Men’s basketball traveled to Spartanburg, South Carolina, on Saturday to face the Wofford College Terriers in their first SoCon game of the season. The Bucs fell short to the Terriers 79-62 and now hold a conference record of 0-1.
“It being the first SoCon game in a sold-out arena, it’s going to be big for us, and it will tell us exactly where we are and what we need to do moving forward,” said sophomore Patrick Good (Johnson City, Tennessee).
The Terriers had the first basket of the game, but within seconds the Bucs came back with a jump shot in the paint made by junior Tray Boyd III (Memphis, Tennessee).
From there it was a tight back-and-forth battle for the lead. Good would make three back-to-back free throws to gain the lead of 13-12, before the Terriers would make their breakaway, with a lead of 20-15, and the Bucs unable to catch up the rest of the first half.
A three-pointer made by junior Isaiah Tisdale (Lexington, Kentucky) would leave the Bucs trailing just two points shy of tying the scoreboard, but another jump shot from the Terriers would advance the lead that would continue through the end of the first half with a score of 33-29.
“They’ve got some really good 3-point shooters,” said head coach Steve Forbes. “I think we’ve got really good inside players, and we’ve got good guards that are starting to play really well. So I think it’s a good match up, and we’ve just got to execute our game plan better than they do.”
The Terriers would start the second half with a layup followed by a 3-pointer leading the score 38-29. The Bucs showed great effort in attempts to catch up and tie the score.
A three-pointer by Boyd and two free throws by sophomore Mladen Armus (Belgrade, Serbia) would put the Bucs one point behind the Terriers at 53-54, but again the Terriers would continue to advance the lead leaving the Bucs trailing 79-62 at the end of the second half.
Men’s basketball will return home to play non-conference school Reinhardt on Monday, Dec. 3.
