The Terriers had their seven-game win streak snapped by SoCon-leading ETSU on Saturday night.
Wofford basketball head coach Mike Young looked up at the Southern Conference banners hanging high over his shoulder.
“It’s January,” he said. “They don’t hang any of those things up there in January.”
If they did, East Tennessee State could have put one up as soon as the Buccaneers got back to Johnson City, Tenn. They came to Spartanburg and ran their league record to 9-0 Saturday night, 18-4 overall, with a 75-62 victory over the Terriers at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium.
“Round one goes to the Buccaneers,” Young said. “We’ll look forward to the coming games.”
If it is indeed games — plural — instead of just the one Feb. 23, two days before the end of the regular season, it would come in the Southern Conference tournament. The Terriers (15-6, 6-2) still believe they are on a collision course. They had won seven straight games and 10 straight at home.
East Tennessee State came in even hotter. The Bucs won their 12th straight game and the only defeat in the past 17 was to 10th-ranked Xavier. One of the other three losses was to Kentucky.
“They make you work,” Young said. “They are really smart, they are prepared and I admire their basketball IQ. They have a lot of guys in that outfit that know how the game is supposed to play out.”
ETSU took the lead midway through the first half and never gave it back. The Bucs made seven of eight shots, five in the post and two 3-pointers, and went from behind by one to ahead by nine. Wofford stayed close, however. The Terriers were down by six at the half and by five with seven minutes remaining after a 3-pointer by Fletcher Magee.
“We could never quite get over the hump,” Young said. “East Tennessee had a lot to do with it.”
That’s when ETSU delivered the knockout. Desonta Bradford hit back-to-back 3-pointers, staring down the first row of Wofford fans after the first one and then nodding to his own fans cheering on the other side after the second. He added two driving layups, including an acrobatic reverse to make it 71-59 with less than three minutes left.
Bradford scored 13 of his team-best 17 points down the stretch. Off the ETSU bench, Jalan McCloud scored 16, while Devantavious Payne and Mladen Armus both had 11.
Magee led the Wofford with 21 points and made four steals. He was 5-for-12 on 3-pointers, but he never seemed to have an open look at the basket. The Terriers shot 37 percent (compared to 53 percent by ETSU) and were 4-for-14 on 3-pointers in the second half.
“Make everything tough for them,” Bradford said of the gameplan. “They shoot a lot of threes. So make sure every three they shot, every bucket they shot, somebody was contesting it. …(Magee) is a good player. He is one of the top scorers in this league, maybe the top scorer in this league. We knew we had to make everything tough for him and not let him get going.”
Wofford junior center Cameron Jackson missed his second straight game. He is in concussion protocol after being knocked to the floor last week against Chattanooga. Jackson is averaging 12.2 points and 6.3 rebounds. He also leads the Southern Conference in steals and blocked shots.
Without him, the Terriers were outscored, 36-18, in the paint. Making the start in Jackson’s place, Matt Pegram did have 10 points, including the first four of the game. Senior guard Derrick Brooks led Wofford with eight rebounds.
“It’s hard (without Jackson),” Young said. “But I will take absolutely nothing away from East Tennessee. I think East Tennessee beats us with Cameron, as significant of a contributor as he is. We’ll get him back soon. But that takes nothing away from the Buccaneers. They were clearly the better team tonight.”
Wofford hosts Western Carolina at 7 p.m. Monday. The Terriers then have back-to-back road games at The Citadel and Mercer.