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| Nick Anderson (7) had 26 points in Furman's 95-78 win over Samford at the Southern Conference Tournament. Photo courtesy of SoCon/Jeremy Fleming |
ASHEVILLE - The last time Furman played Samford prior to their meeting in the Southern Conference Tournament quarterfinals late Saturday night, the Paladins found a way to win despite making only seven field goals in the second half. On Saturday, they found a more glamorous road to victory by missing only seven field goals in the second half.
In one of the greatest halves in program history, Furman put up 57 points after halftime thanks to 70.8 percent shooting (17-of-24) to pull away for a 95-78 win at the Harrah's Cherokee Center. The fifth-seeded Paladins (24-8) advance to face the No. 1-seed Chattanooga in the semifinals Sunday on ESPNU at 4 p.m. Furman's win wrapped up a wild day of quarterfinal action as the Mocs (24-8) were the only higher seed to advance.
At Samford on Feb. 19, the Paladins pulled out an eight-point win thanks to making 19-of-20 free throws over the final 6:41. On Saturday, Furman shot three-pointers like they were free throws. The Paladins made 17-of-29 threes, including 10-of-15 in the second half. Nick Anderson, PJay Smith and Tom House accounted for 16 of those 17 threes and combined for 71 points.
"I'm really proud of our group tonight. To beat a team of that caliber three times in a season is really hard to do. They (Samford) were picked to win the league. I think ESPN analytics had them picked to win the tournament," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "We know how good of a coach Bucky (McMillan) is and how good their program is, but we've got a group that's playing with a lot of confidence. They've just taken the challenge on of nobody really thinking they've got a chance in this thing.
"Our group played with a lot of fight and a lot of will. We've been counted out for awhile, probably since mid-January, but we're one of four (teams) left. That doesn't guarantee anything, but man, these guys fought tonight. It wasn't that Samford played poorly. ... We had a lot of guys make some plays and our guys played with a lot of belief. We've got to get back and rested up. We know we have a big challenge with Chattanooga."
The Paladins got off to a quick start. After Smith had a layup off a nice feed from Garrett Hien to open the scoring 22 seconds in, Anderson hit a three and drew a foul 14 seconds later. The 89 percent foul shooter couldn't complete the four-point play, but he didn't miss much of anything else the rest of the half.
Anderson was 7-of-10 from the floor in the opening half, including 5-of-7 on threes. His layup with 6:14 left in the first half matched Furman's biggest lead of the half at 25-14. Samford fought back to cut the lead to two as the Paladins took a 38-36 lead into halftime. Anderson accounted for half of Furman's first half points with 19.
"I like it. It kind of reminded me of some Indiana gyms that I used to play in," Anderson said of his first SoCon Tournament game. "My teammates were able to find me tonight and thankfully, the shots went in. I came out in the first half just knowing this could be my last game, so leave no doubt. I just had to be aggressive."
The Paladins led the Bulldogs after every half this season, but Saturday was the smallest halftime lead of the three meetings. That was ironic considering Saturday's final margin was much bigger than Furman's two- and eight-point wins, respectively, in the regular season.
Samford (22-10) was able to get back in it thanks in part to taking advantage of the Paladins' 10 turnovers in the first half. The Bulldogs scored 13 points off those. So for Furman in the second half, ball security would be a key as would finding someone other than Anderson to provide some offense.
Enter first team All-SoCon performer Smith, along with the "third scorer" that emerged down the stretch for the Paladins in Tom House.
House's big day actually started in the first half as his first SoCon Tournament game began with a pair of threes. House drilled 4-of-5 in the second half to match his season high of six threes set in the blowout win over The Citadel on Feb. 26. Meanwhile, Smith scored 20 points in the second half and connected on four threes.
"They may have keyed on me a little more in the second half, but PJay is PJay. When he's out there, he's going to hit shots," Anderson said. "Same with Tom House. They're both killers and everybody's got the utmost confidence in them."
