Field Level Media
Mar 10, 2019
Fletcher Magee made his first six 3-point attempts and finished with 26 points as No. 22 Wofford defeated East Tennessee State 81-72 in the Southern Conference Tournament semifinals Sunday in Asheville, N.C.
Cameron Jackson added 20 as Wofford held off several mini-rallies from the Buccaneers.
The top-seeded Terriers (28-4) meet the winner of the UNC Greensboro-Furman game in Monday night's championship tilt with an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament at stake.
Nathan Hoover added 10 points for Wofford, which has won a school-record 19 straight games.
Fletcher has 498 career 3-point baskets, putting him six away from matching the Division I record.
Magee's shooting was part of Wofford's 10-for-18 rate from long range in the semifinal game. He made 6 of 7 on 3s and shot 10-for-14 from the field.
Daivien Williamson scored 17 points, Mladen Armus had 15 points, Tray Boyd III added 13 points and Isaiah Tisdale notched 12 points for fourth-seeded East Tennessee State (24-9), which had forced an overtime game with the Terriers last month.
Wofford gained a double-digit lead for the first time at 51-40 with slightly more than 12 minutes to play.
East Tennessee State cut the gap to 51-45 before Wofford rebuilt its lead and went up 72-60.
Trailing 78-72, the Bucs had a chance to make it tighter but came up empty.
Wofford's 7-for-18 free-throw shooting prevented a more comfortable margin down the stretch.
Boosted by 54.4-percent shooting from the field, Wofford held a 37-30 halftime lead. Magee scored the last five points of the half.
East Tennessee State shot 34.4 percent from the field and committed 11 turnovers in the first half.
Williamson, a reserve, posted 12 first-half points for the Bucs. Backups accounted for 19 of the team's 30 first-half points.
East Tennessee State had won five of its previous six games. It had reached the tournament's championship game last season. Sunday marked the fourth consecutive year it appeared in the semifinal round.
--Field Level Media