Furman seniors exit Timmons in style

Furman seniors Charles Johnston (1), Ben Vander Wal (4), Tom House (12) and Thomas Tillman
(30) are honored prior to the Paladins' 72-51 win over The Citadel. Photo courtesy of Furman

While Furman walk-on Thomas Tillman - a student section fan favorite - got the loudest ovations of the game Wednesday night, his fellow three seniors gave the Senior Night crowd at Timmons Arena plenty of reasons to get loud. Charles Johnston and Ben Vander Wal combined for as many rebounds (20) as The Citadel's entire team had, while Tom House had a hard-earned 11-point night as the Paladins thumped their oldest rival, 72-51.

The victory was the 200th in the nine-year career of Furman coach Bob Richey and avenged a heartbreaking overtime loss in Charleston last month in which the Paladins blew a 19-point second half lead. More importantly, it ensured that Furman will not be playing on the opening night of the Southern Conference Tournament next Friday in Asheville. With one set of league games left in the regular season on Saturday, the Paladins (19-11, 10-7) can still finish seeded anywhere from second to sixth.

"It's kind of crazy that this is Senior Day. I'm so grateful for my time here and these guys that I got to do it with. It was a fun atmosphere out there and the students were great. Shout out to Tilly's boys getting out here," said Vander Wal, who was joined by the other seniors for the postgame press conference. "Basketball is something that all of us dreamed of doing when we were kids. Being able to do it on this stage in an atmosphere like this was a lot of fun. We wore them down, which was the most fun part. It was choppy water sometimes, but we stayed the course and got it done."

For a while, it appeared that Furman would not be blowing a big lead this time around because it wouldn't be in any position to. The Paladins' "one game on, next game off" pattern of first-half shooting continued for the fourth consecutive game as they shot 39.3 percent in the opening half, including 21.4 percent (3-of-14) on three-pointers.

If time of possession was a basketball stat, Furman would've dominated as it grabbed 10 of its own misses and held a 24-10 edge in rebounding at the break. The Paladins scored only eight points off those 10 offensive boards though.

The Citadel (9-21, 6-11) didn't fare much better shooting-wise as it made 4-of-16 threes in the first half. All of those four makes belonged to Braxton Williams, whose 17-point effort in the opening half helped the Bulldogs trail only 33-31 at the break.

After getting outscored in the paint, 16-14, in the first half, Furman attacked it in the second half. The Paladins opened the half on an alleyoop from Asa Thomas to Cooper Bowser. Alex Wilkins drove for a layup before Johnston extended Furman's biggest lead at that point to 39-31 on a putback of a blocked layup. That forced a Citadel timeout.

Coming out of the timeout, the Bulldogs leaned on their leading scorer and Williams delivered with eight points in a span of 67 seconds. His sixth made three-pointer cut Furman's lead to 40-39 with 16 minutes remaining. After Cole Bowser answered with a three, he heavily guarded Williams the next trip down. However, that allowed Citadel's Sola Adebisi - who scored 22 in the first meeting - to get free for a layup. Adebisi also drew a foul, which led to the under-16 media timeout as 15:06 remained.

Perhaps the most pivotal part of the game came out of this timeout as Richey put Eddrin Bronson on the floor. Two things happened after Bronson checked in:

1. Williams never scored again.
2. The Bulldogs never sniffed the lead again.

Bronson chased Williams all over the half-court when Citadel was on offense. He powered through a tough screen on one of those chases and stole the ball from Williams on another. Over the final 15:06, Furman outscored Citadel, 29-10.

"Williams had 25 of their 41 points at one point, which was just incredible. It was an unbelievable shooting display and we had to put a no-catch on him," Richey said. "Ed was tremendous on him and that's what he's capable of doing. He's physical and has speed, size and strength.

"People have no idea how good of a basketball coach (Citadel's) Ed Conroy is. People have no idea the tactician he is and the creative ways that he puts his team in concepts and they're hard to guard. Ed's one of the best offensive minds in the country. When you have to guard all that stuff, it's unique. ... We weren't quite physical enough on some of that stuff, but once Ed (Bronson) came in there we did a much better job."

A more perfect sequence could not have helped wrap up Senior Night more than one that occurred with just over five minutes remaining. After a block by Vander Wal, House dove into the Citadel's bench to save the rebound back to Vander Wal. House got the ball back and drove to the basket before delivering a wraparound pass to Johnston, who made the layup and got fouled. Johnston completed the three-point play to push the lead to 60-47.

"We have an unbelievable group of four seniors that I couldn't be more proud of. Just to be able to honor them tonight with a great crowd, that really got loud once we started playing better," Richey said. "We were phenomenal on the backboard, winning that battle by 30 and ended up winning the paint. We wanted to make a concerted effort to get it into the paint tonight and play through our size."

Wilkins drove for a layup with 4:29 left that forced a Bulldogs' timeout. It also started the "we want Tillman" chants from the student section. That may have been a little premature, but Bronson helped make sure that fans would see Tillman again. After all that work on defense, Bronson was rewarded on offense when his only attempt of the night - a three-pointer with 3:03 left - went down to push the lead to 16.

Per Senior Night tradition, Tillman started the game. And per the tradition of the type of team players who show up every day for practice, yet rarely see the floor, Tillman committed a foul just 27 seconds in to get Cooper Bowser on the floor. With 1:10 remaining - and Furman up 69-49, the student section got their wish as Tillman returned. While his only shot was blocked with 10 seconds left, the night was no less special for the Charleston native.

"That was everything I hoped it would be to be honest with you," Tillman said. "It was really a dream come true for me and these guys made it what it was all three years. I really love this group and really love this program."

