Clark, defense power Paladins past Mocs

Tre Clark tracks down a loose ball near the Furman sideline during the
Paladins' 58-53 win over Chattanooga Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman

Last Saturday, Chattanooga visited the Upstate and shot 60 percent from the floor in an 84-77 win at Wofford. This Saturday's trip to the Upstate could not have been more different. Furman limited the Mocs to 30.4 percent shooting in a 58-53 win before 2,430 fans at Timmons Arena. It was the lowest shooting percentage allowed by the Paladins this season, and Chattanooga's lowest this season.

In a matchup of the top two shooting teams - from the floor and from three - during Southern Conference play, a defensive battle broke out. The Paladins (22-5, 12-2) won their seventh consecutive game to stay tied with ETSU atop the SoCon standings entering their huge game in Johnson City Wednesday. A big part of Saturday's win was allowing just 6-of-29 (20.7 percent) 3-pointers. The Mocs (16-11, 7-7) entered shooting a SoCon-best 37.5 percent from three in league play.

Furman, which was shooting 36.6 percent from beyond the arc in SoCon play, found a way to win despite making just 3-of-18 (16.7 percent). It's the second time this season the Paladins were held to three made 3-pointers and they won both games. They also found a way to win Saturday with Jordan Lyons, Clay Mounce and Alex Hunter going a combined 3-of-13 from the floor.

"It was wild. You think you're getting a shootout and then it becomes just an absolute defensive battle," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "Credit to Chattanooga. ... I thought both teams played incredibly hard. ... Fortunate for us, just like we've done so many times this year, we find a way to scrap it out late.
"What you see in championship-level teams is that you've got to figure it out. You're not always going to go out there and hit every shot or always have great rhythm on offense. ... Tonight we won the game on the defensive end of the floor. What you see out of a mature team is we didn't let the 3-for-18 (from three) affect the intensity we were guarding at."

With the backcourt held in check by an impressive defensive effort by Chattanooga, the frontcourt came through. Noah Gurley had a team-high 14 points, while Jalen Slawson scored 13 and helped Furman claim the rebounding battle (36-35) in a game for the first time since the win over ETSU on Jan. 4.

But the duo that provided the spark for Furman on Saturday came off the bench. Mike Bothwell had 12 points and four assists, while Tre Clark continued in his bid to find out if a backup can win the SoCon's Defensive Player of the Year award. Clark matched his career-high with nine rebounds, and also had six points, three (of Furman's five) steals, two assists and a block with no turnovers in 24 minutes. Not found in the boxscore, but also big were Clark's 10 deflections.

"All of our guys were impactful in different ways, but again, TC might have been the most impactful," Richey said. "Mike ignited us offensively because of his ability to get the ball in the paint and make plays off penetration. Tre ignited us defensively just with his grit and toughness."

That spark was needed early on. Furman had three turnovers in the first four-and-a-half minutes and Chattanooga had three 3-pointers in the first seven minutes when Matt Ryan hit one with 13:25 left. That gave the Mocs a 13-4 lead and forced a timeout by Richey.

The Paladins got the message. Coming out of the timeout, Bothwell lobbed a pass to Slawson who threw down a dunk that finally gave the packed house something to get fired up about. That started a run, albeit a methodical one. As Chattanooga missed shot after shot, Furman grinded its way out of the hole.

Lyons' only bucket of the first half came when Clark made an incredible bounce pass through traffic to him for a layup. It gave Furman a 19-18 lead with 1:54 left in the half and it was a lead that was never relinquished. Moments later, Clark found an open Mounce for his lone field goal and the Paladins' first made 3-pointer with 24 seconds left in the half. That staked Furman to a 24-18 lead as it outscored the Mocs 20-5 over the final 13:24 of the half.

"We were down 13-4 after giving up some threes on pure miscommunication," Gurley said. "We started communicating, kept our defense tight, came out with intensity and Tre Clark provided the spark. He makes teams so uncomfortable on offense."

The low-scoring half wasn't as much a result of poor offense as it was very crisp defense, that was also done cleanly. Furman was called for two fouls in the first half, while Chattanooga had three.

As often seems to be the case in basketball, teams that play a clean opening half magically start "fouling" in the second half and Saturday was no exception. There were eight combined fouls in the first four-and-a-half minutes of the second half. The problem for Furman was they were on the same guys, including three on Lyons with 18:24 left.

The Paladins navigated their way through the half leading by as many as 10 while Lyons, Gurley and Clark were in serious foul trouble. Furman led 48-42 with 3:49 left went Clark was eliminated on a controversial fifth foul. The Paladins, who have found so many different ways to win all season, now had to find a way to win without one of its most vitally important players over the last few games.

