No. 6 Wofford, No. 5 Furman advance to the SoCon semifinals

No. 6 Wofford 72, No. 3 ETSU 60

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Sixth-seeded Wofford put on a three-point shooting clinic, one that carried the Terriers to a 72-60 upset of No. 3 ETSU in a quarterfinal game of the Southern Conference Men's Basketball Championship Tournament Saturday at Harrah's Cherokee Center.

Wofford made four threes in the first half, which ended in a 27-27 tie. It was the second half in which the Terriers really went wild from beyond the arc.

Senior guard Jackson Sivills buried back-to-back three-pointers to open the second half, giving Wofford a 33-27 lead. Teammate Luke Flynn followed with two of his own, the second which increased the Terriers' lead to 43-36.

ETSU got back into the game with some nifty long-range shooting of its own and took a 46-45 lead on a three by Quimari Peterson with 12:39 left. Soon after Maki Johnson added another to push the Bucs' lead to four.

Wofford, though, wasn't finished from long range. With the score knotted at 54-54, Justin Bailey was fouled as he hit a tough three from well behind the arc. He then added the free throw for a four-point play and a 58-54 lead with 4:57 remaining.

Wofford made 7-of-15 threes in the second half and finished 11-of-27 for the game (40.7 percent). ETSU made 7-of-27 (31.8 percent).

Sivills finished 4-of-6 from long range and led Wofford with 17 points. Corey Tripp and Justin Bailey made two 3-pointers each and finished with 10 points. Kyler Filewich added 13 points for Wofford.

Peterson made three shots from long distance for ETSU and led all scorers with 22 points. 

The Terriers will play No. 7 VMI in a semifinal on Sunday at 6:30 p.m.

Records: Wofford 17-15, ETSU 9-13.

STATS TO KNOW

- Wofford and ETSU are now 2-2 against each other in SoCon Tournament play.

- Wofford scored 17 second-chance points. ETSU finished with 11.

- Kyler Filewich, Justin Bailey and Corey Tripp had three assists each for Wofford.

******

No. 5 Furman 95, No. 4 Samford 78

ASHEVILLE, N.C.-- No. 5 seed Furman erupted for 57 second-half points to break open a close game and cruise to a 95-78 victory over No.  4 Samford in a quarterfinal game of the Southern Conference Men's Basketball Championship Tournament at Harrah's Cherokee Center Saturday night.

Leading 38-36 at halftime, the Paladins' offense was virtually unstoppable as they made 10-of-15 three-pointers from the field in the final 20 minutes. They finished with 17 makes from beyond the arc, just one shy of tying the SoCon Tournament record for a game. Overall Furman made 29-of-49 field-goal attempts for 59.2 percent.

The trio of Tom House, Nick Anderson and PJay Smith combined to make 16-of-25 threes for the game. Anderson led the Paladins with 26 points, draining 6-of-9 shots from behind the arc. House was 6-of-7 on three-point attempts and scored 21, while Smith made all of his threes in the second half and scored 24 points. He was 4-of-9 on three-point tries.

Josh Holloway led Samford with 21 points.

Furman advanced to the semifinals where it will play top-seeded Chattanooga on Sunday at 4 p.m.

Records: Furman 24-8, Samford 22-10

STATS TO KNOW

- Even with 95 points Furman fell well short of its all-time high in the SoCon Tournament. The 1972 team scored 126 in a quarterfinal win over VMI in 1972.

- The 17 made three-pointers fell one shy of the Paladins' season high. They made 18 in a win over Mercer on Feb. 12.

- Furman had 10 turnovers in the first half and just six after.

2025 Ingles Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Championship
Friday, March 7 (ESPN+/Nexstar)
Game 1 - (8) Mercer 67, (9) Western Carolina 66
Game 2 - (7) VMI 73, (10) The Citadel 62
 
Saturday, March 8 (ESPN+)
Game 3 - (1) Chattanooga 76, (8) Mercer 61
Game 4 - (7) VMI 64, (2) UNCG 57

Game 5 - (6) Wofford 72, (3) ETSU 60

Game 6 - (5) Furman 95, (4) Samford 78
 
Sunday, March 9 (ESPNU)
Game 7 - (1) Chattanooga vs. (5) Furman, 4 p.m.
Game 8 - (7) VMI vs. (6) Wofford, 6:30 p.m.
 
Monday, March 10 (ESPN or ESPN2)
Championship game, 7 p.m.