SPARTANBURG, S.C. —Georgia Southern senior Louis Graham scored a career-high 29 points and the Eagles used a solid defensive effort to defeat Wofford 77-66 in Southern Conference men’s basketball action Thursday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena.
GSU wins for the sixth time in the last seven games and improves to 18-8 and 11-5 in conference play. Wofford drops to 14-12 and 7-9.
“I thought we played really well with a lot of poise on the road,” said GSU head coach Jeff Price. “I thought our defense was tremendous and we had a lot of carry-over from the Chattanooga game which is what we wanted to see.”
The Eagles held Wofford, the league’s most accurate 3-point shooting team to 2-for-19 from long-range. The Terriers didn’t make their first ‘3’ until the 11:05 mark of the second half.
“Our whole gameplan coming in was we had to limit their 3-point shots,” said Price. “They got some easy things around the basket, but I’d rather give up 2s than 3s. We did a really nice job of fanning out on their shooters.”
Wofford used a 7-2 run midway through the second half to pull within three, 53-50, with 8:52 to play. The three-point deficit was the closest the Terriers had been since the 11:32 mark in the first half, but Graham answered with a trifecta on GSU’s next possession to start an 11-3 run and help the Eagles pull away.
“I thought (our defense) was great,” said Price. “It was really good in the first half. In the second half we had a spell where we let up some, but I thought the key point in the game was they made a run to 53-50 and we started locking down again on defense and pulled away.”
Once Noah Dahlman pulled the Terriers to within three, the GSU defense permitted just one field goal over the next 3:36.
Graham reached the 20-point plateau for the fourth time in his last six outings and the seventh in his last 12. He hit all four of his 3-point attempts.
“He was tremendous,” said Price. “When he’s shooting the ball like that from the perimeter, he’s really difficult to handle. His effort was great and he was really efficient on the offensive end of the floor.”
Georgia Southern senior Dwayne Foreman dished out a season-high 11 assists and had only one of the team’s three turnovers.
“That might be the best turnover game since I’ve been here in nine years,” said Price. “We did a tremendous job of taking care of the ball and it was an outstanding job by Dwayne Foreman – 11 assists and one turnover.”
Dahlman led the Terriers with 13 points and Drew Gibson had 11.
The Eagles return to action Saturday when they host Elon at 7:30 p.m.
GSU wins for the sixth time in the last seven games and improves to 18-8 and 11-5 in conference play. Wofford drops to 14-12 and 7-9.
“I thought we played really well with a lot of poise on the road,” said GSU head coach Jeff Price. “I thought our defense was tremendous and we had a lot of carry-over from the Chattanooga game which is what we wanted to see.”
The Eagles held Wofford, the league’s most accurate 3-point shooting team to 2-for-19 from long-range. The Terriers didn’t make their first ‘3’ until the 11:05 mark of the second half.
“Our whole gameplan coming in was we had to limit their 3-point shots,” said Price. “They got some easy things around the basket, but I’d rather give up 2s than 3s. We did a really nice job of fanning out on their shooters.”
Wofford used a 7-2 run midway through the second half to pull within three, 53-50, with 8:52 to play. The three-point deficit was the closest the Terriers had been since the 11:32 mark in the first half, but Graham answered with a trifecta on GSU’s next possession to start an 11-3 run and help the Eagles pull away.
“I thought (our defense) was great,” said Price. “It was really good in the first half. In the second half we had a spell where we let up some, but I thought the key point in the game was they made a run to 53-50 and we started locking down again on defense and pulled away.”
Once Noah Dahlman pulled the Terriers to within three, the GSU defense permitted just one field goal over the next 3:36.
Graham reached the 20-point plateau for the fourth time in his last six outings and the seventh in his last 12. He hit all four of his 3-point attempts.
“He was tremendous,” said Price. “When he’s shooting the ball like that from the perimeter, he’s really difficult to handle. His effort was great and he was really efficient on the offensive end of the floor.”
Georgia Southern senior Dwayne Foreman dished out a season-high 11 assists and had only one of the team’s three turnovers.
“That might be the best turnover game since I’ve been here in nine years,” said Price. “We did a tremendous job of taking care of the ball and it was an outstanding job by Dwayne Foreman – 11 assists and one turnover.”
Dahlman led the Terriers with 13 points and Drew Gibson had 11.
The Eagles return to action Saturday when they host Elon at 7:30 p.m.
