 |
| Abijah Franklin had 14 points, six rebounds and two steals off the bench in Furman's 74-70 loss to Wofford. Photo courtesy of Furman |
The four Furman freshmen who faced Wofford for the first time Saturday learned a quick lesson about this wild rivalry: No lead is ever safe.
The Terriers trailed by 13 points with less than 10 minutes remaining before rallying for a 74-70 win in front of another sellout crowd at Timmons Arena. Wofford pulled off the comeback thanks to a 17-0 run over a seven-minute stretch.
"Give Wofford credit. That was a tremendous run late in the game. ... They hit a huge three after we were able to come back and tie it and then finished it off at the free throw line," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "I thought there was a lot of good that we did over the first 30 minutes of the game. Then we started struggling to guard, especially on the perimeter. On a lot of their drives, they got to the rim way too easily.
"We got way too stagnant offensively. We just didn't get enough movement. Eleven assists for us are way too low. ... I thought our shot selection was probably one of the worst it's been all year. We somehow still scratched 70, but we're leaving a lot on the table. We've got a ton of guys out and had more tonight. My heart breaks for those guys, but when you're on your own court, I think our whole program feels like we should have been able to gut that out."
That 17-0 run was all the more shocking given what immediately preceded it. With 10:52 left, Cole Bowser looked like his big brother, Cooper, when he slammed home an alleyoop pass from Alex Wilkins. That got Timmons as loud as it's ever been this season, pushed Furman's lead to 57-46 and forced a Wofford timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, the Paladins' defense forced a shot clock violation. On the next trip down offensively, Wilkins threw another lob. This one went to Charles Johnston, but it was very high and appeared to be headed out of bounds. However, Johnston made a fantastic play to leap up and volleyball tap it back to Ben Vander Wal for a layup. That got the home crowd rocking again as Furman took its biggest lead of the game at 13.
Then everything changed. The Terriers' Cayden Vasko drove down just to the right of the paint and banked in a tough, running jumper. On the other end, Furman's Eddrin Bronson missed a three-pointer and the tone for the next seven minutes was set.
After Vander Wal's layup made it 59-46 with 9:55 remaining, the Paladins' next made field goal came on Wilkins' fadeaway jumper with 2:08 left that tied the game at 63-63. In between those two makes, Furman went 0-for-7 from the floor - all of which were three-pointers - and had three turnovers.
"I think a couple of them were good looks that rimmed out and a couple were probably forced. Credit to Wofford for making a big punch when they needed to and we couldn't respond in the way that we needed to," Vander Wal said. "Missing shots can kind of be contagious and then we probably tightened up a little bit as things got hairy."
Meanwhile, the Terriers went 8-for-12 from the floor during that same stretch to take a 63-59 lead. They grabbed offensive rebounds after three of those four misses and had a steal after the other. Seven of those eight made shots came in the paint as Wofford dominated down low.
Following all those missed threes, Furman finally snapped a seven-minute scoreless streak when Wilkins drove to the basket and was fouled with 2:59 left. He made both free throws before his tough, game-tying jumper the next time down. The Terriers answered when Nils Machowski rattled home a three-pointer.
On Wofford's next trip, Abijah Franklin tapped a steal to Vander Wal near the Terriers' basket. Vander Wal fired a quick pass to Wilkins, but Kahmare Holmes intercepted it and laid it in. That was a backbreaker for Furman as it pushed the lead to five with 1:07 left. Franklin drilled a long three with 11 seconds left to cut the lead to 72-70, but Machowski hit a pair of free throws to seal the win.
It didn't seem like Furman necessarily got comfortable with the lead, but they certainly were fatigued. While Tom House and Collin O'Neal participated in pregame shoot-around, they still weren't cleared for action leaving the Paladins with just eight scholarship players available for the second game in a row.
That number dwindled to seven on Saturday when Mason Smith left with what appeared to be a significant knee injury midway through the first half. Much like Cooper Bowser, House and O'Neal, Smith was playing his best ball of the season at the time of his injury. He had five points and three rebounds in 4:30 off the bench Saturday. Furman outscored Wofford by 10 during that time frame.
"I've never quite seen anything like this in my career, but it's just what we have right now. ... It's hard to lose when you feel like you had the opportunity to win. At the same time, your heart breaks for our team because they keep battling," Richey said. "It's not just numbers. It's real guys over there. ... I'm hoping there will be purpose inside this pain as we get guys back. It's a hope that this depth we're creating and and the experience these young player have gotten will help us down the stretch. At this level, all that really matters is what happens down the stretch."
In addition to the physical toll another injury puts a team through, there's also the mental anguish of seeing a teammate go down that Richey was alluding to.
"I really hurt for Mason. What he's done and how hard he's competed to stay engaged when he wasn't playing at all and then to see how well he was playing. He came in tonight and changed the game. ... To see him go down the way he did is just a crusher," Richey said. "I've got a lot of respect for that guy. He's going to go do big things in his life because of his resolve and resiliency. To see that injury just puts a knot in your stomach."
Without being asked about it during the players' postgame press conference, Vander Wal requested a moment to speak about Smith as well.
"We really don't know what's up with his knee yet, but the way he's handled himself the last couple of months has been admirable. I'm proud to be his teammate. The way he's stepped up for us these last couple of games and the way he carried himself when he hasn't played as much as he wants to, I just wanted to give him a shout-out," Vander Wal said. "Sometimes you don't understand why things happen to great people and he's one of the best people in this program."
In addition to outscoring Furman 44-26 in the paint, Wofford (12-7, 4-2 Southern Conference) also enjoyed an 18-11 edge in points off turnovers. The Terriers forced 12 turnovers while making only eight. Holmes and Machowski had 20 points apiece to lead Wofford. Chace Watley scored 15 also for the Terriers, while Brian Sumpter had 10 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, two steals and a blocked shot.
Against one of the worst teams in the country at defending the three, Furman shot just 27.6 percent from there Saturday including 3-for-15 in the second half. While Franklin hit 3-of-4 threes and Vander Wal and Smith each made their only tries, the rest of the Paladins combined to go 3-for-23 from beyond the arc. While they improved Saturday, the Terriers still rank 340th nationally in three-point defense, allowing 37 percent.
Wilkins led Furman (13-6, 4-2) with 19 points and four assists. Franklin had 14 points, six rebounds and two steals off the bench. Vander Wal was the lone other Paladin in double figures with 10 points. Johnston, Furman's second leading scorer and leading rebounder, was held to five points on 1-of-5 shooting - all threes - and five rebounds.
Not to turn this into an editorial, but Saturday left me with two big takeaways. With a player like Wilkins, who can create his own shot, make difficult shots and drive to the basket, Furman should never have a stretch of being outscored 17-0. Secondly, I'm not sure how successful the Paladins can be if Johnston goes an entire game with no shot attempts inside the arc.
Furman returns to action Wednesday in Charleston when it faces rival The Citadel at 7 p.m.
No comments:
Post a Comment