A few seconds after Tillman entered, the second-biggest roar of the night occurred when House, Johnston and Vander Wal checked out at home for the final time.

The game gave House and Johnston a chance to display how much each has grown in their two years in the program. House went 1-for-8 from three Wednesday. In the past, that would've meant that the three-point specialist didn't make much of an impact. While he was a big part of Furman's defensive effort, House also showed that he's become one of the best on the team at driving to the basket for a layup or drawing a foul. He went 2-for-3 on two-pointers and was 4-for-4 from the foul line.

Johnston, who reached double figures in rebounds one time all last season, recorded his 11th double-double this season as he finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds. He also had no fouls, just one turnover and two assists. Meanwhile, Vander Wal had the kind of dependable game Furman can seemingly always count on from him. He had six points, seven rebounds, one steal and one block and joined Wilkins at a team-best plus-19.

"Our seniors are just great humans. That's how we've tried to build the program here. We want great players, but we want great people that understand how hard it's going to be to grow and develop," Richey said. "We really want them to buy into that to be high potential individuals. It's just a fundamental belief of mine. As the person grows, the player comes right behind it. You've got to be able to identify people that want to grow."

Cooper Bowser had a team-high 14 points, while Wilkins finished with eight points and five assists. The Paladins annihilated the Bulldogs on the glass, outrebounding them 50-20. Furman ended up with a 36-26 advantage in the paint and 19 second-chance points.

Furman will try to avenge an early season loss for the third consecutive game when it travels to Western Carolina for a 5:30 p.m. tip off Saturday. If the Paladins win, they would most likely earn the No. 3 seed for the SoCon Tournament. The No. 2 and 4 seeds are still a possibility with a win depending on what other teams do. A No. 2 seed would require Citadel upsetting Wofford in Spartanburg, plus a Samford win as Furman can only win a tiebreaker for second if Samford is involved in a three-way tie with Wofford or a four-way tie with Wofford and Mercer.

If Furman, Mercer and Wofford win, the Paladins and Bears would tie for third and Furman would be the No. 4 seed as Mercer would have a win over league champion ETSU (on Saturday). It Furman loses Saturday, it appears to be a lock that the Paladins would get the No. 6 seed.

Paladins turn tables on Wofford, win rematch

Charles Johnston blocks a Wofford shot during Furman's
76-67 win Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman

SPARTANBURG - In the first meeting against rival Wofford this season, Furman was on the wrong end of a 17-0 run down the stretch which led to a 74-70 loss. In Saturday's rematch, the Paladins saw another big lead vanish again. This one occurred early enough for Furman to recover though, and its defense was the one that rose to the occasion down the stretch this time.

The Paladins held the Terriers without a field goal for nearly seven minutes in the second half to pull away for a 76-67 win before a hostile, packed house at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. After shooting 55.6 percent from the floor in the first half, Wofford was limited to 33.3 percent in the second half. Meanwhile, Furman shot 51.9 percent for the game after making just 6-of-33 threes in home loss to East Tennessee State the last time out.

"It's an unbelievable win. Just thinking back to last season when we won here in the last game of the season when PJay (Smith) hit that game-winner in such an intense rivalry. Then we have the (Southern Conference) championship game (loss) and trip up at home against them this year," Furman's Charles Johnston said. "This one has been on the radar since that home game and all the boys had been gearing up for it. ... I'm really proud of the boys, especially how locked in we've been this week after a couple of losses. ... It's the best feeling in the world tonight.

The Australian added, "Cricket's a lot more mellow than this. I think that's why I switched."

In Greenville on Jan. 17, Furman held a 13-point lead with less than 10 minutes to play. On Saturday, Asa Thomas' sixth three-pointer of the game staked the Paladins to a 16-point lead with 2:53 left in the first half. Furman (18-11, 9-7) didn't score the rest of the half and settled for a 43-36 lead at the break.

The halftime break did nothing to slow Wofford's momentum. Kahmare Holmes opened the second half with a three-pointer and hit another three minutes later to give the Terriers a 48-44 lead. The 21-1 run barely took six game minutes. Blowing double-digit leads has been a trend for Furman since that first meeting with the Terriers, but those others all happened around the midway point of the second half.

Holmes' three was answered by an Alex Wilkins three. That was the lone made three-pointer of the second half for Furman, which has also been a trend. The Paladins overcame thanks to Wilkins' offense and a suffocating defense in the second half. Holmes' second three had Wofford at 4-for-6 from the floor in the second half. The Terriers (18-11, 10-6) made just 6-for-24, including 2-of-11 on threes, the rest of the way.

"We didn't get all panicky (after blowing the lead). We didn't go out there and take bad shots and have bad turnovers. We just settled in and played to the priorities of the values of the program - be a great teammate, fly around on defense and value the ball," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "There's a reason that fly around on defense is second and valuing the ball is third.

"Everybody thinks we have a shooting problem. This isn't a shooting problem. This was an intensity, connection and toughness problem. We're getting into March. We're going to be known by our resolve, our edge and how tough we are in critical moments. ... We wanted our defense to fuel our offense tonight and I thought we saw that."

After Holmes' jumper gave Wofford a 56-53 lead with 10:38 remaining, Wilkins came up huge for Furman. He drove for a layup to cut the lead to one and got a steal 24 seconds later. Wilkins then found Cooper Bowser for a dunk that gave Furman a lead it never relinquished.

Chace Watley's three-point play with 7:42 left cut the Paladins' lead to 60-59, but Eddrin Bronson answered with a layup. Johnston followed with a blocked shot and a rebound. Bronson then found Johnston for a layup and he was fouled. He completed the three-point play to push the lead to six with 6:45 left.

