Furman seniors exit Timmons in style

Furman seniors Charles Johnston (1), Ben Vander Wal (4), Tom House (12) and Thomas Tillman
(30) are honored prior to the Paladins' 72-51 win over The Citadel. Photo courtesy of Furman

While Furman walk-on Thomas Tillman - a student section fan favorite - got the loudest ovations of the game Wednesday night, his fellow three seniors gave the Senior Night crowd at Timmons Arena plenty of reasons to get loud. Charles Johnston and Ben Vander Wal combined for as many rebounds (20) as The Citadel's entire team had, while Tom House had a hard-earned 11-point night as the Paladins thumped their oldest rival, 72-51.

The victory was the 200th in the nine-year career of Furman coach Bob Richey and avenged a heartbreaking overtime loss in Charleston last month in which the Paladins blew a 19-point second half lead. More importantly, it ensured that Furman will not be playing on the opening night of the Southern Conference Tournament next Friday in Asheville. With one set of league games left in the regular season on Saturday, the Paladins (19-11, 10-7) can still finish seeded anywhere from second to sixth.

"It's kind of crazy that this is Senior Day. I'm so grateful for my time here and these guys that I got to do it with. It was a fun atmosphere out there and the students were great. Shout out to Tilly's boys getting out here," said Vander Wal, who was joined by the other seniors for the postgame press conference. "Basketball is something that all of us dreamed of doing when we were kids. Being able to do it on this stage in an atmosphere like this was a lot of fun. We wore them down, which was the most fun part. It was choppy water sometimes, but we stayed the course and got it done."

For a while, it appeared that Furman would not be blowing a big lead this time around because it wouldn't be in any position to. The Paladins' "one game on, next game off" pattern of first-half shooting continued for the fourth consecutive game as they shot 39.3 percent in the opening half, including 21.4 percent (3-of-14) on three-pointers.

If time of possession was a basketball stat, Furman would've dominated as it grabbed 10 of its own misses and held a 24-10 edge in rebounding at the break. The Paladins scored only eight points off those 10 offensive boards though.

The Citadel (9-21, 6-11) didn't fare much better shooting-wise as it made 4-of-16 threes in the first half. All of those four makes belonged to Braxton Williams, whose 17-point effort in the opening half helped the Bulldogs trail only 33-31 at the break.

After getting outscored in the paint, 16-14, in the first half, Furman attacked it in the second half. The Paladins opened the half on an alleyoop from Asa Thomas to Cooper Bowser. Alex Wilkins drove for a layup before Johnston extended Furman's biggest lead at that point to 39-31 on a putback of a blocked layup. That forced a Citadel timeout.

Coming out of the timeout, the Bulldogs leaned on their leading scorer and Williams delivered with eight points in a span of 67 seconds. His sixth made three-pointer cut Furman's lead to 40-39 with 16 minutes remaining. After Cole Bowser answered with a three, he heavily guarded Williams the next trip down. However, that allowed Citadel's Sola Adebisi - who scored 22 in the first meeting - to get free for a layup. Adebisi also drew a foul, which led to the under-16 media timeout as 15:06 remained.

Perhaps the most pivotal part of the game came out of this timeout as Richey put Eddrin Bronson on the floor. Two things happened after Bronson checked in:

1. Williams never scored again.
2. The Bulldogs never sniffed the lead again.

Bronson chased Williams all over the half-court when Citadel was on offense. He powered through a tough screen on one of those chases and stole the ball from Williams on another. Over the final 15:06, Furman outscored Citadel, 29-10.

"Williams had 25 of their 41 points at one point, which was just incredible. It was an unbelievable shooting display and we had to put a no-catch on him," Richey said. "Ed was tremendous on him and that's what he's capable of doing. He's physical and has speed, size and strength.