Furman pushed the lead to nine with 1:01 left on a pair of free throws by Hunter and held on as Ryan scored eight points over the final 52 seconds for Chattanooga.

Ryan, a Notre Dame transfer who leads the Mocs in scoring this season, finished with 20 points and 14 rebounds, but was just 4-of-13 from the floor. Second leading scorer David Jean-Baptiste (12.8 points per game) was held to five points on 2-of-14 shooting. Ramon Vila, who was averaging 15.4 points over his last five games, had eight points on 4-of-7 shooting.

"Those guys are talented. They've got three high major transfers on that roster," Richey said. "It wasn't our prettiest game of the year by any stretch, but I do think it might have been one of our best defensive performances."

Bertrand hurls Paladins to opening day win

John Michael Bertrand allowed one run on two hits in six innings in
Furman's 7-5 win over La Salle Friday. Photo courtesy of Furman

During the course of the 2019 baseball season, Furman's John Michael Bertrand pitched himself up the ladder into the Friday night starter position. Based on Friday's 2020 season opener, he has no plans of giving it up.

Bertrand pitched perhaps the finest game of his career as the Paladins defeated La Salle, 7-5, at Latham Stadium. Bertrand (1-0) allowed one run on two hits in six innings and had no walks and seven strikeouts. Of his 74 pitches, 54 were strikes. After allowing a leadoff home run in the second inning, the redshirt junior left-hander retired the final 15 batters he faced.

"What a performance. That's probably the best I've ever seen him," Furman coach Brett Harker said. "Everything that happened today, he deserves it. You can compliment him because you know he's just going to work that much harder to get better.
"Honestly, the home run was probably the best thing to happen to him because it ticked him off a little. That was a freshman who took a really good swing on him. He was that much more sharp the rest of the way."

La Salle starter Colin Scanlon was matching his fellow left-hander pitch-for-pitch before his own error opened the door for Furman in the fifth. With two outs, No. 9 hitter Aidan Healy delivered a two-run double to give the Paladins a 2-1 lead. It was the first collegiate hit for the freshman who was a last-minute addition to the lineup when fellow freshman Eli Weisner was scratched with an arm injury.

Jordan Starkes followed by roping a single to center to score Healy. Furman put up three more runs in the sixth, highlighted by RBI-singles from Dax Roper and Banks Griffith.

"We had a freshman replace another freshman and Healy made a huge play (banging into the wall on a catch in right field) in the ninth and got the big hit to break things open," Harker said. "You got to see a little bit of everything today. ... We're going to build off tonight."

The Explorers rallied a bit against the Furman bullpen with four runs on eight hits over the last three innings. However, Rob Hughes and Dominic Pianto didn't sustain further damage by throwing strikes. The trio of Paladins who pitched Wednesday combined for 12 strikeouts and no walks.

In his first game back after missing all of the 2019 season with an injury, senior Jake Crawford went 2-for-4. He had the Paladins' first hit - an opposite field single in the second, and their last hit - an RBI-single in the eighth.

"That kid's been through so much. Getting our first hit of the season is so fitting for Jake," Harker said. "That kid's not just the face of Furman baseball, he's the face of Furman. He's going to be a doctor and he's done everything on the baseball field."

Game two of the three-game series is scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m.

Mounce helps Paladins roll over Samford

Clay Mounce had a season-high 25 points in Furman's 86-71
win at Samford Wednesday. Photo courtesy of Furman

Clay Mounce scored a season-high 25 points and Furman connected on 14-of-26 3-pointers as the Paladins rolled to an 86-71 win at Samford Wednesday night. It's the sixth consecutive win for Furman (21-5, 11-2), which remains tied atop the Southern Conference standings with ETSU.

So everything was fine and dandy Wednesday, right? Well ...

A crucial part of the level Furman's worked to reach during this historic run of terrific basketball the past few years is attention to detail - no matter the score or who's on the floor. A week after being outscored 9-3 over the final 3:15 of a blowout win against Mercer, the Paladins were outscored 12-2 over the final 3:58 Wednesday. In a postgame interview with the Furman Radio Network, Furman coach Bob Richey expressed the bad taste the final bite of the game left.

"We've got to grow there. This is too many games where we're trying to build depth ... and then leads just start to collapse. We play no defense and just fire up the first shot we see," Richey said. "If you're going to wear that jersey, there's a standard we're going to play at. It doesn't matter when your minutes are, you're going to play to a certain standard.
"It's frustrating because we've got seven guys who are absolutely laying it all down right now. They're doing whatever they can for this program. We need one more to just step up down this stretch run. ... One more guy that we know is ready to play the brand of Furman basketball that's required to wear that jersey on the court."

