College Basketball

Wofford wins 2nd straight SoCon title, NCAA berth

Updated Sep. 13, 2022 11:28 a.m. ET

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CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) -- The Wofford Terriers are ready for their moment in the NCAA tournament this time around and made sure nothing got in the way of a return trip.

Noah Dahlman scored eight of his 20 points late to help Wofford seal a 77-67 victory Monday night over the College of Charleston and clinch a second consecutive berth in the NCAA tournament as Southern Conference tournament champs. Cameron Rundles scored a team-high 21 points, and he says the Terriers feel they belong on basketball's biggest stage.

"We know we belong there," Rundles said. "To show people all around the world that we can come back to back times, so I just think it's not a confidence thing this year. I think it's just more we've been there, had the experience and the second time around hopefully it goes better."

Wofford lost to Wisconsin 53-49 in the NCAA tournament last year, and Charleston coach Bobby Cremins thinks the Terriers learned a big lesson in that game.

"They'll be ready to play, and anybody underestimates them could be in a lot of trouble," Cremins said.

Wofford (21-12) lost both regular season games to the Cougars. But the Terriers won their eighth straight game in part because they were perfect at the free throw line until the final minute, hitting their first 20 shots.

"We are tickled to death to go back to back in this league, any league, is beyond difficult, and we did it and we are beyond excited," Wofford coach Mike Young said.

Old Dominion (Colonial Athletic Association), St. Peter's (MAAC) and Gonzaga (West Coast Conference) also earned NCAA bids Monday by winning their league tournaments.

Charleston (24-10) missed its first berth since 1999 and Cremins' first since he last took Georgia Tech to the NCAA regional semifinals in 1996. The Cougars came in as the South Division's top seed thanks to those two wins over Wofford in the regular season.

"I thought they were the team to beat," Cremins said. "They were the hottest team coming in here. It was a great game there for a while. Then it got a little bit away from us."

Young credited the win to his "Minnesota Mafia." Dahlman is from Braham while Rundles and Jamar Diggs, who had 17 points, are from Minneapolis. The trio had played each other in youth basketball and later high school before Dahlman convinced Young to let the other two join them at Wofford.

"It just kind of stuck a little bit because we're all tough guys," Dahlman said of the nickname. "Being from the Midwest, we're not flashy at all. We use our game. We're going to grind it out, and it paid off tonight. These guys paid dividends for this program."

Andrew Goudelock, the nation's fourth-leading scorer, topped his average with 25 points for Charleston. Donavan Monroe added 19, and Antwaine Wiggins 12.

"It's tough for me," Goudelock said. "It's going to take a long time to get over. We do have another tournament. We just have to swallow that pill, go out there and keep playing."

Wofford never let the Cougars get any further ahead than six points. The Terriers stayed in the game by finishing 22 of 24 at the free-throw line. They also wound up outshooting Charleston 46.4 percent (26 of 56) to 41.8 percent (23 of 55).

The Cougars missed 6-foot-8 Jeremy Simmons, out with blood clots. Goudelock said he would apologize to his fellow senior for this loss.

"I'm sorry for Jeremy. I'm sorry for the team. I'm sorry for Charleston. I just feel like we could've did something and we just came up short," Goudelock said.

The teams swapped the lead 10 times with seven ties before Wofford took the lead for good with a 10-1 run.

Wiggins scored on a tip-in to put Charleston up 52-49 with 11:20 to go. Dahlman then scored on a reverse layup, and Rundles hit a 3-pointer with 9:48 to put the Terriers up 54-52. Rundles hit another 3, and Martin capped the spurt with a pair of free throws in giving them their biggest lead of the game at 59-53 with 7:12 remaining.

Dahlman helped put away the victory.

Wiggins hit a bucket, then a pair of free throws to make it 65-62 with 4:24 left. Dahlman scored the next eight points for Wofford and his jumper gave the Terriers their biggest lead of the game at 73-64 with 1:41 left.

Wofford's top scorer even chipped in with some defense, stealing the ball from Goudelock with less than a minute to go.

Gonzaga 75, Saint Mary's 63=

At Las Vegas, Robert Sacre scored 12 points, including a dunk and six late free throws to lead Gonzaga to the West Coast Conference tournament title for the second time in three years.

Gonzaga (24-9) received an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament for its 13th straight appearance. Saint Mary's (24-8) will have to hope for an at-large berth.

Steven Gray led Gonzaga with 15 points and Dower had 10. Sacre had four blocks and eight rebounds.

Old Dominion 70, Virginia Commonwealth 65=

At Richmond, Va., Frank Hassell scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds and Old Dominion withstood a furious second-half rally by Virginia Commonwealth to defend its Colonial Athletic Association tournament title.

Kent Bazemore added 14 points as the Monarchs (27-6) won their ninth straight -- and the league's automatic NCAA tournament berth.

VCU trailed by 18 in the second half, but pulled to 55-54 with 4:26 left before the Monarchs scored on consecutive possessions, rebuilding the lead to five, and hung on.

St. Peter's 62, Iona 57=

At Bridgeport, Conn., Jeron Belin scored 17 points and St. Peter's won the MAAC championship and secured the school's first NCAA berth in 16 years.

Nick Leon added 15 points for the fourth-seeded Peacocks (20-13), who upset top-seed Fairfield in the semifinals on Sunday.

Michael Glover's layup with 45 seconds left pulled Iona to 56-52, but St. Peter's made six foul shots down the stretch to seal the win.

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