LEXINGTON, Va. – Senior Storm Murphy drilled a three-pointer with 1.3 seconds left on the clock to lift the Wofford College men’s basketball team to an 80-78 victory Wednesday evening at VMI in Southern Conference play.
The Keydets trailed 77-72 with three minutes left, but VMI senior guard Greg Parham converted a driving layup in traffic and netted a three pointer to tie the game with two minutes remaining. The game remained tied at 77 all until Sean Conway made one of two free throws with 33 seconds left and retrieved his own miss to allow VMI to maintain possession. After a Terrier defensive stop, Murphy nailed the game winner and a VMI desperation shot from midcourt fell short.
VMI had several big offensive performances. Parham hit 7-of-8 three pointers for a season-high 29 points, and freshman Trey Bonham scored a career-high 20 points (14 in the second half) in his first career start on 7-of-10 shooting with three threes, five rebounds and five assists. Junior Jake Stephens had 11 of his 13 points in the second half and added six assists to tie a career high. Conway tied for the game-best with nine boards and also had six points. Parham’s seven treys was a career high and he has scored 20 points or more four times this season.
Murphy had a team-high 23 points for Wofford (7-4/4-1), hitting five three pointers. Tray Hollowell nailed all five of his shots from distance and finished with 15 points and nine rebounds. Ryan Larson scored 13, Sam Godwin and Morgan Safford each had 10 points and Safford contributed seven rebounds.
Wofford shot 53 percent for the game (30-57) and 54 percent (14-26) from three-point range.
VMI had two 20-point scorers for the second-straight game. The Keydets (6-6/1-2) host The Citadel in more SoCon action Saturday at 1 p.m.
Quotes from head coach Dan Earl:
“This one hurts. I’m super proud of our guys for fighting. It was like a prize fight out there. We had some guys step up. A lot of guys affected the game. You have to give credit to Wofford. Coach McAuley does a tremendous job. Storm Murphy is a winner. It’s the best compliment to pay anybody. He’s a senior and he took it and knocked it down, but it’s also all the little things he does before that.”
“We had a little lull in the first half where they had a big run and we had some defensive lapses and that’s something we need to limit or not have at all. We didn’t take care of the ball that well in the first half, either. We did a better job in the second half. We did a good job keeping them off the offensive boards. Just not enough to close it out.”
“Trey Bonham is not afraid, which is good when you’re young and trying to gain experience and made a positive impact and I think on the whole, he did that tonight. Greg Parham was very good obviously and made a bunch of shots. In the second half, we were able to get the ball to Jake Stephens better and get some high-low plays.”