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| Nick Anderson had 22 points and four assists in Furman's 75-71 win over VMI Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman |
On a day when four Furman seniors were honored in a pregame ceremony Saturday at The Well, the one with the most experience with Senior Days led the Paladins to victory. Nick Anderson scored 19 of his game-high 22 points in the second half as Furman held on for a 75-71 victory over VMI. In avenging a 91-82 loss in Lexington, Va. earlier this season, the Paladins won back-to-back games for the first time since Jan. 29 and just the second time in the calendar year of 2025.
Prior to the game, Anderson was cited along with fellow seniors Garrett Hien, Tyrese Hughey and PJay Smith. Last season, Anderson - who has the unique distinction of being the only Paladin in the past 27 years to never set foot on the Timmons Arena court - was honored in Senior Day festivities prior to scoring 17 points in Barry University's win over Tampa.
Saturday marked an impressive turnaround by Furman's defense in comparison to the first meeting this season. At VMI, the Keydets shot 51.8 percent from the floor, including 40.9 percent from three. On Saturday, they shot 41.8 percent, including 28.6 percent. Both of those percentages were boosted by VMI making 5-of-6 field goals - including 3-of-4 threes - over the final 45 seconds of the game. Prior to that flurry, the Keydets were 5-of-24 from three. The biggest difference actually came at the foul line as VMI made 7-of-10 Saturday after hitting 24-of-27 in the first meeting.
"They (VMI) just didn't go away. ... I do think we guarded them better this game than we did there. They put 91 on us up there and we just did a horrible job guarding them that night," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "It's a unique situation because they basically have five guards out there. They really only have one true post player in (Kaden) Stuckey and he comes off the bench. ... It puts pressure on your defense to guard the bounce.
"The key for us is that we didn't foul them. In most of their conference wins, they're shooting more than 20 free throws, so we had to guard without fouling. That's the reason we won the game."
The Paladins (21-8, 9-7 Southern Conference) also got off to a much better start offensively than they did at VMI. Hien's three-pointer gave Furman a 20-8 lead less than seven minutes into the game. But after going 8-for-10 to start the game, the Paladins made just 4-of-17 shots and had six turnovers over the final 13 minutes of the first half to a take a 30-27 lead into halftime.
"They intensified their defense and started getting underneath us and we did a horrible job handling their pressure. A couple of times, we literally threw the ball right to them. They were able to change the game with some of their ball pressure," Richey said. "In addition to our nine turnovers (in the first half), they'd also gotten seven or eight offensive rebounds. So we basically increased their possession count by 16. Cutting down the turnovers was a big message at halftime."
While Furman never relinquished the lead, it remained no more than a four-point advantage for the first seven minutes of the second half. The Paladins really needed some kind of big momentum play to help begin creating a little more separation. Ben VanderWal provided that spark and Anderson added fuel to the flame. With Furman leading 41-37, Anderson hit a pair of free throws and a jumper to push the lead to eight. Cooper Bowser grabbed a rebound and made a terrific baseball pass to VanderWal, who soared to the basket for a dunk. That forced a VMI timeout with Furman lead 47-37 and 11:01 remaining.
"We didn't play the last 10 minutes of the first half how we wanted to. We weren't the aggressor," VanderWal said. "Everybody was still kind of throwing light punches (to start the second half), so it was good that got a big punch to give us a 10-point lead in the middle of the second half. It was the ball movement. We were driving the pressure and not stagnating out.
"I was the beneficiary of a couple of back cuts with good passes from Nick and PJay that helped get us out of that little lull. Then obviously, Nick took over to help us stretch that lead."
VanderWal had a layup on Furman's next trip, then drove to the paint again on the next. This time though, VanderWal drew a double team so he kicked out to Anderson, who buried a three. From the 17:52 mark to the 7:30 mark, Anderson and VanderWal accounted for all 21 of Furman's points. That's just before Smith knocked down a three-pointer to give Furman it's biggest lead of the game at 57-44.
Furman still maintained a 10-point lead with less than four minutes to play, but VMI never quit. Anderson's layup with 1:29 left pushed the Paladins lead to eight and Bowser's dunk to beat the press made it a 68-61 lead with 39 seconds left. That only miss by the Keydets in their final six shots resulted in an offensive rebound and a three by Tan Yildizoglu. The next trip down, Yildizoglu hit a tough reverse layup to cut the lead to 71-68 with 10.8 seconds left. After Anderson sank a pair of free throws, VMI's T.J. Johnson hit a rainbow three with 3.3 seconds left to make it 73-71. Smith hit a pair of free throws with 2.7 seconds left to seal the win.
"Man, you thought the game was about to close out and they just wouldn't go away. That's the sign of a well-coached team," Richey said. "Cutting down the turnovers in the second half was the difference.
"Ben made some huge plays and then Nick really got it going. They were pressuring so heavy on the perimeter, the middle was open and we ended up getting him in the middle a decent amount."
After hitting 19 of its last 20 free throws in the win at Samford last Wednesday, Furman made 9-of-10 over the final 1:45 Saturday. In the second half, Furman committed just three turnovers and allowed just three offensive rebounds.
In addition to his 22-point showing, Anderson also had four assists, four rebounds, no turnovers and no fouls. Smith was the lone other Paladin in double figures with 17 points, eight rebounds, three steals and no fouls.
"It was a second Senior Night for me. I'm officially an old man," Anderson said with a smile. "The fans mean everything to us. They really showed up and showed out for us today. ... Everybody just feeds off that energy."
VanderWal finished with nine points, six rebounds, four assists and no turnovers. Hien had eight points, two steals and two assists in only 14 minutes before questionably fouling out with more than seven minutes left to play. As a team, Furman had assists on 21 of its 25 made field goals.
Johnson had 21 points and four steals for VMI (13-16, 7-9), while Yildizoglu finished with 20 points.
Furman will next host rival The Citadel on Wednesday at the The Well at 7 p.m. The Bulldogs (5-22, 0-16) have lost 19 consecutive games, but are coming off a wild 76-75 loss at first-place Chattanooga. For the second time this season, Citadel had what would've been a game-winning basket overturned after video replay confirmed the ball didn't leave the shooter's hands before the final horn sounded.
In a game so ugly only a mother could love in Charleston earlier this season, Furman rallied for a 67-63 overtime victory over the Bulldogs. A win Wednesday would guarantee at least a top six finish in the league standings for the Paladins, thus avoiding the two Friday "play-in" games at the SoCon Tournament next week in Asheville, N.C.
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