SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The UNCG men's basketball team held a 10-point halftime lead at Southern Conference leader Wofford Thursday night but the Terriers out-scored the Spartans 52-27 in the second half as UNCG dropped a 77-62 contest at the Benjamin Johnson Arena. Wofford closed the game on a 19-4 run over the final 3:39 of the contest after tying the game at 58-58.

The Spartans will close out the regular season with three straight home games, beginning Sunday afternoon as they host Furman. Game time is set for 1 p.m. at the Greensboro Coliseum and will be televised on the American Sports Network. The Spartans are two games out of the sixth and final bye in the 2015 SoCon Tournament and are the only team in the running with three home games.

Redshirt sophomore center R.J. White (Frisco, Texas/Frisco) scored a team-high 16 points off the bench in 25 minutes of action. White was 5-of-10 from the field and hit 6-of-8 from the free throw line. Freshman forward Marvin Smith (Richmond, Va./Fork Union Military Academy) added 12 points on the strength of four first half 3-pointers while sophomore Tevon Saddler (Aberdeen, Md./St. Frances Academy) scored 13 points.

The Spartans finished the game shooting 46 percent (23-of-50) from the field and hit 6-of-15 (40%) from 3-point land in the loss. Wofford conversely connected on 46 percent (23-of-50) from the field and hit 8-of-18 (44.4%) from distance but went to the free throw line 29 times compared to just 13 attempts for the Spartans.

Karl Cochran led the way with 18 points, 16 in the second half, to lead the Terriers to a 22-6 overall record and a 13-2 mark in SoCon play. Lee Skinner chipped in 15 points and eight rebounds while Eric Garcia added 13 points.

The Spartans and Terriers traded points in the early going of the first half with UNCG taking a 16-15 lead just over eight minutes into the game as White scored in the paint. INCG extended its lead to 24-17 as it recorded an 8-2 run as Smith hit a pair of 3-pointers surrounding a White basket in the paint.

After Wofford narrowed the gap to 24-20 at the free throw line, the Spartans closed the half on an 11-5 run to take a 35-25 lead into the locker room. Sophomore guard Diante Baldwin (Greensboro, N.C./High Point Christian) and White scored four points each during the run while Smith hit his four 3-pointer of the first half to lift the Spartans to a double-digit lead.

The Spartans connected on 46.2 percent (12-of-26) from the field in the first 20 minutes and hit 6-of-10 (60%) from 3-point land. Smith led the way with 12 points as he hit 4-of-5 from distance after entering the game hitting just seven 3-pointers in his first 15 career games. White added 10 points and the Spartans only committed two turnovers in the half while forcing Wofford into seven miscues, which they turned into 16 points off of miscues.

Wofford was held to 8-of-22 (36.4 percent) shooting from the field and 37.5 percent (3-of-8) from long range in the half but hit 6-of-8 (75%) from the charity stripe. Lee Skinner led with six points while Jaylen Allen added four points. Karl Cochran only played 11 minutes in the half and finished with two points on just three shots from the field.

Wofford came out of the halftime break and posted an 11-2 run to pull within one at. 37-36. Cochran and Skinner scored all 11 of the Terriers first points in the second half and continued to score as Wofford took a 45-41 lead as Cochran hit another 3-pointer.

The Spartans kept battling and tied the game at 50-50 as junior forward Kayel Locke (Baltimore, Md./McDonogh) scored in the paint. The Terriers extended their lead to 57-52 before the Spartans posted a 6-1 run to tie the game at 58-58. White scored to start the run and Saddler drove down the lane to tie the game at 58-58.

Eric Garcia hit an open 3-pointer to give Wofford the lead back for good and Cochran gave the Terriers extra room hitting a 3-pointer for a 66-58 lead with 2:02 left. The Terriers sealed the game at the free throw line as they closed on a 19-4 run to post the 77-62 victory.

-UNCG-