on the glass, 10-6 on the offensive end.
Troupe scored 15 of his game-high 20 points in the second half, the second time this year he scored 20-plus. Drayton finished with 17 points and season-high eight assists.
Wohlleb and Hanson added 12 points each, all from long range. Overall the Eagles shot 47.5 percent from the game and 6-of-8 at the free throw line.
The Terriers also had the hot hand in the second half, 70.6 percent (12-of-17 field goals) good for a 53.2 percentage for the game. Wofford hit 22-of-33 free throws and held a 36-30 edge on the glass. The Eagles committed one more turnover (14-13), but only turned the ball over five times in the second half.
Noah Dahlman and Kevin Giltner scored 17 points each for the Terriers.
The Eagles return to action on Thursday (Feb. 19) at home against the College of Charleston. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
