SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The North Carolina A&T men's basketball team got off to a slow start against the Wofford Terriers on Sunday during the final day of the Battle of the Carolinas hosted by Wofford at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium.
The Aggies tried to recover from the slow beginning, but the Terriers pushed back every time in a 78-64 win over A&T.
Junior Marcus Watson had 16 points and four assists. Sophomore Kam Woods came off the bench to score 17 points on 5-for-9 shooting from 3-point range. Senior Demetric Horton also scored in double figures with 11 points and five rebounds on 3-for-6 shooting from three, and Austin Jonson had nine points and seven rebounds.
Wofford took an early 14-5 lead over the first 6 ½ minutes of the game and never relinquished the lead. But the Aggies kept fighting back all night. Horton got the Aggies within four, 15-11, on a pull-up 3-pointer with 11:15 remaining in the first half.
However, the Terriers grew their lead to 27-11 over the next three minutes. But the Aggies responded with a 7-0 run culminating with a Woods 3-pointer that got the Aggies within nine.
Woods connected on two more 3-pointers in the first half, the last one pulling the Aggies to within eight at 35-27 with 1:37 remaining in the first half. But Wofford ended the half with a 3-pointer from Corey Tripp and B.J. Mack to help Wofford claim a 41-30 halftime lead.
The second half was more of the same. Messiah Jones's 3-point play gave the Terriers a 49-37 lead 2 ½ minutes into the second half. But Woods swished another three, and Watson scored in the paint to cut Wofford's lead to seven.
After the under-16 media timeout, Woods drove the lane and dumped off a bounced pass to redshirt freshman Duncan Powell to keep A&T's momentum going. Graduate Webster Filmore completed the 11-0 run by bullying his way to the basket to make it 49-46 with 13:50 remaining in the game.
Wofford had the final answer, however. The Terries went on a 15-1 run ending with a Kyler Filewich layup that gave Wofford a 64-47 lead with 7:13 remaining. A&T had one more run remaining, but it was not enough. A Wood 3-pointer and a Watson dunk off of a Johson steal to cut the Terriers lead to 74-64 but only 40 seconds remained in the game.
Jackson Paveletzke hit all eight free throws and scored 21 points to lead the Terriers, who shot 51.9 percent from the floor and 42.9 percent from 3-point range.
