To appreciate fully what Fletcher Magee did inside McKenzie Arena on Saturday, one would have to consider everything happening around the 6-foot-4 Wofford guard.
To put his 45-point performance against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga into context, it was just enough for a 74-64 Southern Conference win for the Terriers.
Magee's 30 points in the second half were two fewer than the UTC team combined. He was 11-for-16 in the second half, 8-for-13 from 3-point range.
"Guys like that, especially great shooters, it only takes a couple to get started," UTC junior guard Nat Dixon said of Magee. "We had guys there. He was just knocking down shots, and he's going to make some of those."
He shot 17-of-26 from the field and 11-of-17 from 3-point range for the game, and it was important Saturday because the rest of his team was 8-for-26. The next leading scorers for Wofford (19-9, 15-5) were Cameron Jackson and Trevor Stumpe, who had seven points each.
"We guarded him the way we wanted to off the screens," UTC coach Lamont Paris said. "We did not do a good job of making him do something that he didn't want to do."
The Mocs (9-20, 3-13) were within 67-62 after Makale Foreman made the second of two free throws with 1:02 to play. On the Terriers' next possession, Magee got the ball, sized up 6-8 UTC forward Joshua Phillips and nailed a 3 with 32 seconds remaining to put the Terriers up eight.
"This was still a really close game, a really tightly battled game, and I felt we needed all those points," said Magee, whose previous career high was 36 this season against Georgia Tech. "It still feels special just because we came here on the road, played a good team, and a lot of those shots were shots we needed to win."
Foreman slid over to point guard in the absence of Rodney Chatman - out with an ankle injury - and led the Mocs with 18 points. Dixon had 16 points and Makinde London scored 12 and tied James Lewis with seven rebounds. Lewis added eight points.
Phillips, the Mocs' lone senior, had five points and three rebounds in 21 minutes before fouling out with 26 seconds to play.
The Mocs led 32-30 at halftime. Their last lead was 47-46 on a drive and bank shot by Dixon with 11:19 to play, but on their next two possessions they drew fouls but missed the front ends of one-and-one free-throw opportunities. And for every missed layup the Mocs had - and there were a few when the game was tight - the Terriers made them pay, usually with a Magee shot.
He hit a jumper to put the Terriers up, then hit four 3s in a 3-minute, 23-second span to put Wofford up 60-57 going into the final media timeout. He then had his lone assist, driving the lane and dishing to Keve Aluma for a dunk with 3:41 remaining. The Terriers slowly stretched the lead out, leading by as many as 12 before the finish.
Saturday was the 10th time in SoCon play this season that the Mocs held a lead in the second half. They are 3-7 in those games.
"I'm proud of my guys. They kept playing hard and kept fighting to the very end," Dixon said. "If we keep that same energy and just minimize some of the mistakes we made, I think things'll turn out well for us.
"We just have to keep progressing every game."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfree press.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.