National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Wofford 67, Furman 64
When: 7:00 PM ET, Monday, March 9, 2015
Where: U.S. Cellular Center, Ashevillle, North Carolina
Officials: # Ray Natili, # Ted Valentine, # Vladimir Voyard-Tadal
Attendance: 5153

Wofford 67, Furman 64: Lee Skinner scored 17 points as the top-seeded Terriers held off the 10th-seeded Paladins at Asheville N.C., to win the Southern Conference championship game and claim the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Eric Garcia scored 15 points and Karl Cochran added 11 for Wofford (28-6), which will be playing in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in six seasons. Garcia hit two free throws to give the Terriers a 67-64 lead with 12 seconds left and Cochran blocked Devin Sibley’s ensuing tying 3-point attempt as Wofford won its eighth straight game.

Geoff Beans scored 15 points on five 3-pointers and Stephen Croone added 14 points for Furman (11-22), which went 9-of-15 from 3-point range. Daniel Fowler scored 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting and Kendrec Ferrara had 10 points as the Paladins had a three-game winning streak snapped.

Wofford led by five before Beans drained his fourth 3-pointer with 10:55 remaining, knocked down his fifth from the right corner to tie it at 56 with 9:25 left and Croone followed with a jumper to put Furman ahead. Another basket by Croone put the Paladins on top by two with 5:36 left before Cochran hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 4:02 remaining and Garcia added another from behind the arc to give the Terriers a 64-60 edge with 2:32 to play.

Despite losing leading rebounder Kris Acox to an ankle injury early in the contest, the Paladins were able to hang with Wofford by shooting 59.1 percent from the field. Skinner had 13 first-half points on 5-of-5 shooting for the Terriers and the teams were tied at 36 entering the break.
Top Game Performances
 
Furman   Wofford
Geoff Beans 15 Scoring Lee Skinner 17
John Davis III 4 Assists Karl Cochran 2
Stephen Croone 5 Rebounds C.J. Neumann 8
Stephen Croone 3 Free Throws Made Lee Skinner 5
Stephen Croone 1 Steals C.J. Neumann 1
Kris Acox 2 Blocks Karl Cochran 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Furman 64 52.2 9-15 7-8 10 18 4 3 10
Wofford 67 43.1 6-20 17-21 8 29 7 3 8