Tribe Outlasts Terriers on a Festive Saturday

When you have two young boys, weekends during the holiday season revolve around Christmas light shows and various other festive events.  Such was the case this weekend for my family.   Friday night was the "Lights Before Christmas" at the Riverbanks Zoo, which showcases nearly a million lights in the zoo setting, plus if you're lucky, you get to see a tiger pace about during the night setting.

Several days ago, I was looking for a college basketball game in the area to watch on Saturday.  It's not quite the same in South Carolina as it was in New York.  In New York, I had several local schools - Hofstra, Stony Brook, St John's, Iona, Manhattan, Wagner and LIU Brooklyn, to name a few, all located within a hour's drive.  Plus, I had a quick train trip to New York City to see many games at Madison Square Garden.

There are a lot of Division I schools in South Carolina - South Carolina, Clemson, College of Charleston, Charleston Southern, Coastal Carolina, The Citadel, Winthrop, Wofford, USC Upstate, Presbyterian and Furman.   The problem is outside of the University of South Carolina, where I work, the closest school to me is Winthrop, which is over an hour away by car (Presbyterian is a very close second).   In fact, Charlotte and Davidson are closer to me than say Wofford or USC Upstate.

So, unless USC is playing a home game, other Division I Men's Basketball weeknight games in South Carolina are very difficult for me to cover (and that's while I will be covering more USC women's games, plus the fact that they are a good team). If I am going to see a non USC college basketball game, it's going to be on the weekend.

Thus, when the opportunity came up to see William and Mary play at Wofford, I knew my color analyst, aka my older son Matthew would go with me.  The trick was trying to make it into a festive event trip so that my wife and my younger son could go as well.   Sure enough, Hollywild Park, a wildlife park located 25 minutes from Wofford in Inman, South Carolina, is having their annual "Holiday Lights Safari Benefit".  I was able to convince Chelle to bring Jonathan for the ninety minute drive from our house to Spartanburg, where Wofford is located.

Wofford plays in the Southern Conference, a conference that spans five states; North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama.  Wofford is one of three colleges from South Carolina in the conference, with the other two being The Citadel and Furman.

The Southern Conference is in a state of flux as four current members will be leaving after this college basketball season; Davidson (A-10), Appalachian State (Sun Belt),  Georgia Southern (Sun Belt) and Elon (CAA).  They will be replaced by East Tennessee State, Mercer and VMI.  The SoCon, as it is affectionately known, already lost the College of Charleston to the CAA this season.

We got to the campus parking lot about thirty minutes before game time.  This was my second time here, having gone to a Davidson-Wofford game last season.  The Johnson Arena is located in the Campus Life Building on the campus of Wofford.  This time, we passed up lunch in the student cafe and headed to our seats in the East section of Johnson Arena.  As I noted in last year's post, there are two wings to Johnson Arena and they are only interconnected by a hallway inside the Campus Life Building.  Thus, if you are on the west wing, you have to walk that hallway to get to the East wing section of the arena.

I had purchased our tickets for the game online only a few hours before we left for Spartanburg.  Having remembered the arena, there is a reserved section with individual seats and the general admission area which is wood bleacher seats.  The nice thing is that the price of a reserved seat is only a couple of dollars more than a general admission seat.  So it is worth the extra two bucks to sit in more comfort, especially when you luck out and have front row seats as we did yesterday.   It also gave us a great view of the school choir that sang a nice rendition of the national anthem before the start of the game.

For Matt and me, it was our second William and Mary game in the span of about ten days.  The Tribe had won at home by thirty points over VMI on Thanksgiving Eve.  And they did it in large part due to their new found inside game, jumping out to a 30-11 lead by working the ball inside to "Beasthoven", senior forward Tim Rusthoven.

After Jaylen Allen gave the Terriers an early 2-0 lead, William and Mary used that aforementioned inside game to score the next four points on a a Kyle Gaillard layup and a Beasthoven jumper.  After each team missed their next three shots, Wofford's Lee Skinner hit a jumper to tie the game at four.

During the first media timeout, Wofford had their usual "Cheeseburger in Paradise" promotion, in which the cheerleaders handout/toss free McDonald's cheeseburgers to the crowd.  Sure enough, Jonathan and I got free cheeseburgers (I got one the last time I was at Wofford).   I think Jonathan was happier with the free fries coupon that came with the cheeseburgers.

Scoring would become even more a premium over the next ten minutes.  During this time, the Tribe outscored the Terriers 15-6.   Outside of a Marcus Thornton three, William and Mary scored all their points on either layups or free throws, as they continued to work their inside game on Wofford.  With about six and a half minutes left in the first half, the Tribe were up 19-10.