That coincided with a seven-minute stretch in which Wofford went 0-for-9 from the floor, with Johnston adding another block midway through it. By the time the Terriers made another field goal, there was only 1:10 left and it cut Furman's lead to 69-64. The Paladins drained 7-of-8 free throws the rest of the way to seal the win.

Thomas went 0-for-2 in the second half, but still finished with a team-high 18 points for the Paladins. Wilkins scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half and had a game-high five assists.

"(Wilkins) is a freshman in his first time in here. They're yelling explicits to him and it's just crazy," Richey said. "For him to not play his best in the first half and then come out and really hit one of the biggest shots in the game on that three when we were down four, I thought he kept his composure.

"They obviously stayed attached to (Thomas) in the second half, but I thought his ability to space the floor was a huge thing that allowed Coop (Bowser) to play how he played in the second half."

Bowser and Johnston finished with 13 points apiece and Bowser grabbed seven rebounds. While they only combined for 13 points, the four Paladins off the bench had the highest plus-minus numbers of the game. Tom House was at plus-15. Abijah Franklin hit a big pair of three-pointers and was plus-14, while Bronson was plus-13 and Cole Bowser plus-7.

"Our bench was tremendous," Richey said. "It was just a complete win tonight."

Holmes had a game-high 20 points for the Terriers, while Cayden Vasko finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds and three steals.

Furman will try to avenge another loss to a rival when it hosts The Citadel at 6 p.m. Wednesday. The game will air on Nexstar affiliates throughout the region and will also be streamed live on ESPN+. The home finale will be Senior Night as Furman will honor House, Johnston, Thomas Tillman and Ben Vander Wal prior to the game.

Paladins go cold as ETSU completes sweep

Charles Johnston had his 10th double-double this season Wednesday,
but Furman fell to ETSU, 78-69. Photo courtesy of Furman

So that's the difference between first and last.

After shooting the lights out in a blowout win at the Southern Conference's last-place team last Saturday, Furman shot like the lights were out against the league's first-place team Wednesday. The Paladins shot 35 percent from the floor, including 18.2 percent (6-of-33) on three-pointers, in a 78-69 loss to East Tennessee State before a sellout crowd at Timmons Arena. It's the first loss by more than five points in a SoCon game this year for Furman (17-11, 8-7).

In a game in which the Paladins: made more free throws than ETSU attempted, had no players with four fouls for the first time since Jan. 10, committed fewer turnovers and won the rebounding battle, the difference came from beyond the arc. The Buccaneers (20-8, 12-3) made 50 percent (12-of-24) of their threes, including 7-of-11 in the second half. Most of those seven came in a key five-minute flurry that helped ETSU secure its first season sweep of Furman since the 1993-94 season.

"It was a hard-fought game, but they shot the cover off the ball in the second half and unfortunately, we didn't. I hurt for our guys. They're playing hard and competing," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "I know they care, but 6-for-33 from three? It's a hard game when you just can't get the ball to go in.

"It's going to be hard to find a boxscore anywhere in the country where you win the free throw line, you win the paint, you win the glass, you win the turnover battle and you lose. But it also shows you why it's called basketball. The ball has to go in the basket."

Furman was coming off a 90-point performance at VMI in which it made 13 threes and shot 52.5 percent overall for the game, including 60.7 percent in the second half. Much of that second-half shooting success came thanks to going 12-for-12 on two-pointers.

It quickly became evident that ETSU was a different animal despite playing without its leading rebounder and second-leading scorer Blake Barkley, who was on the sidelines in a walking boot. The Paladins made just five of its first 17 shots, including four missed layups. Furman ended up shooting 31.3 percent in the first half and made just 3-of-10 layups and dunks.

The Bucs could not take advantage though as they had offensive issues of their own in the first half, thanks to another impressive showing by Furman's defense. One of the maddening aspects of this rut in which the Paladins have lost four of their last five games is the fact that they've played their best defense of the season during it. When the teams met in Johnson City two weeks earlier, ETSU quickly erased a 15-point second half deficit by basically running a layup drill on a loop in a four-minute span and went on to an overtime victory.

In Wednesday's first half, the Bucs were nearly as pitiful as Furman at the rim and they made 4-of-11 layups. After taking a 25-19 lead with 6:57 left, ETSU went 3-of-12 the rest of the half as the game was tied 34-34 at the break.

Despite missing 22 shots, including 14 threes, in the opening half the Paladins were even at the break because that's what they seem to always do. Furman has trailed at the half only three times since Nov. 14, which could be a positive, but it really just highlights the team's struggles after halftime.

There were no troubles early on in the second half Wednesday. Furman's first points came on dunks by Ben Vander Wal and Cooper Bowser to get the crowd going. Tom House's three-pointer gave Furman a 45-41 lead with 14:27 left. Meanwhile, ETSU started the second half by going 2-for-10 from the floor with four missed layups.

But then it happened - the five-minute span in which everything that can go wrong goes wrong for the Paladins. It always encompasses the midway point of the second half and has happened in nearly every game for the past month.

From the 14:07 mark to the 9:26 mark, the Bucs made seven consecutive shots. Each of the last five of those were three-pointers as ETSU went on a 20-4 run to take a 61-49 lead. Three of those five threes came from Milton Matthews, a reserve who entered Wednesday averaging 4.2 points and 9.1 minutes played per game.

After consecutive jumpers by Bowser and Asa Thomas cut the lead to eight, the Bucs responded with three consecutive baskets. ETSU never led by less than seven the rest of the way and took its biggest lead at 74-61 on Matthews' sixth three-pointer with two minutes to play. After making 14-of-41 field goals over the first 26 minutes of the game, the Bucs hit 12-of-17 the rest of the way.