The fact that the Paladins led 84-59 with 3:59 left on Mounce's fifth 3-pointer is a testament to how well they played in the second half following a first half that was ugly at times. After falling behind 5-0, Furman went on a 13-0 run to take a lead it never relinquished. The Paladins led by as many as 13 before taking a 42-35 lead into the break.

The ugly parts of the opening half appeared to carry over in the first four minutes of the second half when the teams combined for seven turnovers. Five of those belonged to Samford though, and the last two led to a 3-pointer by Noah Gurley and a layup by Mike Bothwell to push the lead to 11.

With 14:40 left, Jalen Slawson committed Furman's 10th turnover but made up for it in a big way. After the Bulldogs' Jason Tatum stole the ball from him, Slawson raced down the court to block Tatum's shot. Alex Hunter gathered the rebound and fired a pass to Jordan Lyons, who drained a 3-pointer. That ignited a 10-2 run over the next two-and-a-half minutes as Furman took a commanding 62-43 lead. Samford never got within 15 the rest of the way and Furman had only three turnovers after that one with 14:40 left.

Furman shot 51.7 percent from the floor and had 23 assists out of 31 field goals. The Paladins held Samford to 37.9 percent shooting in the second half, including 0-of-4 from three. The Bulldogs (8-19, 2-11) had 20 turnovers and Furman enjoyed a 35-7 advantage in points off them. While Wednesday marked Samford's 11th consecutive loss, Furman joined Mercer as the only visitors to win there by more than eight points this season.

"In the first half, we were trying to do too much with the dribble. We didn't have the flow or tempo we like to have on offense," Richey said. "We did a better job of that in the second half.
"I think it was another 30-deflection night for us. We were at 28 without about four of five minutes to play. That would give us two 30-deflection games out of the last three after not having one all year. ... I'm proud of this group and how hard they're playing right now. ... I still feel like our best game's still ahead of us."

Mounce was one of five Paladins in double figures. Mike Bothwell had 15 points and four assists off the bench, while Lyons had 14 points, three assists and no turnovers. Gurley and Hunter had 12 points apiece and Hunter also had seven assists and two steals. Slawson finished with six points, four rebounds, three assists, three steals and three blocks.

"Mounce was great tonight, but Tre Clark again ... it's like an X-factor. He's a different piece than what we have," Richey said. "He had two points and six rebounds tonight, so it's 'why is coach talking about him?' Well, if you go to the last column in plus and minus for what the score was when he was on the floor, he's at plus-21. That's second highest on our team behind Jordan, who was at plus-31 which is outstanding.
"You may not see it in the boxscore, but Tre's toughness and tenacity is translating."

Lyons, Hunter help Paladins sweep Western

Alex Hunter scored a career-high 21 points in Furman's 82-73
win at Western Carolina Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman

CULLOWHEE, N.C. - On a historical day for the Furman men's basketball program Saturday, the most important thing that happened was this: the Paladins once again showed they can take a different route to end up at the same desired destination of victory.

After a suffocating defensive effort Wednesday to snap Mercer's six-game winning streak, Furman allowed a season-high 14 3-pointers on Saturday at Western Carolina. However, Jordan Lyons rang up 33 points and Alex Hunter scored a career-high 21 as the Paladins defeated the Catamounts, 82-73. Furman (20-5, 10-2 Southern Conference) remains tied for first place in the league with ETSU, which won at Mercer Saturday.

The win gives Furman at least 20 in a season for the fourth consecutive year, a feat never before accomplished in school history. At 25 games in, the Paladins reached the 20-win mark faster than any other team in school history. The victory also gave Furman a record of 91-35 over the last four years. That makes Lyons the winningest player in school history one season after Andrew Brown and Matt Rafferty were the first Paladins to reach 90 wins.

"It's more special than any other honor or achievement you can have. This is a growth program. We've prided ourselves on player development and getting better every single year and we've done that," said Lyons, who added to his career record for 3-pointers set Wednesday by hitting 4-of-7 on Saturday.
"It's me right now but next year, Alex, Clay (Mounce) and Tre (Clark) are going to break it. In the next years, it will continue to be broken. That's the level this program has reached. I'm just really blessed to be a part of it."

Lyons scored 14 of Furman's first 17 points. While the Paladins held an eight-point lead at that point, those early ones proved necessary as the game was a shootout for much of the day. The senior later scored six of the Paladins' final nine points to seal the win.