Johnson Arena is not a very large arena.  It's really more a nice, small gym that seats about thirty five hundred.  Yesterday, the announced attendance was a little more than a thousand and it certainly seemed sparse.

However, Johnson Arena holds sound well.  Really well.  And when the Terriers went on 11-2 spurt over the next four minutes, the Wofford fans showed Coach Tony Shaver and the rest of the Tribe of William and Mary just how loud Johnson Arena can be, even with only a thousand fans.  When Terriers' guard, Indiana Faithfull, an Australian senior with a name that the movie "Hoosiers" would love, tied the game with at twenty one with two free throws, the arena had the atmosphere of a sold out, first place on the line conference game.  And the game would enter halftime tied at twenty seven.

What I have always loved about mid major basketball games is often there is unique halftime entertainment. Yesterday was no exception as the crowd was entertained by a middle school stepping team.  They were quite good and received a loud ovation from the fans. 

As I noted earlier, I was here in February as Davidson defeated Wofford.  But in that game, Spencer Collins, a freshman at the time, really impressed me with his play.  He had a career high 24 points in that loss to the Wildcats, going 10 of 19 from the field.  Now a sophomore, Collins is leading his team in scoring, averaging 14.4 points per game.  And Collins came out strong in the second half, hitting a three pointer to give Wofford their first lead since the first minute of the game, 30-27.

But Beasthoven, the Tribe's third leading scorer at 13.7 points per game, would score five straight points for William and Mary.  His three point play put the Tribe back up 37-34. A short time thereafter, Gaillard buried a three pointer to put William and Mary up four, 40-36.

The Tribe went cold though for the next three and a half minutes missing two shots and committing two turnovers.  The Terriers took advantage with a 7-0 mini-spurt, capped by an Allen jumper to give Wofford a 43-40 lead.  Allen would hit another jumper later to maintain the Terriers three point lead, 45-42 with eleven minutes left.

But William and Mary would respond with their own mini-spurt, a 10-3 run, as they continued to work the ball inside.  Terry Tarpey hit one of two free throws to give the Tribe a 52-48 lead with 6:15 left.  William and Mary had chances to extend the lead but the Tribe missed four free throws over the next four and half minutes.  And Wofford took advantage, tying the game at 57 on a Collins three pointer with a minute and a half left in regulation.

But after the Terriers called timeout, the Tribe's Julian Boatner hit a sweet layup to put William and Mary up 59-57 with 1:25 left.  But again, the Tribe missed opportunities at the free throw line to extend the lead.  Gaillard and Boatner each only hit one of two free throws to put William and Mary up four 61-57 with thirty five seconds left.  Faithfull made them pay with a three point play to cut the lead to one, 61-60 with thirty seconds left.

All the missed free throws would seemingly haunt the Tribe after Omar Prewitt lost the ball in the backcourt, giving the Terriers a chance for the last shot and the victory.  But Allen missed an open look jumper with six seconds left and Wofford was forced to foul Gaillard with one second left.  This time, Gaillard hit both free throws and William and Mary escaped with a 63-60 win.

Beasthoven led all scorers with seventeen points and Thornton added fifteen points for the Tribe. William and Mary, who have now won four of their last five games, shot fifty six percent from the field including a blistering 19 of 29 from inside the arc. The Tribe did hurt themselves only shooting 13 of 22 from the free throw line (fifty nine percent).

Collins led the Terriers with fifteen points, but he was only 4 of 16 from the field, though he was 5 of 6 from the line.  Allen added thirteen points and guard Karl Cochran, all six foot one of him, nearly had a double double with eleven points and nine rebounds.  Wofford had fourteen more shots than William and Mary, but made two less field goals and only shot thirty eight percent for the game.  Shooting 14 of 18 from the charity stripe kept the Terriers in the game.

After we left Wofford, we went out to dinner and then went to Hollywild Park to see the light display, as well as watch deer, cows and zebra walk up and put their heads in cars for a slice of bread.  My family and I tried to get a couple of cows and some deer to walk up to our car, but the sheer number of cars there were scaring off the deer. Later we visited "Santa's Village" as Matthew and Jonathan got to play with puppies and baby deer.  

It was a very fun, festive Saturday and it was centered around another good college basketball game.  Who says the world doesn't revolve around college basketball?

Davidson Holds Off Wofford...Again

After the Georgia-South Carolina game, I got in my car and made the now familiar drive from the Gamecocks' campus to Huger Street then up to I-26. This time I was not getting off at the always crowded Harbison Boulevard exit. No, I was heading up to Spartanburg to see Wofford host Davidson.

It seems the magical time range for any of my basketball road trips so far is ninety minutes (I can make Charlotte in that time frame with my lead foot) to two and a half hours (Coastal Carolina). The trip from Columbia to Spartanburg is ninety minutes. I was debating whether to stop along the way for dinner or find a place near campus. To what I thought was my eventual chagrin, I chose the latter. Along the way though, I saw the exit for Presbyterian College, one of my eventual Big South Conference destinations.

