Georgia needs overtime to beat Wofford

Athens — Down two points inside the final five seconds of overtime, Georgia coach Dennis Felton still somehow envisioned Zac Swansey taking a shot to win.

Then he saw Swansey’s shot, a side-long heave right before Bulldogs bench.

“I thought, oh, well,” Felton said. “It’s good to be hopeful.”

Replied Swansey, “He should know better than that.”

In a game Georgia well deserved to lose, Swansey flung in a 23-footer as the horn sounded to defeat Wofford 74-73 in an ungainly Saturday afternoon contest at Stegeman Coliseum.

His team mauled on the boards by a smaller opponent (45-35), harassed into 19 turnovers and trailing by four with 89 seconds left, Swansey delivered the Bulldogs (7-3) from a humbling defeat to a middling Southern Conference opponent.

The Terriers (4-4) lost to Clemson by 53 last month.

“We did everything but win the game today,” Wofford coach Mike Young said.

And then it came apart in the last 4.5 seconds when Terriers swing guard Tim Johnson, a 61 percent foul shooter, had two free throws that would have buried Georgia. But he missed both — the first missed everything — and Trey Thompkins flipped the rebound to Swansey running down the sideline.

“I actually envisioned in my mind Zac doing exactly what he did, just dribble it up and knock down a 3,” Felton said. “Now the way he took it — he took it where he was pressured so he twisted into it — that’s where my dream [ended].”

Swansey, who was suffering through a 2-for-10 shooting performance until his first 3-pointer tied it 71-71 at the 14.7 mark, ran into a double-team as soon as he crossed midcourt. But this is the same player who defeated Kentucky in almost the same situation in the SEC tournament last March. Saturday was his 20th birthday. This gift was his.

“I think it’s genetic,” said guard Corey Butler.

“I had the ball up against the sideline,” Swansey said. “I had two guys going at me. I got around the first one and I was going to try to get in the lane. But I looked at the clock and there was only one second left.

“That’s why I pulled up. And it went in.”

Playing after an 11-day layoff for exams, the Bulldogs were also without leading scorer Terrance Woodbury (left ankle sprain). But Georgia still dominated early, taking a 15-point lead at 29-14 just 13:27 into the game on a Swansey three-point play.

“We thought once we got up on them, we expected that they would back off and pack up and be ready to leave,” Thompkins said.

Wrong. Soon, Thompkins, who led the Bulldogs with 15 points, was in foul trouble — he played just 18 minutes — and Wofford caught up in the second half, playing through six lead changes and three ties in the final 16 minutes. Thompkins had a 20-footer to win at the end of the regulation but missed.

“Obviously [Wofford] played better and better as they saw they had a legitimate chance to win,” Felton said.

With 5.8 seconds remaining in overtime, 6-foot guard Brad Loesing drove the lane to put the Terriers up 73-71 and the day appeared lost when Thompkins whipped the inbounds pass over the scorers table. But the Bulldogs then quickly fouled Johnson, setting up the improbable last exchange.

Said Felton, “I told the guys that this was an example of how, no matter how grim things might look, how important it is to continue to play, to give yourself a chance, even if you win by luck.”