Free throws cap Furman's comeback win at Elon

Cooper Bowser had 19 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots in
Furman's 97-88 win at Elon Wednesday. Photo courtesy of Furman

Furman's 97-88 win at Elon Wednesday night probably wasn't the Paladins' best victory this season. Richmond and Queens are well ahead of the Phoenix in the Pomeroy rankings. But given the path that Furman (5-4) took to come out on top for the fourth time in the past five games, this could be one of those games that's looked back on this season as a turning point.

The Paladins won by nine points on the road in a game in which they:

• Trailed by 18 points in the first half
• Went 1-for-5 from the floor over the final 5:12 of the game
• Allowed Elon to go 7-for-8 from the floor over the final 3:22
• Got eight points from leading scorer Alex Wilkins, the first time this season he hasn't reached double figures

So how did Furman do it? Probably not a way many would've expected. The Paladins made 16-of-17 free throws over the final 4:03 to seal the win. That helped Furman protect what had been as much as a 15-point lead in the second half as Elon never got closer than six.

Entering Wednesday's game, the Paladins ranked 356th out of 361 Division I teams in free throw shooting as they had made 59.4 percent for the season. After missing their first attempt of the second half Wednesday, they were at 6-of-12 for the game. They proceeded to go 18-of-19 from the foul line the rest of the way.

"I couldn't be more proud of our team. To go down by 18 in a game to up 15, you just don't see that swing a whole lot," Furman coach Bob Richey said on the Furman Radio Network's postgame show. "Free throw shooting is mental. ... Talking about it and shooting 100 free throws a day isn't always the answer. You've got to have some pressure situations and go up there with some heat on the line. And we've done that in practice this week."

Outside of an impressive 88-53 win at Appalachian State, Elon (4-4) entered Wednesday having allowed and scored a whole lot of points this season. But with 9:45 remaining in the first half, the Phoenix led 33-15 and Wilkins was on the bench for the rest of the half with three fouls and two points.

The Paladins were still down by 16 with less than five minutes left in the first half when a furious rally commenced. A three-pointer by Ben Vander Wal, the first of the season for the 22.9 percent career three-point shooter, with 4:30 left started a 17-1 run. An Asa Thomas three-pointer with 15 seconds left sent the teams into halftime tied at 44-44.

That run extended to 21-1 in the second half on layups by Cooper Bowser and Wilkins as Furman came all the way back to lead. Elon retook the lead at 54-53 on a three-point play with Chandler Cuthrell, but the Phoenix' lone advantage of the second half lasted all off 27 seconds. That's how long it took for Furman to respond with a Bowser dunk on the other end.

The slam started a 20-6 run by the Paladins over the next six minutes as they took command. That flurry was capped when Collin O'Neal hit a three, then made a steal and hit Thomas for a layup to push the lead to 74-59. From the 4:30 mark of the first half to the 8:13 mark of the second half, Furman outscored Elon 47-16.

"I haven't been a part of many turnarounds like that. I mean in terms of just how bad we looked and just the lack of intensity that we had at the beginning of the game," Richey said. "Winning on the road is tough. This was only our second true road game and we didn't play well at all at Northern Iowa.

"I think a healthy thing for our team too is with Alex getting into foul trouble there early, we had to figure some things out without him out there on the court. It was huge for our team to get some confidence from that. And then for him to keep his focus and play the way he did in the second half with those three fouls, I thought was big."

The Phoenix cut the lead to six twice in the final three minutes, but Wilkins answered with a pair of throws the first time and Bowser hit a pair the next. Bowser capped his perfect shooting night on a dunk with 29 seconds left to put a cherry on top of the win.

It was truly a team effort by Furman as seven Paladins had at least eight points, including five in double figures. Thomas hit five threes to lead the way with 21 points, while Bowser finished with 19 points on 7-of-7 shooting and had eight rebounds and three blocks. That finally gave Bowser enough shots this season to qualify in the national rankings for field goal percentage and he's currently No. 1 in the country at 77.6 percent (45-of-58).

Vander Wal made 6-of-7 field goals for a season-high scoring night of 13 points and had eight rebounds. He even logged some minutes at point guard when Wilkins got in foul trouble. Charles Johnston got back in his double-double groove with 12 points and 11 boards to go along with a team-high four assists.

"If you look at analytics, Elon is one of the best rebounding teams in the country," Richey said. "I told Ben, Chuck and Coop tonight, 'If we're going to win, y'all have to get at least eight rebounds,' and they all did."

Tom House had 12 points off the bench, including a 9-of-10 effort at the foul line, along with three assists. O'Neal finished with nine points, three assists, two blocked shots and two steals also off the bench. Wilkins had three assists to go with his eight points and had just one turnover. He also committed no fouls after those three early on.

Furman will try to keep the momentum going Saturday when it hosts Harvard at 2 p.m. on a "white out" day at Timmons Arena. The game will air on ESPN+.