"Jordan was going to win today. Let's just call it what it is," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "He played like somebody that was saying, 'you guys jump on my back and we're going to go figure this thing out.'
"Usually when you have someone that plays with that much confidence, people rally behind him and I think Alex has really cut loose these past two games. When those two are playing like that together, they're really, really hard to guard."

In Furman's 83-79 win over Western in Greenville earlier this season, Catamount big man Carlos Dotson put up 21 points on 10-of-14 shooting. On Saturday, the Paladins seemed bound and determined to not let the former Dorman High standout beat them. While Dotson had 12 rebounds and four assists, he had nine points on just 3-of-5 shooting.

For awhile, it appeared that Onno Steger was going to be the Catamount to beat Furman as he and Lyons traded 3-pointers early. At the 8:45 mark of the first half, Western held a 24-23 lead and the teams were a combined 13-of-18 on 3-pointers and 3-of-16 on 2-pointers.

The Catamounts led 30-25 with less than seven minutes left in the first half when Lyons' jumper started a 12-0 run over the next five minutes. Steger ended Western's drought when he converted a four-point play.

With 10:44 left to play, Steger hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 57. That was his seventh 3-pointer of the game and gave him 24 points, but he didn't scratch in the scoring category again. The Catamounts were 13-of-21 from three after Steger's last make, but they went just 1-for-8 from beyond the arc the rest of the way.

"When two teams combine for 26 made threes, it's going to come down to the team that can just string together some stops and create some separation," Richey said. "I thought our group did that late.
"It was a hard-fought game both ways as we knew it would be. For our team to compete like that, especially against Dotson after what he did to us in Greenville ... Holding him to single digits was huge."

After a 20-point opening half, the looks weren't as open for Lyons in the second half but he didn't press and the shots he found were big. Dynamic Western point guard Mason Faulkner converted a three-point play to tie the game at 60 with 8:25 left before Lyons answered with a jumper that gave Furman the lead for good. Hunter and Lyons hit 3-pointers and Gurley converted a tough shot as he was fouled to make it an eight-point lead with five minutes left.

Faulkner sank a pair of free throws to cut Furman's lead to 73-71 with 2:16 left, but Lyons scored the next five points to help put the game away.

Furman finished 12-of-25 from three, led by Hunter who matched a career-high hitting 5-of-7. For the week, Hunter made 8-of-12 3-pointers and had 30 points, seven assists, six rebounds, three steals and two turnovers. Gurley finished with 11 points Saturday and Clay Mounce had eight points, eight rebounds and four assists. While Tre Clark only had four points in  22 minutes off the bench, he drew five fouls, had two steals and the Paladins outscored Western by 18 during his time on the court.

"Honestly, it just been my teammates and coaches instilling me with that confidence and it's overflowing. I feel like I'm playing the best I have since I've been here," Hunter said. "I've been feeling good and we've been winning. That brings the most joy."

Signees help boost Furman's depth at receiver

Furman wide receiver Ryan DeLuca (83) is the lone rising senior at a
position that's gotten deeper this offseason. Photo courtesy of Furman

When Furman's 2019 football season came to an end, wide receiver was perhaps the most barren spot on the depth chart. A position that wasn't the deepest to begin with was losing three seniors, including the leading receiver in school history in Thomas Gordon.

A little more than two months later, depth at that position has done a 180. While the Paladins signed no receivers in the the first signing day period back in December, they added one via transfer in January and added two more on Wednesday's traditional signing day.

Noah Henderson, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound Nashville native, transferred in from Charlotte. As a freshman last season, he appeared in all 12 games for the 49ers and caught eight passes for 65 yards. Henderson played for Furman Hall of Famer Ingle Martin at Christ (Tenn.) Presbyterian Academy in high school and was a first-team all-state performer. He caught 72 passes for 1,215 yards and 11 touchdowns there in 2018 to help his team go 14-0 and capture the Division II-2A state championship.

Henderson evidently started a trend of Tennessee receivers joining the program as Knoxville natives Kelton Gunn (5-10, 170) and Bailor Hughes (5-11, 203) signed on Wednesday. At Class 6A Hardin Valley, Gunn was a running back and rushed for more than 1,000 yards last season. Hughes did a little bit of everything at Class 5A Powell High, where he was a team captain each of the last three seasons and where he also ran the 100m and 400m in track. In his football career, Hughes had 1,275 rushing yards, 1,113 receiving yards, 68 tackles, nine interceptions and 26 touchdowns.

