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| Charles Johnston had 25 points and missed one shot in Furman's 78-69 win over Jacksonville Monday. Photo courtesy of Furman |
Charles Johnstone hasn't been with the Furman basketball program very long, but he's already aware of one of Bob Richey's mantras. It's that shooters need to shoot - no matter what happened last time, or the last 10 times. If there's an open look, shooters shoot.
Coming off the bench Monday night against Jacksonville, Johnstone made each of his first six shots. With 4:05 left to play, Johnston just missed his seventh. The loose ball rebound deflected off Jacksonville out of bounds. When Johnstone got another clean look 15 seconds later, he drained his fourth three-pointer. That helped give the Paladins their biggest lead of the game at 64-48 and they went on to a gritty 78-69 victory at The Well.
Johnstone finished with a team-high 25 points on 8-of-9 shooting to help Furman start off 3-0 for the first time since the 2020-21 season.
"I haven't been playing that long and haven't been shooting threes that long. So coming into a program like Richey's, where the five is around the perimeter a lot, has honestly been great," said Johnstone, a native of Australia who didn't begin playing basketball until he was 17 years old. "I haven't really had a summer where I've been able to work on my game as much as I did this summer. Shooting was a big focal point for me and the team.
"That's like the best thing about playing for Richey. He doesn't care how many shots you take, as long as they're all good shots. ... If I didn't take that shot after the miss, I would've heard about from him and from the team as well."
Despite leading by 16 late and winning by nine, this was no walk in the park for Furman (3-0). It was more reminiscent of gritty, hard-nosed games the Paladins have had against teams like UNC Greensboro in the past. At the first media timeout, the game was tied 3-3 and Furman point guard PJay Smith had already suffered a pair of turnovers.
While Jacksonville went on to lead by as many as six in the opening half and 36-33 at the half, Smith got settled in. Despite being hounded defensively and taking bumps all night, Smith basically never flinched and had just two turnovers the rest of the night. He finished with 14 points, six assists, six rebounds and four steals. He drew seven fouls, but never committed one.
Another big factor that Richey may have been the only person to single out was Tyrese Hughey. Hughey didn't take a shot and fouled out in less than 12 minutes of action off the bench, but he did plenty of important things while in there. Namely, it was the five rebounds he got at a time when the Dolphins - who had 18 offensive rebounds against Florida - were controlling the boards. Furman outscored Jacksonville by 16 when Hughey was on the floor.
"There was a chance Tyrese Hughey wasn't going to play tonight. Davis Molnar's been playing well. Cooper Bowser's been playing well. Garrett Hien's been playing well. It's not about 'this guy's not good enough.' It's about 'we've got to get minutes to guys who are practicing and playing well.' But we couldn't get paint off the glass, so we said 'Hey (Hughey), let's go,' " Richey said. "He plays 12 minutes and he's plus-16. Chuck (Johnston) was phenomenal, but at the end of the day if Tyrese doesn't come in and do that, we don't win tonight."
The Paladins trailed 41-37 before Tom House drained a 3-pointer nearly five minutes into the second half. Just over a minute later, House was fouled on another three and made 2-of-3 free throws to give Furman a lead it never relinquished.
On the Paladins' next possession, Hughey got an offensive board which led to a Johnston dunk. Twenty seconds later, Smith made a steal and found Johnstone for a three. Less than 30 seconds later, Nick Anderson had a steal and a layup After a steal by Hughey, Furman had a turnover, but Anderson got another steal which led to a Smith layup and the Paladins led 51-41 with 10:54 left.
Jacksonville (1-2) went nearly seven minutes until scoring again, but could never get the lead under eight.
"We knew coming in that they were going to try to rough us up and out-tough us," Smith said. "So just keeping our composure, playing smart and trying to take care of the ball was part of our game plan."
House finished with 13 points off the bench, while Garrett Hien was the fourth Paladin in double figures with 11 points. Hien also pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds for the second double-double of his career and had three assists.
In the first half, Furman was outrebounded 22-16, outscored 10-0 on second chance points and 18-10 on points in the paint. The teams ended up tied in rebounds with 39 apiece, while the Paladins outscored the Dolphins 7-4 on second chance points and 20-16 in the paint in the second half.
"I thought it turned there a couple of minutes before halftime. Things were starting to get away from us a little bit, but our guys responded," Richey said. "That's what this group has been about.
"They want to play for one another and play with one another. It doesn't matter who's night it is. There's no ego. It's just 'let's go try to win a game,' and I think that's why they're being rewarded."
Furman will next face fellow unbeaten Tulane (3-0) at The Well at 7 p.m. Friday. The Paladins will look to avenge last year's heartbreaking double overtime loss in New Orleans in which they ingested some foul home cooking in the final tenths of the last second in regulation.
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