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Ben VanderWal had four points and four rebounds in overtime to help Furman beat The Citadel, 67-63. Photo courtesy of Furman |
Furman will return to the Bon Secours Wellness Arena court for the first time in nearly a month Monday night when it hosts rival Wofford at 7 p.m. The game was originally scheduled for Saturday afternoon, but was postponed due to the winter storm forecast.
It will be the Paladins' first game at their primary home away from home this season since a 68-64 win over S.C. State on Dec. 14. Furman's four-game road trip that began Dec. 21 with a 77-63 win at Harvard wrapped up last Wednesday with a 67-63 overtime victory at The Citadel. The Paladins (14-2, 2-1 Southern Conference) have earned the moniker of "Find a Way" Furman from Coach Bob Richey this season. Of all the ways found to a win this season, the one in Charleston may have taken the most unlikely path.
After seeing a 13-point lead early in the second half turn into an eight-point deficit with eight minutes left in regulation, the Paladins rallied to take the lead late before going to overtime. In the extra session, Furman made just 1-of-7 shots, but pulled out the win by making 6-of-6 free throws. Four of those six free throws were provided by Ben VanderWal, who was shooting 54.2 percent from the foul line entering the game. That lone field goal was a huge three-pointer by Garrett Hien, who had hit 25.6 percent of his threes this season prior to that one.
"What a win. We had a lot of things going against us. There were some interesting calls to say the least," Richey said on the Furman Radio Network's postgame show. "We just couldn't get some shots to go down for guys, who had been hitting shots. We're a little bit of a tired group. We've had eight of our last 11 games on the road all over the country. I knew this was going to be a hard one. This is Citadel. ... It's always hard to win here.
"The story is this team again is that they found a way to win the game. It doesn't matter what it is. Winners are winners. Ben knocks down those free throws. We needed every single one of them and he's been working on it so hard. Then Garrett man, just the confidence to bang that three to go up five was incredible."
While it was a close game, it's not one that should make a lot of highlight reels. It was a rough night for everyone on the floor - the Paladins, Bulldogs and officials. The teams combined for 36 fouls, 35 turnovers and 43 made field goals.
Just over eight minutes into the game, Furman led 15-13. For the remaining 11:43 of the first half, the Paladins outscored Citadel 15-6 to take a 30-19 lead into halftime. During that stretch, Furman held the Bulldogs to 2-of-9 shooting from the floor and forced seven turnovers.
That lead increased to 13 on VanderWal's putback one minute into the second half. Over the next 6:02, that Citadel team that had 19 points over the game's first 21 minutes went on a 23-2 run to take a 42-35 lead. Furman worked to cut the lead to one before the Bulldogs responded and took a 51-43 lead with 8:16 remaining.
"We played really good defense those last 10 minutes of the first half, but we just came out with no intensity (in the second half). They came out and hit us and before long, we were down," Richey said. "At the timeout, I was just like, 'look, we got to do something. We got to change something.' We went to the 1-3-1 zone. I really couldn't tell you the last time we played it. ... So I think it called them a little bit by surprise. We had some guys out there did a great job in it.
"I told them 'there's eight minutes to go and we can win this game, but if we we quit playing defense, we're done.' ... It just ended up taking 13 minutes."
From the 8:49 to 1:37 mark of the second half, Citadel went 0-for-8 from the floor with five turnovers. Furman went on a 13-2 run during that stretch to take a 56-53 lead. Bulldogs' big man Sola Adebisi took over the final 100 seconds of regulation. He hit three consecutive shots for Citadel including a putback, a game-tying three-pointer with 1:10 left and a game-tying layup with 43 seconds left. With 27 seconds remaining in regulation, Adebisi blocked Nick Anderson's three-point try.
After the Bulldogs missed two close shots in the final 10 seconds, Furman had one last chance in regulation but VanderWal's jumper at the buzzer rattled in and out no good.
"It felt good out of my hands, but we got out of here with a win so I don't care either way," VanderWal said on the Furman Radio Network's postgame show. "They made some big shots, but we just kept fighting."
For nearly the first three minutes of overtime, VanderWal's four free throws were the lone points. After Citadel's Brody Fox cut the lead to two with 2:04 left, Hien answered on a three-pointer with 1:10 left to make push the lead to 65-60. With Furman clinging to a two-point lead and 10 seconds remaining, PJay Smith knocked down a pair of free throws to seal the win.
While the Paladins did what they needed to do to pull out the win, they were greatly assisted by Citadel's continued struggles at the foul line. The Bulldogs made 1-of-9 free throws in overtime and were 15-of-32 from the line for the game. Out of 355 Division I programs, Citadel ranks 355th in free throw percentage as it's made 58.2 percent this season.
Anderson finished with a game-high 23 points to lead Furman. He also had three assists and three steals. Cooper Bowser had 13 points and 14 rebounds. while Smith had 13 points, four steals and three assists. Five of Bowser's rebounds came in overtime. VanderWal finished with eight points and nine rebounds, including four of each in overtime.
Cam Glover scored 20 points to lead Citadel (5-9, 0-3), while Adebisi had 15 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. Fox finished with 14 points and seven rebounds. He also drew 10 fouls, but made just 4-of-12 free throws.
Wofford (8-8, 2-1) enters Monday's game coming off a 77-69 win over Western Carolina last Wednesday. Monday's game will begin a three-game homestand for Furman this week. The Paladins host ETSU Wednesday at 7 p.m. and Chattanooga Saturday at 5 p.m. Following this week's action, Furman will have a stretch of three out of four games on the road.
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