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| Nick Anderson scored 20 points in Furman's 90-61 win at Western Carolina. Photo courtesy of Furman |
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - An 11-day break over Christmas had no ill effects on the Furman basketball team when it returned to the court at Western Carolina on New Year's Day. Less than three-and-a-half minutes into the game, all five starters had scored to give the Paladins an 11-0 lead. The Catamounts never got closer than nine the rest of the way as Furman rolled to its sixth consecutive win, 90-61, in the Southern Conference opener.
Nick Anderson scored 20 points and Charles Johnston had 17 off the bench to lead six Paladins in double figures. The victory gives Furman (13-1, 1-0) its best start to a season since the 1931-32 team went 13-1 on its way to a 15-1 season record. It was the Paladins' 70th road win since the 2016-17 began. That's the third-highest total in the country over that span.
"We haven't been really pleased with our return from Christmas break in a couple of years, so we spent some time as a staff this offseason kind of visiting what we wanted those plans to be. I thought we executed really well," Richey said. "I thought the staff was good, the team took it well and man, we really worked. ... We came back on the 26th and I thought our group just had a really good week of preparing the right way to start league play.
"We had not won up here in three years, so we needed to make sure we came up with the right mindset. ... Six deflections by the first media (timeout) and an 11-0 lead is a pretty good recipe for making sure our mindset was correct."
Furman actually missed its first three shots before Anderson got a steal and found PJay Smith for a pretty, left-handed layup at the 18:44 mark. Then Garrett Hien made a layup. Then Cooper Bowser's block led to a pair of free throws for Bowser. Then Ben VanderWal had a putback. Then Smith found Anderson for a three and Western called timeout at the 16:31 mark.
Coming out of the timeout, a layup by Hien pushed the lead to 13 before the Catamounts (4-8, 0-1) got on the board with a pair of free throws at the 15:39 mark. One minute later, Western made its first field goal. The Catamounts second made field goal didn't come until the 10:31 mark. By that point, Furman led 20-4, had held Western to 1-for-11 shooting and had forced five turnovers.
Smith, who entered shooting 50.6 percent from three, made just 1-of-7 Wednesday. That one came on a running bank shot to beat the first-half buzzer, giving Furman its biggest lead to that point at 43-23. The Catamounts had cut the advantage to 25-15 with 7:30 left before the Paladins ended the half on an 18-8 run.
"We've had some weird little three-minute stretches (to close out the first half), like at Florida Gulf Coast and Harvard," Richey said. "We talked about that at the under-four media (timeout). We had to show some growth there and be really good. At one point we were up 11, 12 or 13 with about eight minutes to go and I thought if we could hold that margin and be up around 15, that would be a pretty good half. Then we ended up being up 20."
Western's Bernard Pelote opened the second-half scoring with a jumper, but Bowser answered 13 seconds later with a pair of free throws to push the lead back to 45-25. That 20-point lead never lessened. Furman took its biggest lead of the game when Johnston's layup made it 66-36 with 9:56 left.
Johnston's 17-point effort came in 16 minutes of action off the bench. It's the most Johnston has played since logging 17 minutes against Tulane on Nov. 15 as the Paladins have played it safe with his lingering knee injury. Johnston, who made 3-of-4 three-pointers, also grabbed a season-high seven rebounds.
"I think some of the things we've done to protect (Johnston) and get him ready for league play have worked. Our trainer, Justin Gaines, is elite. Our doctors, specifically Scott Watson in this situation, have done a great job," Richey said. "Chuck looks fresh out there and that boy can shoot 'em. ... A lot of shooters in this league are 4s, but he's a 5. So now those 5s have to guard our guards. ... Because our guards are playing so well, now he's open for pops. It makes it hard to guard."
When the Paladins returned home from Harvard, Johnston said he got a shot in his knee and then took a few days to rest it. He said Wednesday was the best he's felt since first suffering the injury.
"Being able to run around out there and not having something nagging me in the back of my mind, I just felt a lot more free," Johnston said. "I was able to move around a little bit better on defense, which I was happy about. Hopefully it can stay this way."
After limiting Western to 30.4 percent (7-of-23) shooting in the first half, Furman held the Catamounts to 36.4 percent (12-of-33) in the second half for a full-game total of 33.9 percent. The Paladins enjoyed a 13-0 edge in points off turnovers as they forced 13 and had a season-low four, including just one in the second half. That one came when VanderWal fought for a rebound and had it knocked away after putting two hands on the ball for just a second.
Furman had 29 bench points, all from Johnston and Eddrin Bronson as Bronson finished with 12 points, four assists, three rebounds, two steals and no turnovers. Bowser and Hien also scored 12 points, while Smith had 10 points, three assists and no turnovers. The lone Paladin scorer to not reach double figures was VanderWal, who finished with seven points and six rebounds.
"PJay's feeling a little under the weather right now, but he still had 10 points and played a great game. But I think it (scoring 90) just shows the depth of our team," Anderson said. "We come out there as a very connected group. Nobody cares who's taking the shots. Whoever's hot gets the ball. ... When things are clicking, we're a pretty scary team to guard so we've just got to keep it going."
Pelote had 17 points (on 7-of-19 shooting) and 12 rebounds to lead the Catamounts, while Brandon Morgan added 14 points and four assists. Western leading scorer Cord Stansberry, who entered averaging 11.2 points per game, was held to nine points on 1-of-7 shooting.
Furman's second four-game road trip this season continues Saturday with the third game of it. The Paladins take on UNC Greensboro (8-6, 1-0) at 4 p.m. The Spartans opened SoCon play Wednesday with a thrilling 68-66 win at Wofford thanks to a game-winning three-pointer with nine seconds left.
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