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| Asa Thomas scored a career-high 25 points in Furman's 84-76 win over Charleston Southern. Photo courtesy of Furman |
The Furman men's basketball team will try to close out 2025 by staying perfect in December when it hosts a showdown with Mercer on Wednesday. The New Year's Eve game will mark the start of Southern Conference play and is set for a noon tip-off at Timmons Arena.
Based on results of non-conference play, this appears to be a battle of two of the top three teams in the league. The Paladins (9-4), who have won eight of their last nine games including a 5-0 mark this month, are ranked No. 152 in the latest KenPom ratings while Mercer (8-5) is 162nd. East Tennessee State, which opened league play with a 74-49 win at The Citadel Tuesday night, is the highest ranked SoCon team at No. 126. The next highest-ranked SoCon team after those three is Wofford at No. 225.
"They've got a point guard that's really, really good, a big man that's really, really good and Ryan (Ridder) is a good coach. They play really hard, so that's going to be a heck of a first one," Bob Richey said following Furman's 84-76 win over Charleston Southern on Dec. 21.
"We've got to make sure fans get out here with students on break so that we can create a big-time environment. We're playing at noon so everybody can have a good New Year's Eve. ... It's going to be the start of an 18-game war in this league."
Furman has turned things around after a 1-3 start to this season despite suffering injuries to key players along the way. After losing Davis Molnar indefinitely to a leg injury just before the season began, freshman Collin O'Neal (knee) and Cooper Bowser (foot) are also out indefinitely. Molnar was set to be the Paladins' first big man off the bench in what was to be a nine-man rotation. O'Neal worked his way into Furman's eight-man rotation and was providing pivotal play off the bench at the time of his injury. Meanwhile, all Bowser's done this season is lead the country in field goal percentage at 81.2 percent - 11 points higher than anyone else.
With the 6-foot-11 Bowser's dunking proclivity and rim protection and 6-foot-11 Charles Johnston's seven double-doubles this season, the Paladins have dominated the paint and been one of best two-point shooting teams in the country. That's a one-two punch down low that other SoCon teams likely could not match, but now it's unknown when Furman will have them back out there together.
Johnston has a tough assignment Wednesday when the Australian faces Mercer's 6-foot-10, 240-pound Canadian, Armani Mighty. Mighty, who transferred from Central Michigan after starting his career at Boston College, is third in the country in field goal percentage at 70 percent. He's averaging 13.2 points and 9.0 rebounds per game.
The battle of point guards should also be intriguing as Furman freshman Alex Wilkins and the Bears' Baraka Okojie are two of the leading scorers in the SoCon. Wilkins leads the Paladins averaging 16.8 points and 4.8 assists per game. Okojie, another Canadian who began his career at George Mason before playing last season at Memphis, averages 17.6 points, 5.6 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game.
Both teams are battle tested. Among SoCon teams, Mercer and Furman are second and third, respectively, in strength of schedule. All five of the Bears' losses have come on the road and those were at Tennessee, Winthrop, Clemson, UCF and Washington State.
Furman 84, Charleston Southern 76
Playing for the first time without Bowser in the lineup, things went a little differently than they had for much of Furman's hot run through the non-conference schedule against Charleston Southern on Dec. 21. The Paladins allowed 44 points in the paint and matched a season-high with 19 missed two-pointers, to fall from third in the country in two-point shooting to eighth. The only other time Furman missed that many inside the arc this season was in a 64-61 loss to Troy.
There was no loss this time though thanks to the elite play of guards Asa Thomas and Wilkins. Thomas drilled six three-pointers and finished with a career-high 25 points while Wilkins scored 24 to lead Furman to its fifth consecutive win. The duo also led the team in rebounds as Wilkins had eight and Thomas grabbed seven, and in assists and each had four. Wilkins also had three steals.
"Coach has been preaching guard rebounding all year and obviously with Cooper out, it's a big loss. ... We just did a good job rebounding as a team today," Thomas said afterwards. "My teammates have a lot of confidence in me. They instill that every day in practice and I had to step up and hit the shots (down the stretch). Lex (Wilkins) had been hitting big shots all day. Tom House stepped up and hit some big ones. Baba (Abijah Franklin) and Ed (Eddrin Bronson) played really well off the bench. We had a lot of guys step up."
After shooting just 37.5 percent in the first half to trail 35-34 at the break, the Paladins still trailed by one with 17:35 left in the game at 42-41. Over the next 6:39, Furman went on a 24-4 run. That run was capped by Wilkins getting a rebound on one end, dribbling all the way down and banking in a one-handed running floater. The majestic bucket gave the Paladins a commanding 65-46 lead with 10:47 left.
Well, should've been commanding.
Charleston Southern responded by outscoring Furman 23-4 over a stretch of just 4:34 to tie the game with five minutes remaining. With 3:46 left, A'lahn Sumler capped the miraculous rally as his reverse layup gave the Buccaneers a 73-71 lead.
With three minutes remaining, Thomas backed down his defender before hitting a tough, turnaround jumper along the baseline to give Furman the lead back at 74-73. After a steal by Wilkins, Thomas faked a three, drove to the basket, drew a defender in and hit Johnston for a wide open layup to push the lead to 76-73 with 2:23 left.
After CSU missed a three, Thomas helped put the nails in the Bucs' coffin on a three-pointer with 1:32 remaining to extend the lead to 79-73. Furman made 5-of-6 free throws over the final 16 seconds to seal the win.
"The story of the game for us was in the last four minutes, which we call 'winning time' around here, we stepped up. To give up a 21-1 run and have everything going against you and every reason in the world to mope and pout ... our players just found a way," Richey said. "Asa with a career night. He's just an unbelievable shooter who continues to get better and better. Alex Wilkins played a magnificent game and we put a lot on him based on the way they were playing us.
"Then we had some other guys really step up at critical times. I was just really impressed with our response. The more we have to respond to with this group, the better it's going to be once we get to league play. We've had to respond to a lot with guys going down and everything. Just find a way."
In addition to Thomas and Wilkins, Ben Vander Wal also reached double figures with 13 points. He also had six rebounds, three steals and drew seven fouls. Vander Wal, who was shooting just 34.3 percent at the foul line this season (12-of-35) entering the game, made 5-of-7 free throws.
Sumler had a game-high 26 points and five assists in 29 minutes off the bench to lead Charleston Southern (8-6).
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