The exit for Wofford College is Route 221, which brings you directly into the heart of Spartanburg. But as I got close to Wofford, I didn't see much in the way of restaurant choices. So I drove into the main entrance to Wofford and a nice campus safety guard showed me the direct way to get to the main parking lot for Johnson Arena.

To get to Johnson Arena, basically, you have to drive past the main Wofford College entrance and take the second right on Pearl Street. Then as the campus safety guard noted to me, once you see the pink house on the top of the hill, you bear right. Then you follow the winding road down behind a housing development (nice houses by the way), which then takes you down a narrow road that leads to the entrance of the main parking area. There an attendant directs you to park. I wouldn't have found this myself had it not been for the helpful campus security guard.

Once I got out of my car, it was a little after 5:30. I followed some Wofford fans to the entrance of the Campus Life Building where Johnson Arena is located. When you first walk into the Campus Life Building, you are greeted by a small statute of a Terrier. Then you walk into a quiet commons area with a coffee bar on the right hand side. But if you look in the right hand corner, you will see a student cafe. This cafe contains ample seating, flat screen TVs and a mini food court with a Chick Fil-a counter, a deli counter and another "Foods of the World" counter. In front of the entrance to the mini food court was a table with homemade baked desserts, cookies, cakes, cupcakes etc.

After striking up a conversation with the friendly attendant at the Chick Fila station where he made me a fresh grilled chicken sandwich, I grabbed some waffle fries, some desserts and grabbed a sweet tea. I managed to somehow hold onto all four items without a tray, paid the cashier and made my way to a set of tables that was right in front of the flat screen TV showing Northern Iowa and Wichita State (eventually won by the Panthers).

There was a nice mix of students and Wofford fans, many of them older fans. I could see why many people would come out for a nice Saturday night game. My reserved ticket cost twelve dollars, a bleacher seat costs ten dollars. Dinner was seven dollars. Think about it, for twenty bucks per person you can have a decent meal and watch a good basketball game. That's a good deal. Thanks Wofford!

After dinner, I made my way to my seat. There are two wings, the east and west wings, each of which has a separate entrance and outside of one hallway outside the arena, there is no connection to the wings once in the building. Not knowing this, It turns out I went to the wrong wing entrance. But the usher was kind enough to show me how to get there and I eventually made my way to the east wing section where my seat was located.

Now don't take this the wrong way Wofford fans, but when I got to my seat at Johnson Arena, I didn't consider it an arena. It's somewhat a very large gym with mostly wooden bleachers that had three sections of reserved comfortable chair back seating on each side in the front.. There is no club suite seating. The walls are your classic concrete gym walls.

However, there are two standout things you notice about Johnson Arena. First is the striking parquet floor, one of the few of its kind. Second, the gym holds noise well. Really well. In fact, in the second half, when Wofford made a run on Davidson, it started getting really loud and it was not packed (about 1500 was the attendance last night). Turns out, as I drove home, I turned on the post game show from the local Wofford station and they noted that half the students still haven't returned from break. Imagine the arena when Wofford had good teams that made the NCAA Tournament in 2010 and 2011. I bet it was the place was rocking.  Plus, the giant "Beware of Dog" sign behind the Wofford basket was a nice touch as well.

A local grade school choir did a wonderful job singing the national anthem. The students also were located in the bleacher level behind me, so when they made their way up to their seats, I made sure to tell the music choir director what a good job they did. It was the start to a very good evening of basketball and promotional events.

As the team introductions were made, I saw that Davidson's fans had basically taken up the entire section behind the Wildcats' bench. Yes, it helps to draw fans when you are 9-1 in conference. But considering Davidson's long storied history, I am not surprised by the large contingent they had for last night's game. I thought for sure that they were going to break out into "Sweet Caroline" late in the second half.

The Wildcats came out early scoring the first four points. Spencer Collins though would drill a three pointer, in what would be a reoccurring theme for the Terriers on the night. Through the first six minutes, it was a close affair, with Davidson maintaining an 8-6 lead.

But if you have watched enough of Davidson's basketball games on TV or in person, you can see that is so difficult to stop Bob McKillop's team on offense. The Wildcats' offensive sets are a thing of a beauty, both from a ball movement standpoint and a player movement standpoint. The Wildcats are constantly moving without the ball. This leads to multiple screens, backdoor cuts and a lot of open looks driving the lane. In the second half, with Davidson on my end of the court, it was truly a treat to watch their offensive set from my vantage point.

