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Eddrin Bronson had 16 points off the bench in Furman's 79-74 win at Mercer Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman |
MACON, Ga. - Coming off perhaps its most disappointing game of the year in a 91-82 loss at VMI three days earlier, Furman reverted back to its most common starting lineup this season at Mercer on Saturday. In turn, the Paladins reverted back to looking a lot more like the team that got off to a 13-1 start this season, rather than the one that had lost three of its last four.
Furman's defense wasn't perfect, but it was a strong-willed effort from start to finish. That was rewarded on the other end with the Paladins' best shooting game of the season against Division I competition. Furman shot 54.5 percent from the floor on its way to a 79-74 win at Hawkins Arena.
The lineup change saw Ben VanderWal rejoin the starting five and freshman Eddrin Bronson come off the bench. The move seemed to pay off as both had big games, but this was a team win in every sense of the term.
"I think sometimes when you go through hard patches, you can try to scheme things up, change the lineup and do all this different stuff. ... We all kind of panicked, including myself," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "At the end of the day, we had to get back to guarding. We had to get back to having a connected defense. We had to get back to doing the things that got us where we were, so we put the starting lineup back with the three "non-shooters" out there. But you know what? We moved it, we screened it, we cut it and most importantly, we got stops.
"This place was electric and packed today. They (Mercer) hit some tough shots. They're coming off a huge road win (at UNC Greensboro) so I knew they were going to come out with some confidence, but we had a team playing with more purpose. We had a team that was playing more aligned to our values."
After being dominated by the Keydets in the paint, the Paladins (16-5, 4-4 Southern Conference) seemed bound and determined to not let that happen from the start Saturday. Here's how Furman's first six possessions ended:
- Cooper Bowser - short jumper missed
- Ben VanderWal - fouled on driving layup attempt
- Garrett Hien - short jumper made
- Bowser - dunk
- Hien - missed three
- Hien - layup
Hien had seven of Furman's first 10 points as his three-pointer tied the game at 10-10 at the 14:23 mark. This came after logging only seven minutes at VMI, the lowest total in three years for the veteran big man.
"I woke up the next morning (after the VMI game) and thought, 'You know what? This is Garrett's team. He's our fifth-year guy. He's won an NCAA Tournament game and started on one of the best teams in school history," Richey said. "He's got a guarantee of 12 games left and then wishing he could play for a Furman basketball team for the rest of his life. I told him in front of the team yesterday, 'I'm not bringing you off the bench and if you have a tough start like you did at VMI, I'm not subbing you out. ... You've got to come out here and play like the winner you are.' ... I thought he was much better tonight.
"Garrett's an unbelievable human being who bleeds purple. He's Furman through and through. We're going to ride him. If we're going to get to our best, Garrett's going to be a part of that. He's going to be part of the answer to that."
After Hien's three, the Paladins hit a lull and trailed 17-10 with 12:09 remaining. Bronson snapped the cold streak with a three-pointer that started a 10-2 run over the next 76 seconds. Nick Anderson followed a three-pointer with a steal which led to his own layup. Another steal by Anderson led to a VanderWal layup off an assist by Bronson as Furman took a 20-19 lead at the 10:28 mark. A layup and then a three by PJay Smith a couple of minutes later made it a 14-2 run as Furman pushed the lead to six.
The Paladins led by as many as eight in the first half before the Bears (10-11, 3-5) came back to tie the game. Anderson's three-pointer with 1:19 left gave Furman a 41-38 lead at the half. The Paladins shot 59.3 percent (16-of-27) in the opening 20 minutes and held the lead despite Mercer making 8-of-15 three-pointers.
"That was a whole discussion at halftime. ... I thought we guarded the three-point line much better in the second half," Richey said. "I think that's why we were able to build the margin and get the win."
For much of the second half, Furman seemingly maintained a five-to-nine point lead. Every time the Paladins had a chance to really take command, a turnover or a bad shot invariably led to a bucket for Mercer on the other end.
Much like Furman could never pull away, the Bears could never pull even. They cut the lead down to one twice, but the Paladins had a response each time. With Furman leading 64-63, VanderWal's offensive rebound led to a Davis Molnar layup off an assist from Smith. Leading 66-65, Anderson got a layup off an assist from Molnar with 5:30 left. Just over a minute later, Molnar had a huge layup off an assist from Tom House to push the lead to five.
House is an example of what a team win this was. He finished with no points on one shot, two rebounds, one assist and one steal, but the Paladins outscored the Bears by nine during his 10:31 on the court.
"If we're going to have a shot at this thing, we're going to have to be one of the best 'teams' in the country. This isn't about a person. It's about a program. I've got to lead and make decisions like that," Richey said. "We've got a lot of parity on that bench, but we've also got a lot of care on that bench. It's one of those things where we've got to trust it. We don't win that game tonight without Tom tonight, because those 10 minutes are 10 minutes where PJay and Nick can rest."
"This feels like a top 15 win for us in our tenure because of the circumstances around the win. It's hard man. People don't understand that this stuff is grueling. For our group to come out and be that poised on the road, I couldn't be more proud of them."
With one minute left, Smith drilled a tough three-pointer to give Furman a 77-72 lead. The Paladins then held on as they missed consecutive front end of 1-and-1 free throws leaving Mercer with a chance to tie, trailing 77-74. The Bears missed three-pointers with nine seconds left and five seconds left before Smith grabbed the rebound, got fouled and hit both free throws to seal the win.
Anderson finished with 18 points, four rebounds, three steals and no turnovers to lead Furman. Bronson scored 16 after hitting 4-of-6 three-pointers and had two assists and no turnovers. Smith had 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Hien finished with nine points, while Bowser had eight points, five rebounds, four assists and a plus-minus of plus-13.
VanderWal made all three of his field goal attempts. Only a 1-for-6 showing at the foul line kept him from a double-digit scoring night as he had seven points and nine rebounds. Molnar had six points, four rebounds and four assists in his 23 minutes off the bench.
"Starting the previous three games helped build my confidence. Returning to a more familiar role today allowed me to just go out there and play free. It felt good," Bronson said. "I think it (the three-pointers he made) switches the way people play us. ... Being able to to spread the court opens so much more for us offensively with cutting and different actions."
Mercer standout Ahmad Robinson finished with 24 points, six assists and three steals. A key moment in the second half came with 8:25 left when VanderWal drove strong to the basket and drew Robinson's fourth foul, sending him to the sideline for the next four-plus minutes. Robinson wasn't available to take either of those last two threes after fouling out with 19 seconds left.
Furman returns to its home away from home this season at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena Wednesday to take on Samford at 6 p.m. The game will be televised by CBS Sports Network. The Bulldogs (17-4, 7-1) are in first place in the SoCon and are coming off a 77-61 win over Wofford on Saturday.
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