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| Tom House made 7-of-10 three-pointers in Furman's 89-66 win at UNC Greensboro. Photo courtesy of Furman |
After a roller coaster of a road trip in which the Furman men's basketball team played twice in a 48-hour span, the Paladins have had nearly a full week to recuperate and prepare for Thursday's home game against Samford. The game is set for a 5 p.m. tip-off at Timmons Arena and will be televised by CBS Sports Network.
Furman will try to pick up where it left off in what Bob Richey described as one of the most memorable victories during his tenure last Friday afternoon at UNC Greensboro. The Paladins were coming off a second consecutive gut-punch of a loss in which they once again blew a large second half lead in an overtime loss at The Citadel last Wednesday. They were again down to seven healthy scholarship players available and also traveled straight from Charleston to Greensboro after what was originally scheduled to be a 5 p.m. Saturday tip was moved to 3 p.m. Friday to get ahead of last weekend's winter storm.
The Paladins (14-7, 5-3 Southern Conference) overcame all of that by shooting the lights out in the second half to cruise to a 23-point win. Here's a look back at both games from last week.
Furman 89, UNC Greensboro 66
Seeing a 19-point lead midway through the second half disappear in an overtime loss at its oldest rival was a sickening experience for the Paladins, figuratively and literally, last Wednesday. Somewhere along the trek from Citadel to UNCG, Furman's team caught a bug that affected staff and players.
Abijah Franklin's fever was so high that he stayed back at the team hotel. Eddrin Bronson woke up with the same illness and tried to give it a go in pregame warmups, but was too sick to play. That once again left the battered Paladins with just seven scholarship players available to try to bounce back from an awful loss less than two days earlier.
While it wasn't nearly as bad as the whistles in Charleston, there was also foul trouble for the Paladins. But by the time leading rebounder and second-leading scorer Charles Johnston fouled out with two minutes remaining, this game had long been decided. Alex Wilkins had 27 points, six assists, two steals and no turnovers, while Tom House poured in a season-high 25 points to lead Furman to its first ever win at UNCG's on-campus arena. The Paladins, who had not played there since 2007, were 0-7 in Bodford Arena entering Friday.
"We've had some great wins, but it's been a crazy 48 hours. Really, it's been a wild month since leaving Manhattan with the constant trickle of injuries and then having to deal with some heartbreak of not being able to finish the last two games," Richey said on the Furman Radio Network's postgame show. "Our team handled that heartbreak from the other night as well as they possibly could. You can't doubt this group's care, connection and how hard they play together. ... Our staff did a great job in terms of quickly getting to the next game.
"They'll remember this game for the rest of their lives. On the road, quick turnaround, five-hour bus trip, no practice, two walk-throughs, two guys sick. The hotel this morning was the wildest thing you've ever seen. I don't know if my my strength coach or trainer have slept. This is a culture win."
After blowing a 15-point lead with 10 minutes to play against Wofford on Jan. 17 and a 19-point lead with 10:34 remaining at Citadel, Furman had just a 50-49 lead with 10:03 left Friday. From that point on, the Paladins made 12 of its last 14 field goal attempts, including 6-of-7 three-pointers.
Over the previous three games, Furman was 6-of-40 from three after halftime, but it made 7-of-12 in the second half Wednesday. That helped the Paladins shoot 66.7 percent in the second half and 55.2 percent for the game. Furman connected on 14-of-27 (51.9 percent) three-pointers for the game, primarily thanks to House. After going 0-for-6 from beyond the arc at Citadel in his first game back from a concussion, House drained 7-of-10 treys on Friday.
Cole Bowser was a huge factor in helping Furman win the rebounding battle. He finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds for his first collegiate double-double. Ben Vander Wal had 10 points, eight assists and no turnovers, while Johnston had nine points, six rebounds, a block and a steal. As a team, Furman had 23 assists and only five turnovers.
"I couldn't be more proud of our leadership. When you look at the seven that played, everybody did something tonight," Richey said. "Tom House put on a show and Ben Vander Wal to be at plus-25 was huge. Alex really got cooking in the second half. He gets six assists and no turnovers. ... It goes back to the values of the program - when the ball moves, everything's better."
Justin Neely had 20 points and nine rebounds to lead the Spartans (8-13, 4-4).
The Citadel 77, Furman 75, OT
After playing with fire on its previous two trips to Charleston, Furman finally got burned Wednesday. This marked the third consecutive season in which the meeting at McAlister Field House went to overtime, but this was the first time that the Paladins lost.
Nobody was probably thinking about overtime at the half. Furman took a 40-28 lead into the locker room after shooting 59.3 percent from the floor while holding the Bulldogs to 37.9 percent. Overtime was still not a thought when the Paladins extended their lead to 19 on a dunk by Vander Wal with 12:36 left and to 19 again on a pair of free throws by Collin O'Neal with 10:50 left.
Then lunacy ran amok.
The 13-win team with the 19-point lead shot just four free throws (making three) the rest of regulation. Meanwhile, the five-win team deep in the hole on the scoreboard made 9-of-10 free throws the rest of the regulation. After both teams had six free throws in the first half, Furman attempted six in the second half while Citadel shot 18. The last of those came with 10 seconds left when the Bulldogs' Sola Adebisi converted a three-point play to tie the game at 67-67, forcing overtime.
In overtime, a pair of free throws by Wilkins gave Furman a 75-74 lead with 1:21 remaining. It appeared that the Paladins were going to get the ball back with 58 seconds left when Vander Wal appeared to draw a textbook charge. Instead it was a foul on Vander Wal and Adebisi made 1-of-2 free throws to tie the game.
It was still tied with what looked to be around six seconds left on the TV broadcast clock when Bowser was whistled for his fourth foul. However, the game clock kept going down to 3.3 seconds left. Adebisi made both free throws and Wilkins' heave from beyond midcourt was off the mark as time expired.
Some may question why Furman didn't ask for a clock review. Perhaps the TV broadcast clock was not accurate. The bigger question should be, why should Furman have to ask for a clock review? How many games have you seen where it takes 10 minutes to play the final 10 seconds because officials adjust the clock after everything?
Nevertheless, things beyond a team's control shouldn't matter in a 19-point game midway through the second half. Furman led 60-46 with 7:13 left, but over the next five minutes it went 1-for-6 from the floor (including three missed layups) with three turnovers to help the Bulldogs cut the lead to 62-61 with less than three minutes left in regulation.
"We watched the last 12 minutes of the game to see what all changed. It's easy to talk about certain plays, but they could see it quickly on film that what really changed was our spirit," Richey said Friday. "It was a lack of connection in those hard moments with so much youth and some many players not being out there (due to foul trouble) in those critical moments. There was a little bit of panic that set in. All of sudden the crowd gets into it and before long, it just feels like everything is going against you."
Johnston had 15 points and 12 rebounds, while Wilkins had 15 points and nine assists to lead Furman, despite both finishing with four fouls apiece. Vander Wal had 12 points and six rebounds, Franklin scored 11 and Bowser had nine rebounds also for the Paladins.
Adebisi made 9-of-10 field goals and 4-of-5 free throws to finish with a game-high 22 points and nine rebounds in 42 minutes for Citadel.
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