"People have no idea how good of a basketball coach (Citadel's) Ed Conroy is. People have no idea the tactician he is and the creative ways that he puts his team in concepts and they're hard to guard. Ed's one of the best offensive minds in the country. When you have to guard all that stuff, it's unique. ... We weren't quite physical enough on some of that stuff, but once Ed (Bronson) came in there we did a much better job."

A more perfect sequence could not have helped wrap up Senior Night more than one that occurred with just over five minutes remaining. After a block by Vander Wal, House dove into the Citadel's bench to save the rebound back to Vander Wal. House got the ball back and drove to the basket before delivering a wraparound pass to Johnston, who made the layup and got fouled. Johnston completed the three-point play to push the lead to 60-47.

"We have an unbelievable group of four seniors that I couldn't be more proud of. Just to be able to honor them tonight with a great crowd, that really got loud once we started playing better," Richey said. "We were phenomenal on the backboard, winning that battle by 30 and ended up winning the paint. We wanted to make a concerted effort to get it into the paint tonight and play through our size."

Wilkins drove for a layup with 4:29 left that forced a Bulldogs' timeout. It also started the "we want Tillman" chants from the student section. That may have been a little premature, but Bronson helped make sure that fans would see Tillman again. After all that work on defense, Bronson was rewarded on offense when his only attempt of the night - a three-pointer with 3:03 left - went down to push the lead to 16.

Per Senior Night tradition, Tillman started the game. And per the tradition of the type of team players who show up every day for practice, yet rarely see the floor, Tillman committed a foul just 27 seconds in to get Cooper Bowser on the floor. With 1:10 remaining - and Furman up 69-49, the student section got their wish as Tillman returned. While his only shot was blocked with 10 seconds left, the night was no less special for the Charleston native.

"That was everything I hoped it would be to be honest with you," Tillman said. "It was really a dream come true for me and these guys made it what it was all three years. I really love this group and really love this program."

A few seconds after Tillman entered, the second-biggest roar of the night occurred when House, Johnston and Vander Wal checked out at home for the final time.

The game gave House and Johnston a chance to display how much each has grown in their two years in the program. House went 1-for-8 from three Wednesday. In the past, that would've meant that the three-point specialist didn't make much of an impact. While he was a big part of Furman's defensive effort, House also showed that he's become one of the best on the team at driving to the basket for a layup or drawing a foul. He went 2-for-3 on two-pointers and was 4-for-4 from the foul line.

Johnston, who reached double figures in rebounds one time all last season, recorded his 11th double-double this season as he finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds. He also had no fouls, just one turnover and two assists. Meanwhile, Vander Wal had the kind of dependable game Furman can seemingly always count on from him. He had six points, seven rebounds, one steal and one block and joined Wilkins at a team-best plus-19.

"Our seniors are just great humans. That's how we've tried to build the program here. We want great players, but we want great people that understand how hard it's going to be to grow and develop," Richey said. "We really want them to buy into that to be high potential individuals. It's just a fundamental belief of mine. As the person grows, the player comes right behind it. You've got to be able to identify people that want to grow."

Cooper Bowser had a team-high 14 points, while Wilkins finished with eight points and five assists. The Paladins annihilated the Bulldogs on the glass, outrebounding them 50-20. Furman ended up with a 36-26 advantage in the paint and 19 second-chance points.

Furman will try to avenge an early season loss for the third consecutive game when it travels to Western Carolina for a 5:30 p.m. tip off Saturday. If the Paladins win, they would most likely earn the No. 3 seed for the SoCon Tournament. The No. 2 and 4 seeds are still a possibility with a win depending on what other teams do. A No. 2 seed would require Citadel upsetting Wofford in Spartanburg, plus a Samford win as Furman can only win a tiebreaker for second if Samford is involved in a three-way tie with Wofford or a four-way tie with Wofford and Mercer.

If Furman, Mercer and Wofford win, the Paladins and Bears would tie for third and Furman would be the No. 4 seed as Mercer would have a win over league champion ETSU (on Saturday). It Furman loses Saturday, it appears to be a lock that the Paladins would get the No. 6 seed.