"We took such better care of the ball. We had nine turnovers tonight after 22 or 23 up there. I thought we got good quality looks (on shots). We're up 45-41 and got two wide open looks. I mean they were HORSE shots. We miss both," Richey said. "Then they go down and make 5-for-5 from three. ... You've got to give them credit. They're playing with a ton of confidence right now.

"I've got to help our guys somehow. Most of the time, our teams play with a lot of confidence. Unfortunately, we don't have the collective confidence right now."

Matthews, who had scored a grand total of 25 points in SoCon play prior to Wednesday and not been in double figures since the season opener against Converse, led ETSU with 18 points on his 6-of-9 three-point shooting effort. Brian Taylor had 17 points and eight rebounds, while leading scorer Cam Morris added 12 points and seven rebounds. Jaylen Smith came off the bench to post eight points and eight of the Bucs' 11 assists.

Ironically, Matthews might not have played much at all if not for Barkley's injury. It was an unexpected twist that ended up tormenting Furman.

"They spaced us out more without Barkley out there. Even though he's one of the better post players in the league, it would've been a little bit easier for us defensively with Chuck (Charles Johnston) and Coop (Cooper Bowser) out there to play their two (bigs). They basically played with four guards a lot tonight," Richey said. "That put us in a position where we couldn't play Chuck and Coop together quite as much. ... We had no prep on that. We just saw him (Barkley) out in the boot before the game. But that's no excuse for us not being able to guard them from the three-point line."

Following a few tough games scoring-wise, Alex Wilkins had a game-high 21 points for the Paladins. He also drew eight fouls, only committed two, had three assists and only had three turnovers after suffering 11 at ETSU. Johnston posted his 10th double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Vander Wal had a game-high 11 boards.

Bowser, who was leading the country in field goal percentage before suffering his injury earlier this season, finished with nine points on 4-of-5 shooting. He also had five rebounds, two blocked shots and was at minus-15 on the plus-minus chart. ETSU did a good job of fronting Bowser and deflecting or dissuading a couple of lobs, but Bowser might've had more shots had he gotten an offensive rebound. On a night in which Furman missed 39 field goals and the Bucs were missing their leading rebounder, he somehow could not grab one of the Paladins' 13 offensive boards.

Furman returns to action Saturday at rival Wofford at 7 p.m. The Paladins will try to exorcise some demons as this second-half slide trend started against the Terriers in Greenville on Jan. 17. Furman led that game 59-46 with less than 10 minutes to play before losing, 74-70.

Thomas helps Furman roll over Keydets

Asa Thomas hit six three-pointers and scored 25 points in Furman's
90-72 win at VMI Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman

LEXINGTON, Va. - In Asa Thomas' first two games back from an injury that cost him nearly a month of the season, his three-point stroke was a little off. Thomas made two three-pointers in 11 minutes of action in Furman's first meeting with VMI before leaving with that injury on Jan. 10. In Saturday's rematch, Thomas resumed that pace.

Thomas matched his career-highs of points (25) and three-pointers (six) set earlier this season to lead the Paladins to a 90-72 victory at Cameron Hall. A balanced offensive attack produced 45 points each half as Furman shot 52.5 percent for the game. A tremendous defensive effort in the opening half helped Furman take a 20-point lead. While that lead was cut into quite a bit, it didn't sniff previous meltdowns as the Paladins had big answers to snap their three-game losing streak.

"We knew a game like that was coming for Asa. ... We needed to come out here and play Furman basketball and that's what we did. ... We had 21 assists. It's been a while since we've done that," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "The Mercer loss was hard. All three of these losses have been hard, but if you look at them our defense has been better than our all-year defense. We've been guarding at a high level, but playing bad offense. I tried to convince our group that it's not that we have bad offensive players. It's not that we have bad shooters. We were just not working to help one another get great looks.

"We had 23 instances in Macon where we had a guy wide open with nobody within five feet of him and we went in there and took a bad shot or threw a bad pass. ... If we make three of those, we win the game. ... Tonight, we had three substitutions on guys taking bad shots. We just can't accept it. As we get to the end of the season, there's got to be a certain standard to the shots we're looking for."

Thomas wasted no time in getting things rolling for Furman (17-10, 8-6 Southern Conference). His three-pointers on the Paladins' first two possessions forced a VMI timeout just 57 seconds into the game. While the Keydets' T.J. Johnson got going from three, Furman didn't stop. After Alex Wilkins missed a three on the Paladins' third possession, Charles Johnston grabbed the offensive rebound. That lead to another three by Thomas off an assist from Wilkins.

On the next possession, Thomas found Cooper Bowser for a layup. On the next, Johnston hit a three off an assist from Wilkins. Then Ben Vander Wal found Thomas for another three and Furman leads 17-6 just three-and-a-half minutes into the game. Outside of a couple of turnovers that followed, the Paladins didn't have a scoreless possession until the 14:22 mark.

"That's one of the best atmospheres we played in the league so far this year. It felt like they had the whole school here. The pregame stuff with the intros and music was a 10. This place was popping," Richey said. "I thought our guys did a good job of feeding off that."

Thomas' fifth three-pointer gave Furman its biggest lead at 45-25 with 2:15 left before halftime. The Paladins didn't score again in the half, but still took a 45-27 lead into the break. After holding VMI to 26.8 percent shooting for the game in its 69-48 win in Greenville, Furman held the Keydets to 21.9 percent shooting in the first half. VMI made 7-of-32 shots in the opening half, including 0-for-8 on two-pointers.