In the second half, Samford never went ahead but managed to pull even three times in the opening 3:04. The Paladins answered the last of those with a 7-0 run over a 54-second span. It began with a three by House, followed by a steal and two free throws for Smith, and was capped by a Cooper Bowser dunk off an assist from Smith to make it 52-45.
A big sequence of the game that could get overlooked in the offensive explosion came just 12 seconds later when Smith was called for his third foul on a reach in. With 15:38 remaining, Furman really couldn't leave its point guard out there with three fouls, so freshman Eddrin Bronson came on for Smith.
Bronson, who missed his only shot in five-and-a-half minutes off the bench in the first half, immediately got in the scoring column with a layup off a feed from Anderson on the Paladins' next possession. Furman's next trip on offense saw Ben VanderWal successfully dribble all the way up the court against Samford's press and that possession ended on a House three-pointer.
Furman led by seven when Smith left and still led by seven at 60-53 when Smith checked back in at the 12:59 mark. The Bulldogs cut the lead to three with 9:52 left before Anderson answered with his only made shot of the second half. His sixth three-pointer pushed the lead to 68-62 and the Paladins never led by fewer than six the rest of the way.
The Paladins were up 70-64 with less than seven minutes to go when Smith's three-pointer started an 18-5 run that was capped by a House three with 2:18 left. House's final bucket gave Furman its biggest lead at 19. After starting 2-of-6 from the foul line in the second half, Furman made 11 of its final 12 free throws.
After those 10 first half turnovers, Furman had six in the second half including just two over the final 7:42. Both of those were deadball shot clock violations that still allowed the Paladins to get set on defense.
Anderson finished with 26 points, while Smith scored 24 and House had 21. Smith, who went 8-for-8 from the foul line, also had nine assists and three steals. VanderWal had eight points, 10 rebounds, two assists, two steals and no turnovers, while Bronson finished with seven points and no turnovers. Bowser had six points and four blocked shots.
Furman's 17 three-pointers are a postseason high in school history and one shy of its season-high of 18 against Mercer. It's also one shy of the SoCon Tournament record of 18 set by VMI against Samford in 2020.
After beating Samford for the third time this season, Furman will try to avoid losing to Chattanooga for a third time on Sunday. The regular season losses to the Mocs came in pretty frustrating manner as the Paladins led each of those games at the half. In the first meeting in Greenville, Furman raced out to a 22-6 lead early, led 34-27 at the break, but went on to a 75-71 loss. The Paladins were just 17-of-28 from the foul line that day, while UTC made 25-of-28.
At Chattanooga on Feb. 8, Furman made 12-of-15 shots over the final 11 minutes of the first half to take a three-point lead into halftime. The Paladins made just 10-of-33 field goals in the second half to go on to an 85-72 loss.
In the SoCon's new scheduling format put in place last season, the No. 4 vs. No. 5 seed game was moved from approximately 2:30 p.m. on Saturdays following the 1/8 matchup to approximately 8:30 p.m. on Saturdays. So while the Mocs had to wait around for about nine hours to find out who they'd be playing, they also got much more rest.
Richey said none of those things will matter at 4 p.m. Sunday in what will be a battle of the two hottest teams in the league. Chattanooga has won 12 consecutive games, while Furman has won each of its last five.
"Both teams will be ready to play tomorrow. Dan's (Earl) a great coach and they have a great program. ... You know, these guys are young. We've got to go home, go to bed and rest up, but you get a chance to play to advance to the championship tomorrow," Richey said. "That (rest time) won't have an effect on the game. The game is going to come down to the same things most games come down to. It's going to be two really good teams playing for a chance to have a shot to go to March Madness.
"I thought our group did a great job this week of focusing in on just one game at a time. There's no championship tonight. There's no championship tomorrow. ... We'll need our full focus and full attention on a Chattanooga team that's very hot."
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