Wofford Downs Men’s Basketball 71-57 in SoCon Semifinals

Sunday, March 9

Asheville, N.C.

8:30 p.m.

Georgia Southern University

15-19

Wofford

19-12

Georgia Southern

Wofford

Brian Holmes scored 14 points in his final game as an Eagle.

3/9/2014 11:17:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Marc Gignac

| Final Stats (PDF) | Postgame Press Conference | Game Highlights

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Lee Skinner recorded 15 points, 12 rebounds and five assists to lead Wofford to a 71-57 victory over Georgia Southern in the semifinal round of the Southern Conference Men's Basketball Tournament Sunday night in the U.S. Cellular Center.

Brian Holmes and Tre Bussey each scored 14 points to lead Georgia Southern. Jelani Hewitt scored seven points, and Marvin Baynham collected six points and eight rebounds. Angel Matias finished with six points and a team-high nine boards.

Karl Cochran posted 14 points, including a pair of big 3-pointers, and six rebounds for Wofford, which advances to the SoCon Championship game against Western Carolina Monday night. Eric Garcia scored 12 points, and Spencer Collins chipped in 11 points and five rebounds.

Georgia Southern got down by 15 early to the Terriers, but an 8-3 run, keyed by four points from Bussey and capped by a jumper by Matias, trimmed the lead down to 10 with 18 seconds left in the first half.

Cochran halted the spurt by nailing a 3-ball from the top of the key as the buzzer sounded to end the half, giving the Terriers a 33-20 cushion at halftime, and Wofford scored the first six points if the second frame to open a 19-point cushion.

"I thought we had a couple of layups and shots around the rim early on that we didn't convert that would have settled us down," said Georgia Southern coach Mark Byington. "Then we started taking some shots that put more pressure on our defense, when maybe if we could have been a little more patient on offense, it might have helped our defense."

The margin grew to as many as 23 points before the Eagles made a late run. Georgia Southern scored on five straight possessions, and Holmes scored five points in a 14-6 spurt that cut the lead to 62-48 with 4:05 remaining.

Collins stopped the run with a layup for Wofford, and after Baynham got a tip-in for the Eagles, Cochran hit a 25-footer from the wing as the shot clock expired to make the score 67-50 with 1:37 left and put the game away.

"The guys gave terrific effort and really kept battling," said Byington. "I think with it being our third game in three days, their mind was telling their legs to go, and their legs weren't going."

The Eagles struggled from the floor in the first half and shot 28 percent, missing 10 in a row at one point, and went 0-for-4 from the 3-point line. The Terriers used a 19-4 run over 7:41 to open a 23-8 lead as Garcia hit two triples during the stretch.

The Terriers shot 49 percent from the field in the contest and held the Eagles to 37 percent, including 4-of-16 from beyond the arc.

Georgia Southern sees its season come to an end with a 15-19 record. The Eagles will return leading scorer Hewitt along with three more of their top-6 scorers in Angel Matias, Curtis Diamond and Kyle Doyle. Georgia Southern will also return 2012-13 leading scorer and rebounder Eric Ferguson to next season's roster.

"I'm proud of this team; they gave me everything they had," said Byington. "They put a lot into laying the foundation of this program. We're going to get this program going, and they will be a big reason why."

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