Greenville, S.C. – Wofford erased a 13-point deficit in the final 10 minutes to edge Furman, 74-70, in the first of two regular season meetings between the teams Saturday at Timmons Arena.
Trailing 59-46 with under 10 minutes to go, the Terriers fashioned a 17-0 run while holding the Paladins scoreless for almost seven minutes to grab a 63-59 lead on Bran Sumpter's basket with 3:16 remaining.
Alex Wilkins converted on a pair of free throws and drained a jumper from the baseline on the next possession to end Furman's drought and tie the game, but Nils Machowski answered for Wofford with a go-ahead triple and Khamare Holmes scored off a Paladin turnover to up the Terrier advantage to 68-63 with 1:07 to go.
Chace Watley answered a pair of Furman scores with a basket and two free throws to give Wofford a 72-67 before the Paladins'
Abijah Franklin responded with a three-pointer to trim the margin to 72-70 with 11 seconds left. Machowski sealed the verdict by sinking two free throws after being fouled on the inbounds pass.
Holmes and Machowski tallied 20 points apiece to lead Wofford while Watley scored 15 points and Sumpter contributed 10 points and 14 rebounds. The Terriers rallied from a 37-30 halftime deficit by shooting 56.7% over the final 20 minutes to finish 29-of-58 from the field. Wofford outscored the Paladins 44-26 in the paint and totaled 18 points off 12 Furman turnovers.
The Paladins shot 43.9% from the floor but connected on just 8-of-29 three-point tries. Down to six scholarship players in the second half, Wilkins and Franklin, a pair of freshmen, led Furman with 19 and 14 points, respectively.
Ben Vander Wal added 10 points and freshman
Cole Bowser pulled down a team-best eight rebounds.
The loss snapped Furman's three-game winning streak and dropped the Paladins to 13-6 overall and 4-2 in Southern Conference play. Wofford improved to 12-7 overall and 4-2 in the conference.
Furman opens a two-game road trip on Wednesday with a 7 p.m. tip-off versus The Citadel in Charleston, S.C., before visiting UNC Greensboro next Saturday at 5 p.m.
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