Paladins close out their Well season very well

PJay Smith (0) and Tom House scored 19 points apiece in Furman's
85-42 win over The Citadel Wednesday. Photo courtesy of Furman

"Find a way Furman" is a moniker the Paladins earned this season thanks to quite a few rallies for close wins, such as their overtime victory at The Citadel earlier this season. In Wednesday's rematch, it was more like "get out of Furman's way." The Paladins dominated from start to finish as they rolled to an 85-42 win in the home finale at The Well. It was the most lopsided score among all Southern Conference games this season, topping Wofford's 82-43 win at VMI a week earlier.

The victory guaranteed the Paladins (22-8, 10-7) at least the No. 6 seed at the SoCon Tournament, avoiding the two Friday "play-in" games. It also gave Furman three consecutive wins in SoCon play for the first time this season, which isn't a bad idea to prove to yourself before heading to Asheville next weekend. It's the Paladins' longest winning streak since six straight from Dec. 4 to Jan. 1. Furman went 11-1 on Wednesdays this season, including 8-1 in SoCon play.

While Citadel (5-23, 0-17) saw its losing streak reach 20 consecutive games, it had not been manhandled like this. The first meeting was one of three SoCon games the Bulldogs lost in overtime. They were coming off a one-point loss at SoCon regular season champion Chattanooga after a video review correctly overturned what was initially ruled a game-winning shot at the final horn.

"Down in Charleston, they outplayed us in a lot of ways and we were fortunate to win the game in overtime. I thought our guys really approached tonight's game with the right mentality," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "That team was a tenth of a second away from winning at Chattanooga. You can say 'well, they haven't won a (SoCon) game,' but people don't understand how hard this stuff is. ... They've had some heartbreakers and to keep fighting the way they have is a credit to a great culture and a great coach in Ed (Conroy)."

Citadel's 42 points were the lowest allowed by Furman during Richey's eight years as head coach. It was the lowest output allowed by the Paladins in a SoCon game since an 85-37 win over Western Carolina in the 2016-17 season. The 1-3-1 zone that Furman switched to late at Samford, which helped secure that big victory a week earlier, appeared from the start Wednesday. The Paladins played zone the rest of the night. After shooting just 15.4 percent in the first half, the Bulldogs shot 34.6 percent in the second half to finish as 25 percent (13-of-52) for the game.

"In that first game (at Citadel) we fell behind by eight and had some success when we went to the zone there, so we wanted to mix it in tonight," Richey said. "We didn't intend to play it as much as we did. It's not something we go to all the time ... but I thought it just gave us good energy all night. Our guys were flying around and had 47 deflections. I don't ever remember a total that high since we started tracking deflections as an assistant or head coach."

While Furman shot 52.5 percent from the floor, including 45.5 percent (15-of-33) on three-pointers, defense set the tone for everything Wednesday. The Paladins led 13-0 nearly eight minutes into the game before the Bulldogs got on the board with a pair of free throws. Citadel missed its first nine shots before converting a layup at the 11:38 mark, then missed it's next seven shots before a three-pointer at the 7:02 mark. By that point, Furman led 26-4. That second defensive stretch was highlighted by an incredible blocked layup by PJay Smith. Nick Anderson grabbed the rebound then fired to Smith, who nailed a three on the other end.

After those first two made baskets for Citadel 13 minutes into the game, it made only two more shots the rest of the half as Furman took a 44-11 lead at the break. It was the lowest output by a Furman opponent in the opening half since the Paladins led Virginia Intermont 69-8 at the half on Dec. 29, 2004.

Getting a lead like Furman got helped the offense play more freely with little worry about missing a shot. The Paladins looked plenty confident from the 7:32 mark of the first half to the 15:56 mark of the second when they made 13-of-17 field goals, never missing back-to-back shots. Four of those made shots belonged to Tom House, who personally outscored Citadel in the first half with 15 points on 5-of-5 three-point shooting in 12 minutes off the bench.

"When you keep focusing on defense, it takes all the pressure off offense. When you get a margin like that, everybody's shot is feeling more loose," House said. "When you get stops and get in transition, people can't key in on our shooters. You've seen when we've had bad offensive games, they've been able to key in on PJay, Nick and me and it's hard to get open. But if you're in transition in a broken floor where you keep getting stops, that's where most of my shots came from tonight."

Often this season, Furman has seen an early double-digit lead evaporate. That includes the first meeting in Charleston when the Paladins saw a 13-point lead early in the second half turn into a seven-point deficit six minutes later thanks to a 23-3 run by the Bulldogs. Because of that defense though, Wednesday's big advantage was never threatened.

In the second half, Furman's lead never got lower than 31. The only drama after halftime came with wondering if Garrett Hien would reach the 1,000-point plateau for his career in his final home game. He needed 14 points in the game and scored four in the first half. Hien was at 997 points with 4:43 left when he knocked down a three and everybody seemed to know what that meant. Sixteen seconds later, a foul stopped play allowing Hien to check out to a standing ovation from the crowd and hugs from his coaches and teammates.

"I think everybody knew because they flashed up (on the scoreboard) that I had 1,000 when I needed about eight more. I was on the bench and saw that and thought, 'unless I miscounted, I don't think I have it yet,' " Hien said with a smile. "It was awesome, especially to do it with this group of guys. We support each other so much. To do it in the last home game in front of the fans was special too.

"Before every game, me, House, Rese (Tyrese Hughey) and Chuck (Charles Johnston) go to a coffee house and chop it up. I was telling Rese today that I had two games to get it and he told me I was going to get it tonight."

A few minutes later, the second biggest roar of the night came when the Furman walk-ons checked in to close out the game. All 15 Paladins on the roster logged at least two minutes. Smith and House had a game-high 19 points apiece as House made 6-of-7 shots and Smith was 7-for-10. House was 6-for-6 on threes, becoming just the third player in school history to have a perfect night from beyond the arc with at least five attempts. Anderson finished with seven points, three steals and six assists for Furman, which had 23 assists as a team.

In addition to his 14 points, Hien had seven rebounds and four assists. 

"It's always neat to see guys get rewarded for their effort and really their loyalty," Richey said. "Garrett's been in a lot of big games and had a lot of good moments here. You cut him open and he's going to bleed purple. You could see the team's energy when he hit that three and just how much that meant to the whole team.

"I couldn't be more proud of him. I told him it was pretty ironic he did it on a three-ball, but you know what? He's been working on his three a lot here lately and listen, Garrett can shoot. That's why we signed him. If he's shooting with that confidence, it gives us another element."

Brody Fox led Citadel with 14 points and six rebounds.

Furman wraps up the regular season at its other in-state rival, Wofford (16-14, 10-7), Saturday at 2 p.m. The winner will be the fifth seed at the SoCon Tournament, while the loser gets the sixth seed. The Paladins will try to avenge an 81-62 home loss to Wofford in the first meeting this season. The Terriers are coming off a 90-67 win at Western Carolina Wednesday for their fourth victory in the past six games.