As a result, Davidson started pulling away from Wofford in the first half. First it was a 9-2 spurt on four consecutive layups, including a three point play by senior forward Jake Cohen. Davidson was up 17-8 and Wofford Coach Mike Young had to call timeout. It was a good timeout which resulted in an offensive set that got Karl Cochran open for a three pointer that he buried to cut the lead to 17-11.

Again Davidson responded with an 8-2 spurt with Tom Droney and Chris Czerpowicz each scoring four points. The Wildcats were now up 25-13 with nine minutes left in the half. It seemed that the Terriers had no answers to stopping Davidson on offense.

However, Wofford kept in the game in large part due to Collins (number 32 pictured here), who by himself would keep the Terriers in the game. Collins scored ten straight points for Wofford on a variety of shots, a three pointer, a layup and a couple of short jumpers. After being fouled in the act of shooting and missing his first attempt, Collins hit the second free throw to end his ten straight point outburst and cut the Davidson lead to ten 31-21.

Davidson's relentless offense would respond with another mini spurt, outscoring Wofford 7-2 over the last five minutes of the half. The Wildcats would enter halftime up 38-23. It was similar to their first matchup I saw when they played back in December at Belk Arena. Davidson was up big early, 31-10, before Wofford used a 12-0 run to cut the lead to nine at the half, 31-22. The Terriers would cut it to four late but the Wildcats would eventually hold onto win 63-56. I wondered if there would be a similar outcome.

Wofford has a lot of unique promotional events during media timeouts. Three stood out. Early in the first half during the first media timeout, they had a "Cheeseburger in Paradise" promotion where the Wofford cheerleaders toss out wrapped McDonald's cheeseburgers in plastic bags. Guess who got one?

In the second half, they had "Steal a Meal". One fan gets a meal - a drink, burger and fries. But another fan gets to try to steal the meal. If they hit the layup, they get the drink. If they hit the free throw, they get the chips.  And if they bury the three pointer, they get the burger. It was a couple and thankfully for the wife, the husband missed all three attempts. I would love to play that game with my son (are you reading this, Wofford? :-) ).

Finally, at halftime, to celebrate the 75th year of the NCAA Tournament, Wofford is putting on a series of "re-creations" of famous plays from the NCAA Tournament. In this case, they tried to "recreate" the famous Christian Laettner game winning shot vs. Kentucky. One fan played Grant Hill with the inbounds pass at one end of the court. Two girls each got an attempt to play Laettner in catching the pass and turning around and hitting the shot. They were not successful in any of the attempts, which shows how difficult that play was to make.

The start of the second half saw Davidson maintain its double digit lead as Cohen scored six points in the first seven minutes of the half. Wofford kept within striking distance due in large part to Cochran and Collins, who scored all but two of the first fifteen Terriers' points in the first seven and a half minutes of the second half.

But after two straight Czerapowicz baskets put Davidson up by thirteen with ten minutes left, it didn't seem like Wofford would be able to get any closer. Enter the Australian sophomore point guard with the striking name of Indiana Faithfull. Faithfull would have a hand in the Terriers' next three baskets by hitting two three pointers and assisting on a Cochran layup. His second three pointer cut the Wildcats' lead to seven, 54-47 with seven a half minutes left.

A little later, Collins would get the Terriers's closer with a three point play to cut Davidson's lead to six, 59-53 with a little less than five minutes. That's when the fans started making some noise and you could tell the potential of how loud Johnson Arena can be with a full, noisy crowd.

Wofford had two chances to cut the lead even closer. But their two leading scorers, Cochran and Collins each committed a critical turnover. And when Jake Cohen buried a NBA three pointer to put Davidson up 64-53 with 1:10 left, that was the ball game. The Wildcats would eventually win 68-57.

Davidson had a very balanced attack with four scorers in double figures. Cohen led the Wildcats with fifteen points, eight rebounds, three steals and three blocks. Czerapowicz also had fifteen points and six rebounds. De'Mon Brooks and Droney each had thirteen points. Davidson shot forty eight percent from the field and an impressive twenty four of twenty seven from the charity stripe. Davidson is now 15-7 overall and 10-1 in conference.

Collins led all scorers with twenty four points on ten of nineteen from the field. Cochran added fourteen points. And Faithfull, who played all forty minutes of the game, had eight points, nine assists and six rebounds. A truly solid all around performance for the Australian. Wofford is 8-15 overall and now 2-8 in conference.

As I left Wofford walking through the commons area, reveling in the good time I had last evening, I saw the coffee bar was still open. It was tempting, but I figured I would visit that the next time. The next time I am at Wofford, I hope to have my color analyst, aka my seven year old son Matthew with me. The thought of sitting with him in the commons after the game, going over the contest and watching another basketball game sounds really appealing. That is something that should be shared.

Still, I really enjoyed myself last night. Thanks Wofford for a fun experience.