"I don't know if I've ever seen that (a team with no made twos in a half) before," Richey said.

The Keydets made their first two-pointer technically on a long jumper by Johnson that was originally ruled a three-pointer at the 16:53 mark of the second half. Then they started driving for more while Linus Holmstrom got hot from the outside. The midway portion of the second half has been dicey for Furman when it's held a big lead and that's when VMI made its biggest threat.

A Holmstrom three with 11:37 left started a 14-5 Keydet run that Holmstrom capped with a three with 7:45 left. That cut the lead to 65-58 and forced a Furman timeout. Coming out of the break, Thomas threw an alleyoop that Bowser slammed home. After a VMI turnover, Bowser found Wilkins for a three-pointer and the Paladins never led by fewer than 11 the rest of the way.

"That was one of our best timeouts of the year. We come out and get three stops in a row and we run the same play three times in a row," Richey said. "We get Coop on the dunk, a three and then a putback by Cole (Bowser). All of a sudden, we're back up 14. ... Teams are going to punch. You've got to be able to punch back."

Furman finished things off in style as the Keydets tried to full-court press as a last resort over the final minutes. That led to layups by Wilkins and Abijah Franklin, a dunk by Vander Wal and a pair of Bowser dunks off alleyoop lobs. The Paladins shot 60.7 percent from the floor in the second half, including 12-for-12 on two-pointers.

Furman put up its season-high point total in league play despite Wilkins being held to eight points on 3-of-9 shooting before fouling out late. He did have a game-high six assists and only two turnovers though. Johnston finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds in just 22 minutes of work for his ninth double-double this season and second in SoCon play. Cooper Bowser went 6-for-6 from the floor and 2-for-2 from the foul line to finish with 14 points, four rebounds, three assists, three blocks and no turnovers.

Tom House made 3-of-6 three-pointers to finish with nine points and four rebounds off the bench for the Paladins. Also making a big contribution was Vander Wal, who was coming off one of the more bizarre games of his career. At Mercer, he only played 15 minutes and didn't score as the 70 percent shooter was 0-for-2 from the floor. With just under eight minutes remaining in Macon, Vander Wal left with Furman up 51-50 and he never returned in what became a five-point loss.

Vander Wal responded with the type of stat line you'd expect from the senior "glue" of this team. He actually took fewer shots on Saturday, as his lone one was the late dunk, but he finished with eight points as the 41 percent foul shooter made 6-of-8 free throws. He also had seven rebounds, five assists, one steal, one block, one turnover and one foul while drawing six.

"I called him Thursday night and apologized for (the lack of normal playing time). That was my fault. Sometimes when the floor gets tight and we feel like Alex doesn't have enough space, the natural reaction is to try to put space out there and get Ben off the court," Richey said. "The reality was we were better with him on the court than off it once I watched the film. The spacers weren't taking good shots and weren't guarding. It was one of those things that sounds good in the moment, but in totality Ben's got to be out there. He's got to be out there in crunch time. He's just been in too many big moments for us to not be."

Johnson scored a game-high 26 points and had six rebounds and two steals to lead VMI (6-21, 1-13).

Furman will go from facing the SoCon's last-place team to the first-place team when the Paladins host East Tennessee State Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. Furman will try to avenge a heartbreaking 75-71 overtime loss to the Buccaneers two weeks ago.

Mercer deals Furman its third consecutive loss

Asa Thomas had 14 points in Furman's 69-64 loss
at Mercer Wednesday. Photo courtesy of Furman

When the Furman basketball team was dealing with an absurd amount of injuries earlier this season, "find a way Furman" was in full swing as the Paladins found different paths to success despite the obstacles. While Furman has gotten healthier lately, the wins have been hard to come by. On Wednesday at Mercer, the Paladins found a way to lose.

Furman held the Bears to 35.9 percent shooting, but Mercer pulled out a 69-64 win to improve to 12-0 at home this season. The five-point deficit was the Paladins' most lopsided loss in Southern Conference play. Among Div. I opponents, only VMI has shot a lower percentage against Furman (16-10, 7-6) this season. The Paladins have held 10 opponents to 41.0 percent shooting or lower and the Bears are the only one of those to win.

While Mercer won the rebounding battle 44-37, which included 14 offensive boards, second-chance points were even at 11. Both teams hit 23 shots, but 10 of Furman's were threes while the Bears only hit five. The difference came at the foul line as Mercer made 18-of-21 free throws, while the Paladins converted 8-of-13. The Bears' Baraka Okojie shot more free throws than Furman's entire team as he was 12-of-14 on his way to a 25-point night.

A big part of Mercer's poor shooting night came over the opening 13 minutes of the game when it started 3-of-19 from the floor. The Paladins weren't much better as they went 3-of-15 before a rapid flurry of makes ensued. In a span of just 4:17, Furman made 7-of-9 shots. That keyed a 16-4 run to stake the Paladins to a 25-15 lead with 5:43 left in the first half.

No Furman lead has been safe of late and it took Mercer less than four minutes to wipe that double-digit spread away with an 11-1 run. Cooper Bowser's layup with 48 seconds left helped Furman take a 31-29 lead into halftime.

The Paladins came out firing in the second half. Their first six attempts after halftime were three-pointers and four of those went down. Cole Bowser's three with 15:54 left pushed Furman's lead to 45-39. Then that hot shooting just stopped and never returned. The Paladins went 7-for-24 the rest of the way, including 1-for-10 from three. That comes on the heels of making just 1-of-9 threes in the second half in the loss to UNC Greensboro, and 2-of-9 in the second half and 1-of-6 in overtime in the loss at East Tennessee State.

