Wofford earns first NCAA basketball tournament bid

CHARLOTTE -- Wofford, which began playing Division I basketball only in 1995, is now stepping onto college basketball's biggest stage.

By beating Appalachian State 56-51 on Monday night in the Southern Conference tournament championship game at Time Warner Cable Arena, the Terriers are headed to the NCAA tournament for the first time.

Wofford (26-8) takes a 13-game winning streak into the tournament and will learn its first-round opponent Sunday.

The Terriers, the top seed from the conference's South Division, did it by shutting down a high-octane Appalachian State offense. One night after scoring 37 points in a semifinal victory against College of Charleston, Appalachian State guard Kellen Brand was held to four points by Wofford, all on free throws.

Appalachian State's Donald Sims, the league's top scorer, had just nine points.

The Terriers, meanwhile, got 20 points from guard Cameron Rundles, as well as 13 rebounds from Tim Johnson.

Wofford took advantage of cold shooting by the Mountaineers to run out to a 33-18 lead at halftime.

"They came out in the first 20 minutes and punched us in the mouth," said Mountaineers forward Andre Williamson, who had 12 points and 12 rebounds. "It seemed like they wanted it more than us."

Then things nearly fell apart for the Terriers.

After Junior Salters opened the second half with a 3-pointer, giving the Terriers a 36-18 lead, Wofford went nearly 10 minutes without scoring.

Appalachian State cut the lead to five twice, then to four on a free throw by Williamson with 57 seconds left. But Wofford made six of 11 free throws in the final minute to hang on.

Wofford 56, Appalachian St. 51

Appalachian St. (22-12): Hunter 2-5 2-7 6, Butts 2-5 0-0 4, Sims 2-15 4-4 9, Booth 2-2 0-0 5, Brand 0-8 4-4 4, Abraham 3-7 3-3 11, Wright 0-3 0-0 0, Webb 0-1 0-0 0, Williamson 4-6 4-6 12. Totals 15-52 17-24 51.

Wofford (26-8): Johnson 0-8 0-0 0, Dahlman 4-12 2-2 10, Salters 3-3 0-3 8, Diggs 4-12 1-2 9, Loesing 0-2 1-2 1, Rundles 5-8 9-13 20, Giltner 1-4 0-0 2, Dawson 0-3 0-0 0, Godzinski 1-1 0-0 2, Martin 1-1 2-3 4. Totals 19-54 15-25 56.

Halftime-Wofford 33-18. Three-point goals-Appalachian St. 4-17 (Abraham 2-5, Booth 1-1, Sims 1-8, Webb 0-1, Brand 0-2), Wofford 3-9 (Salters 2-2, Rundles 1-2, Diggs 0-1, Giltner 0-1, Loesing 0-1, Dawson 0-2). Fouled out-Dahlman. Rebounds-Appalachian St. 44 (Williamson 12), Wofford 36 (Johnson 13). Assists-Appalachian St. 6 (Abraham, Sims 2), Wofford 10 (Diggs, Johnson 3). Total fouls-Appalachian St. 20, Wofford 20. Att.-6,193.