Hollowell scores 22 to lead Wofford past Mercer 72-69

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) — Tray Hollowell scored a career-high 22 points and Ryan Larson made four straight free throws as Wofford held off Mercer 72-69 on Saturday.

Messiah Jones had 12 points for Wofford (10-5, 7-2 Southern Conference). Larson added 12 points, including four straight from the free throw line in the last 10 seconds.

Storm Murphy, Wofford's leading scorer at 20 points per game, was held to nine.

Mercer, which trailed by as many as 18, twice cut the lead to a single point, the last time when Neftali Alvarez raced the length of the floor to make it 70-69 with three seconds left.

Larson was fouled on the inbounds and made both. An Alvarez 3-pointer hit the backboard as time expired.

Ross Cummings had 18 points for the Bears (10-6, 3-5). Alvarez added 16 points, five assists, five rebounds and three blocked shots. Leon Ayers III had nine points, all in the second half, and eight rebounds.

The Terriers improve to 2-0 against the Bears on the season. Wofford defeated Mercer 78-65 on Dec. 29.

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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com