After Asa Thomas hit a tough turnaround jumper to give Furman a 51-48 lead with 10:39 remaining, the Paladins had a run of particularly poor possessions. Collin O'Neal's cross-court pass sailed over the outstretched arms of 6-foot-11 Charles Johnston and into the stands. Johnston missed a three and then was called for his fourth foul with 8:53 left on the other end. Eddrin Bronson's three from the top of the key rattled in-and-out. Next time down, Bronson's desperation three as the shot clock expired was partially blocked. On the next possession, Bronson shot an air ball from three.

Those three consecutive missed threes were the only shots Bronson attempted the entire game. Prior to that last miss a seemingly significant substitution happened. After Bowser blocked the shot of Mercer standout big man Armani Mighty, Ben Vander Wal tied up Mighty and the arrow gave Furman possession with 7:20 remaining. It didn't appear that Vander Wal was shaken up on the play as he was set to inbound the ball, but he was called to the bench and never returned.

Furman still led 51-50 when Vander Wal left but Mercer got an offensive rebound on its next possession. The Bears then took their first lead since the 11-minute mark of the first half on a terrific up-and-under move by Okojie. They pushed the lead to four thanks to a three-pointer by Brady Shoulders on their next possession.

Cole Bowser snapped Furman's five-minute scoreless streak with the Paladins' lone made three of the final 15:53. Furman regained the lead on its next possession in spectacular fashion when Alex Wilkins delivered an alleyoop pass from midcourt that Cooper Bowser slammed home. That gave the Paladins a 56-55 advantage with 5:05 remaining.

Following a timeout by Mercer, the Bears responded by hitting four consecutive shots. That was part of scoring on each of their next five possessions to take a 65-59 lead with 2:23 left. The Paladins could never pull even despite having a couple of chances trailing 65-62 with 32 seconds left. Asa Thomas' three-point attempt from nearly on the Furman bench was an airball, but Bronson made a terrific play to save it off of Shoulders. Thomas tried another tough three that went in-and-out. Johnston tipped in the miss with 22 seconds left to cut the lead to 65-64. Mercer made four free throws, sandwiched around another tough three by Thomas that barely drew iron, to seal the win.

Shortly after Vander Wal left, Mercer had a string of 6-of-8 shooting from the floor including a pair of uncontested layups by Zaire Williams. Outside of that 6-for-8 shooting run, the Bears made 8-of-25 field goals in the second half.

Thomas finished with 14 points to lead the Paladins, while Cooper Bowser and Johnston each scored 11. Bowser also had seven rebounds. Furman leading scorer Alex Wilkins was held to seven points on 1-of-7 shooting and was at minus-16 in the plus-minus category. His lone bucket came on his final attempt with 2:02 left. Wilkins did have a game-high five assists.

The only other Paladin in double figures was Tom House, who scored 10 points. Despite playing 23 minutes and being a proven outside shooter, House logged only 54 seconds over the final 6:11 of the game and played none of the final 4:11. Vander Wal was held scoreless in a season-low 15 minutes of action. The 69 percent field goal shooter's only attempts were a layup and a three-pointer.

In addition to Okojie's game-high 25-point performance for Mercer (16-10, 8-5), Shoulders finished with 14 points, 13 rebounds and two steals. Williams scored 13 points, while Mighty collected a game-high 14 rebounds and seven points.

Furman will try to snap a three-game losing skid when it plays at VMI Saturday at 1 p.m. The Keydets (6-20, 1-12) are on an 11-game losing streak since their lone SoCon win Jan. 3 over Chattanooga. Furman held VMI to 26.8 percent shooting in a 69-48 win Jan. 10 in Greenville.

Paladins' comeback falls short against UNCG

Alex Wilkins had 15 points and five assists in Furman's 67-64
loss to UNC Greensboro Sunday. Photo courtesy of Furman

As with every other Southern Conference loss this season, Furman suffered another close one Sunday as the Paladins fell to UNC Greensboro, 67-64. Three of Furman's five SoCon losses have come in overtime and none of the five have been decided by more than four points.

Unlike the previous three defeats, there was no blown lead this time. A subpar first half by the Paladins made sure of that. After winning at UNCG by 23 last month, Furman trailed by as much as 10 in the second half. The Paladins (16-9, 7-5) got the lead down to one on three separate occasions, but could never pull even. That included Alex Wilkins' desperation three as time expired.

"Give Greensboro a ton of credit. Both teams played extremely hard. Unfortunately, we didn't play hard enough in the beginning and gave them a pretty solid cushion at halftime," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "They were the tougher team in the first half and were more physical than we were. ... I thought we turned a lot of that around in the second half ... but we've got to put 40 (full minutes) together.

"At the end of the day, what stands out the most is they were 10-for-19 from three and we were 5-for-19 from three. It's always going to be a make-miss game. ... That's a 15-point separator there. We go 1-for-9 (from three) in the second half and that's a little bit of a trend for us. We're shooting the ball well in the first half, but not the second half."

Looking to bounce back from another gut punch of an overtime loss at East Tennessee State last Wednesday, Furman had a small lead over the first eight minutes Sunday. A three by UNCG's Justin Neely tied the game at 17-17 with 11:37 left in the first half and the Paladins never led again.

After a dunk by Ben Vander Wal cut the Spartans' lead to 20-19 with 10:11 left, Furman missed a pair of layups, a three-pointer and had a turnover over its next four possessions. That allowed UNCG (10-15, 6-6) to stretch the advantage to 26-19. Over the final six minutes of the half, the Spartans outscored the Paladins 11-6 to take a 39-32 lead into halftime.

