Wofford pulls away from GWU with strong second half

By Jacob Conley (@gwujake)

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. — The Wofford Terriers rebounded from one of their worst losses of the season Monday night, beating a struggling Gardner-Webb team on the road at Paul Porter Arena, 83-57.

Wofford shot nearly 57 percent in the second half to pull away from a GWU side that was competitive in the first 20 minutes.

“It boiled down to we made shots and got stops in the second half,” first-year Wofford head coach Kevin Giltner said. “We did not get nearly enough stops in the first half, and we made adjustments and the guys came out and executed.”

Gardner-Webb raced to an early 7-2 lead behind four points from Jacob Hogarth. Wofford responded with a 10-0 run and by the time Chace Watley hit a pair of threes, the Terriers led, 17-11. The visitors stayed hot as Luke Flynn hit a triple. GWU walk-on Bo Barber, who just joined the team a few days ago, converted a three-point play, but the Runnin’ Bulldogs still trailed, 24-14, at the under-8 media timeout.

Hogarth garnered a pair of paint points to cut the deficit to 26-20, but Flynn hit a three. By the time he hit another, Wofford had its biggest lead at 34-20. Spence Sims hit a trey and Hogarth scored in the paint before Ace Talbert beat the halftime buzzer with a layup. That 7-0 run by the Bulldogs saw GWU close to within 34-27 at the break.

Wofford began to slowly build its lead to start the second half, leading 46-35 on a Watley jumper. Cayden Vasko hit a three as the GWU deficit grew to 54-39 with 11:29 left in the game. Jacob Hudson stopped the bleeding with a driving layup and Hogarth converted a three-point play, but the Bulldogs could not get a stop on the defensive end. A Vasko three-point play gave Wofford a 67-48 lead with 7:06 left, and the Terriers continued to pull away for the victory.

NO STANDOUTS: Giltner says there were no standouts for his team during the game, but quickly added that that was a good thing. The Terriers placed five players in double figures, but no one had more than 15 points (Kahmare Holmes).

“That’s the kind of balance you love to see as a coach,” he said. “It was a team win, for sure. We also got strong production off of the bench. No one player overshadowed the other, and that’s a good thing.”

LOOKING FOR CONSISTENCY: As has been the case for much of the season, Gardner-Webb looks like a solid team for long stretches of a game, only to fall apart.

“I thought we did some really good things, particularly in the first half,” head coach Jeremy Luther said. “We were in some really good spots offensively, but we didn’t make enough shots. In the second half, they made a run to open up a bit of a lead, and as young teams do, we got away from what was working and tried to get it all back at once. These guys work so hard in practice and you can see the pieces during the game. We just haven’t put it all together yet. We just need to find that consistency.”

GLASS CLEANER: One of the biggest differences in the game was rebounding. Wofford doubled up GWU in that category, 46-23, getting third and fourth chances to score on numerous occasions. As a result, the Terriers dominated second-chance points, 21-4.

UP NEXT: Wofford (7-4) travels to Wichita State on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., while Gardner-Webb (1-12) will host its Education Day game on Thursday morning at 11 a.m. vs. Toccoa Falls.