By: Andrew Korba

| McDonald's of Bluffton Holiday Tournament Page |

BLUFFTON, OHIO -- Junior J.J. Woodson (Cleveland/Bedford) scored a game-high 20 points to lead the Hiram College men's basketball team past Grove City (Pa.) 72-64 at the McDonald's of Bluffton Holiday Tournament on Monday.

The Terriers (7-2) advance to the championship game and will face host Bluffton at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.

Woodson went 4-of-6 from the field and also was 9-of-10 in free throws.

Sophomore Jeremiah Thomas (Cleveland/John Hay) added 11 points and six rebounds, while freshman Kelvin Jones (Sheffield Lake/Brookside) had 10 points and five boards.

Mitch Marmelstein led Grove City (4-5) with 18 points, six assists and four rebounds.

A 3-pointer from Woodson with 3:17 remaining in the game gave the Terriers their largest lead of the game at 64-53.

But the Wolverines would counter with a 7-0 run to get within four points at 64-60, with 1:52 to play.

Hiram would go a perfect 8-fo-8 from the charity stripe down the stretch to hold the lead and grab the win.

After Grove City jumped out to an early lead, the Terriers used two straight 3-pointers from sophomore Joe Zoltowski (Erie, Pa./Harbor Creek) to take a 16-12 lead.

A free throw from Thomas would push Hiram's lead to 23-17 with just under seven minutes left in the first half.

But Grove City would score nine of the final 11 points of the half to take a 26-25 lead into the break.

The Terriers finished the game 19-of-45 (42.2 percent) from the field, while the Wolverines shot 22-of-55 (40.0 percent).

Hiram held a 37-28 edge in rebounding and also saw its bench outscore Grove City's 22-13.