Two of the best players in the SoCon squared off down the stretch. Wilkins had a layup with 3:35 left to cut the lead to 59-58, but Neely answered with a layup and was fouled. He completed the three-point play to push the lead to 62-58. Wilkins came back with a tough fadeaway jumper along the baseline. After a rare miss by Neely, Wilkins drove and drew a foul with 2:04 left. Wilkins suffered his only missed free throw of the game before making the second to cut the lead to 62-61.

UNCG's Noah Norgaard missed a layup with 1:38 remaining and Charles Johnston grabbed the rebound giving Furman a chance to take the lead. The golden opportunity slipped away when Cooper Bowser's pass sailed out of bounds where Asa Thomas should've been for a wide open layup. It appeared that Thomas was held on the play, but no whistle came and Richey voiced his displeasure to the officials. He didn't hold back his opinion of the play in the postgame press conference.

"He was definitely held. You could see it on the video board. The ref tells me he wasn't looking at it. (Thomas) is cutting and he's literally being grabbed, so I don't know what they're looking at," Richey said. "In a game of that magnitude with three guys out there, I don't know how they can't see that we have a cutter being grabbed as the ball goes out of bounds. ... That would've put him to the free throw line to shoot two. We act like it's not a big deal, but it's a critical missed call.

"If we make both and take the lead again, they answered every bell so they might go down there and bang a three. You never know what's going to happen but in those moments, those plays have to be seen. ... To think we're just going to chuck the ball out of bounds with a guy running free, that's not how the game goes."

After the turnover, the Spartans ran down the shot clock before Norgaard drilled a backbreaking three. Trailing 65-61 with 42 seconds left, Wilkins drew a foul and hit both free throws. Following a missed layup by the Spartans' Lilian Marville, bodies hit the floor diving for a loose ball rebound before it was scooped up by Johnston. Johnston quickly fired the ball to Wilkins, who raced down the floor and lobbed it to Bowser. The lob wasn't high enough for Bowser to simply catch and dunk though. After he came down with the catch, he was hacked before he could go back up for a shot.

Bowser, a 62 percent foul shooter, had the first throw bounce around and in. The second hit the back of the rim and into the hands of Neely, who was fouled with six seconds left. After Neely made both, Wilkins raced up the floor. The ball was deflected out before Wilkins recovered it, but he had to throw up an off-balance three as time expired and it bounced off the backboard no good.

"We had Asa there open with a second to go, but it was hard for Alex to see him as he's trying to recover that ball off the ground," Richey said. "Unfortunately, we had to take a tough one."

Making his first start since Dec. 18, Bowser led Furman with 20 points and six rebounds. Wilkins had 15 points, five assists and two steals in just 25 minutes of action as he once again dealt with foul trouble. In his first action since suffering an injury on Jan. 10, Thomas had nine points, five rebounds and three assists off the bench.

Neely had 24 points, 13 rebounds, three steals and a block on his way to earning SoCon Player of the Week honors. He also had one foul, but drew eight.

It will be a battle of two talented, but struggling teams when Furman next plays at Mercer Wednesday at 7 p.m. While they are currently tied for third place in the league, both will be trying to stop two-game losing streaks. Three teams are tied for fifth place, one game behind the Paladins and Bears. One of those five teams will very likely end up having to play on the Friday night session of the SoCon Tournament as the No. 7 seed.

"It's all going to come down to Asheville. You're playing for seeding in these games but most importantly, you're using these games to figure out what your best looks like," Richey said. "We've got to have the toughness, intensity and effort to go out there and play a game for 40 minutes."

Paladins waste another big lead in loss at ETSU

Making his first start since Dec. 18, Cooper Bowser had 18 points and 8 rebounds
in Furman's 75-71 overtime loss at ETSU Wednesday. Photo courtesy of Furman

For the fifth time in the past six games, Furman held a double-digit lead midway through the second half at East Tennessee State Wednesday night. The Paladins fell to 2-3 in those games as the Buccaneers rallied for a 75-71 overtime win to remain alone in first place in the Southern Conference standings.

The Paladins (16-8, 7-4) entered Wednesday going for their fourth consecutive win, which would've pulled them into a tie with ETSU for first in the league. That appeared to be the destination when Furman took a 51-37 lead with 10:20 remaining. But the Bucs responded with a layup drill over the next four-and-a-half minutes to completely wipe out that deficit.

Furman actually blew this big lead quickly enough to have plenty of time to recover and retake the lead before ETSU's Jaylen Smith hit a three with 15 seconds left to force overtime. The Bucs (17-7, 9-2) made each of their first four shots in overtime to take a seven-point lead and held on for the victory. The Paladins suffered 21 turnovers in losing a game in which they shot 52.7 percent from the floor and led for 36:54 of.

"There's a lot of things you can look at and feel like, 'We should've been better here. We should've been better there.' At the end of the day, we've got to make sure their best shooter on the floor doesn't get a wide-open three when we're up three," Furman coach Bob Richey said of the game-tying three in regulation on the Furman Radio Network's postgame show. "That was a freshman breakdown there. They haven't been in this environment. They're not used to it.

"It was a hard fought game. We outrebounded them by seven and it's hard to outrebound a team like (ETSU), but we turned it over way too much. Even with that, I thought we still should've won the game. ... It's a thin margin, the difference between feeling just absolutely crushed and feeling elated. It's the difference of not losing their best shooter on their last possession of (regulation)."

The only time in the last six games that the Paladins didn't have a commanding lead midway through the second half was at UNC Greensboro. Ironically, Furman won that game by 23 points after leading 53-52 with 9:20 remaining. That gutsy win followed gut-punching losses to rivals Wofford and The Citadel in which the Paladins blew second-half leads of 13 and 19 points, respectively. Following the UNCG game, Furman had back-to-back five-point wins. In those two, the Paladins saw a 14-point lead with 11 minutes left cut to two against Samford and an 11-point lead with less than seven minutes left cut to three against Chattanooga. Furman led that game by as many as 24 in the first half and 19 early in the second half.

