By MONTE DUTTON

Kobe Stewart’s first name seemed pertinent on Wednesday night.
Presbyterian College senior Stewart, an Augusta, Ga., product, led a 71-68 upset of Wofford by scoring 26 points, including 6/7 from three-point range. He was 2/7 inside the arc, 4/7 at the free-throw line and also grabbed 10 rebounds, passed out two assists and nabbed a steal.
He was marvelous and made nary a turnover. As a team, the Blue Hose committed nine and forced 12.
“Once I hit that first one (three-pointer) in the second half, the rims got bigger for me,” Stewart said. “I definitely felt good about the night going in. I felt confident.”

The Blue Hose upended the Terriers in front of the liveliest crowd at Templeton Center in a while. The students, in particular, roared throughout as Presbyterian (2-2) overcame an eight-point halftime deficit.
For the Presbyterian faithful, it was a lovely night.
“We were excited about the challenge when we scheduled [Wofford],” PC head coach Quinton Ferrell said. “Our guys did a really nice job of listening to what we were saying in terms of adjustments and what we were doing on offense and defense. We were able to get it done in the second half.”

Wofford (1-2) is a veteran team augmented by four returning starters and a transfer, Justin Bailey of Taylors, who started last season at USC Upstate. Not surprisingly, the Terriers were balanced.

Four starters scored in double figures, and the one who didn’t, Kyler Filewich, grabbed 10 rebounds.
Corey Tripp led the Terriers in both points (15) and assists (6). The starters are from Arkansas, Kentucky, Manitoba, Ohio and Manitoba. All but Tripp began their careers at other schools, but all but Bailey played at Wofford last season.

Dwight Perry coaches a cohesive unit picked to finish fourth in the Southern Conference this year.

“Wofford is a team that’s looking to move up, and this was a prestigious win,” Ferrell said. “We held Wofford to [.367] shooting in the second half, and that was tremendous because they are a really good offensive team.”
Presbyterian’s losses were to Charlotte (88-79) and N.C. State (81-72). Wofford once led by 11 points in the former half; PC once led by nine in the latter.

The crucial moment occurred after Tripp’s three-pointer brought the Terriers within four (66-62) with 2:27 remaining. PC pushed it inside but came up empty. Jackson Sivills misfired on a three that could have narrowed the deficit to one. Stewart rebounded and answered with a triple from the right side, restoring the leauld to seven with 1:11 left.
Tripp had a chance to tie it, but another triple missed with three seconds on the clock. Exultation ensued.
“This team is going into games expecting to win,” Ferrell said. “They put in a lot of work. We’ve got a staff that believes in them, so it comes down to all our guys.

“Kobe Stewart, who’s been in the program five years, has done a great job leading the entire group and giving them a level of belief and understanding. … We’ve got a group that’s a mixture of veterans who know what they’re doing at a high level, and we’re trying to blend those experienced guys with our younger guys.”

Stewart scored 21 of his 26 points in the second half. Carl Parrish scored 11 points and Kory Mincy added 10 paired with four assists.
Presbyterian beat Wofford, 39-28, in the second half.
In addition to Tripp’s 15 points (and six assists), Sivills added 13, Jeremy Lorenz 11 and Bailey 10. The Terriers outrebounded the Blue Hose, 36-28.

The Blue Hose do not return home for almost a month, heading off to Kennesaw State on Saturday and then to Nacogdoches,Texas to play Stephen F. Austin, Youngstown State and Monmouth in the Axe ‘Em Classic on Nov.21-23. PC visits Tennessee Tech on Nov. 27 and Florida A&M on Dec. 3 before hosting Columbia College on Dec. 11.

Presbyterian was picked to finished eighth in the Big South, but perhaps the Wofford game wasn’t such an upset, after all.
Take a look at the stats here.

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