So when the Paladins took a 35-23 lead into halftime in Johnson City, it marked the second consecutive game in which Furman held the opposition to 23 in the first half but it certainly didn't want to let up in the second half. Coming out of the locker room, it didn't. A Charles Johnston three pushed the lead to 15 early on. It was a return to lob city also for the Paladins as Cooper Bowser made his first start since Dec. 18. His dunk with 11:23 left extended the lead to 11 and made him 8-for-8 from the floor. Unfortunately for Furman, it was his last bucket of the night as he was just 0-for-2 the rest of the way.

After Tom House's layup pushed the lead to 14 with 10:20 left, ETSU just annihilated Furman down low. Over a stretch of 4:05, the Bucs made five consecutive shots - all layups. The last of those was by Blake Barkley and tied the game at 53-53 with 6:01 remaining. The times ETSU didn't get a layup during that 16-2 run, it was fouled on drives to the basket and made 6-of-7 free throws during it.

"We fouled too much in the last 10 minutes and they ended up with 32 points in the paint after having eight in the first half," Richey said. "It was like the Chattanooga game. We played this phenomenal defense in the first half and then just can't sustain it. We've got to figure it out."

Johnston finally stopped the bleeding when he answered Barkley's layup with a three-pointer. The lead changed a couple of times down the stretch of regulation. After Alex Wilkins' layup gave Furman its final lead at 59-57 with three minutes left, he had a turnover and then missed the front end of a 1-and-1. Coming off a 33-point performance against Chattanooga, Wilkins - an 84 percent foul shooter - made 2-of-5 free throws Wednesday.

The next time down, Wilkins tossed a lob to Bowser who was fouled. Bowser, a 60 percent foul shooter, made his only two free throws of the game and Furman led 61-57 with 1:12 left. The Paladins forced a miss, but ETSU got the offensive rebound and Cam Morris drew Johnston's fourth foul. Morris hit just 1-of-2 free throws to cut the lead to three. On Furman's ensuing possession, Cole Bowser had the ball as the shot clock was in the final seconds. He drew a second defender and tried to hit his open brother down low with a bounce pass, but the Bucs deflected it and Barkley came up with the steal. Smith then drilled the game-tying three from the top of the key.

"We're up three and I thought we had the two-on-one right there and I thought we were going to throw it up to Coop right there," Richey said. "Unfortunately, we threw it down and turned it over." 

After Smith's three, Furman called timeout. With 15 seconds left, the Paladins had plenty of time left for a potential game-winning shot but haven't had the best end-of-half possessions of late. That trend continued when Wilkins suffered his 11th turnover of the game on what was to be another lob to Cooper Bowser. Seeing as how there was about 1.5 seconds left when he lost control of it, I'm not sure there would've been time for a catch and dunk.

"It was the same play we ran for Coop when he was fouled (late in regulation)," Richey said. "We had the two-on-one, I thought we were going to make the play and win it but unfortunately, the ball came out."

"We've got to learn to do the things that are critical to close out games. We've got three overtime losses and we've had second-half leads in all three - two of them double digits in the second half. We're just not closing games like we need to. ... Our youth is having to learn the hard way. It's a little painful because we're playing some really good ball for a decent amount of the games." 

ETSU's Brian Taylor opened overtime with a three, before Cole Bowser answered with a three. After Morris made a layup, Bowser missed a three and Smith drained another three. Morris then came up with a steal off a Johnston turnover and his layup pushed the Bucs lead to 71-64 with 2:48 left. After layups by Wilkins and Ben Vander Wal, Vander Wal made 1-of-2 free throws with 32 seconds left to cut the lead to 71-69 but Furman couldn't get any closer. Barkley and Smith each made a pair of free throws in the final 24 seconds to seal ETSU's victory.

In addition to the turnover issue was the lack of steals on the other end. Furman had just one steal while the Bucs had 13. That led to an 18-2 advantage in fast break points for ETSU, who also had an 19-3 edge in bench scoring. Three points from the bench in an overtime game in which Johnston and Vander Wal both fouled out of is a tough factor to overcome. While the teams were nearly even on fouls, calls on the Paladins were more costly as they went 6-of-10 from the foul line while the Bucs made 16-of-22.

Wilkins had a game-high 19 points for Furman, while Cooper Bowser finished with 18 points and eight rebounds. House had 11 points and a game-high four assists, while Johnston also scored 11 and had a game-high two blocks. Vander Wal had nine points and eight rebounds and a team-high plus-eight in the plus-minu column.

Now for a glass half-full perspective. Furman has faced every SoCon team, but has yet to play a conference game with all of its key players healthy. The Paladins have had at least a 13-point lead in eight of their last nine games. The only game they didn't in that stretch was a four-point win at Samford in which they led by as much as nine in the second half. In the first two conference games this season, Furman's biggest lead was by nine in a win over Mercer but only two in a three-point overtime loss to Western Carolina.

So this team has shown flashes of being able to play extremely well against all but one team in this league thus far. As injured guys return to the mix, you'd think those flashes should grow longer and large leads should become more sustainable.

One of those key injured guys is Asa Thomas, who's expected to return to action Sunday when Furman hosts UNCG at 1 p.m. Thomas, a Clemson transfer who's averaging 13.2 points per game and shooting 40.5 percent from three this season, hasn't played since Jan. 10. Sunday's game will be televised by ESPN2.