"Going into this recruiting class, receiver was one of the top priorities and I think it came out as a great strength really," Furman coach Clay Hendrix said. "We're really pleased with how that turned out. Bailor Hughes and Kelton Gunn bring a little different dimension, and Henderson is a big, fast kid.
"We may see a few more three-wide receiver sets on the field. We haven't had enough guys to do those."

In addition to the newest Paladins, the receiver position will have the return of senior Ryan DeLuca, who's caught four touchdowns each of the past two seasons. Dejuan Bell and Luke Shiflett, who each redshirted in 2019, also return.

"Luke's going to be a little limited this spring coming back from the (torn) labrum," Hendrix said. "He's going to be going through things, but he's not going to be out there getting tackled.
"Last August, I remember telling (receivers coach) Brian (Bratton), 'let's don't kill Thomas Gordon,' by just wearing him out because we didn't have the numbers. I'm pretty excited about that group now with who we have and who we've got coming in."

Furman had two more signees on Wednesday in defensive end Luke Clark (6-3, 224), of Louisville, and long snapper Julian Ashby (6-2, 185), of Lilburn, Ga. Clark had 99 tackles, including 28 for loss and 12 sacks to help South Oldham (Ky.) High go 11-2. At the first signing day in December, Hendrix said he'd like to sign another defensive lineman and landing Clark also helps expand the Paladins' recruiting footprint.

Ashby, who scored 1530 on the SAT, handled snapping duties for 39 games at Parkview (Ga.) High and chose Furman over Duke. He could fill a void immediately following the graduation of four-year starter Evan Vaughn.

"Along with the 13 guys we signed early, I feel like we addressed our needs. ... Our staff did a great job. Depth-wise, we're in as good as a position as we've been in since I've been here," Hendrix said. "We had a lot of guys that had a lot of opportunities (to sign) at a lot of great schools. ... I think the strength of our school and strength and tradition of our football program helped us win out.
"We've finally got this thing to where we've got manageable numbers each year. If we we can stay in that 15-17 range in a class, that's ideal for us. We don't want to be replacing 24 guys. That's a real challenge to find that many kids that can play and do the academics here."

Spring practice set to begin
This year's spring practice schedule opens Saturday at 8 a.m. at Paladin Stadium. There will be a total of 15 practices, with the annual Purple-White scrimmage tentatively scheduled for Feb. 29 at noon.

Spring practice was slightly delayed as the coaching staff was shuffled following the departures of cornerbacks coach Rod Ojong to Georgia, and defensive line coach Josh Miller to Coastal Carolina. On Friday, Chad Byers was announced as Furman's new outside linebackers coach while Clay Mazza was introduced as the new director of football operations.

Byers was a graduate assistant linebackers coach at Marshall last season and was a defensive quality control coach at Furman in 2015. Mazza has spent the past five seasons at Stetson, where he coached tight ends and special teams as was director of football operations the past two years.

"(Former safeties coach) Corico Wright's going to take over the whole secondary now and (defensive coordinator) Duane (Vaughn) is going to move back and help a little bit back there," Hendrix said. "He can help wherever needed."

The hiring of a new defensive line coach should be officially announced in the coming weeks.

Intense defense helps Paladins thump Mercer

Jordan Lyons broke the school record for career 3-pointers and tied the record
for career wins in Furman's 79-57 win over Mercer. Photo courtesy of Furman

On a night of personal achievement for Jordan Lyons Wednesday, he led a team-wide defensive effort that cooled off the hottest team in the Southern Conference and downright froze perhaps the league's hottest shooter.

Furman became the first SoCon team to hold Mercer below 60 points this season in a 79-57 rout at Timmons Arena that snapped the Bears' six-game winning streak. In addition to having the league's longest winning streak, Mercer also entered as the SoCon's top-ranked team in field goal percentage (49.6) and three-point percentage (38.3). On Wednesday, Furman limited the Bears to 33.3 percent shooting (10-of-30 each half), including 25.9 percent on 3-pointers.

Meanwhile, Furman (19-5, 9-2) had five players in double figures and another with nine points as it shot 57.1 percent from the floor, including 65 percent (13-of-20) in the second half. The victory was the 90th of Lyons' Paladin career, pulling him even with Matt Rafferty and Andrew Brown as the winningest players in school history.

"We were able to impose our will on the defensive side of the ball and that's where it always starts for us. When we can bring pressure with tight gaps and really shrink the floor and make it difficult for teams to get into their actions, that's when we're at our best," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "About seven minutes into the game, you could really start to feel it.
"It was a 31-deflection night, which is a season high for us. Tre Clark had 10 of them. All eight of our players who played meaningful minutes tonight all contributed in a big way."

During this current historic era of Furman basketball, a trademark of its success has been the ability to completely shut down an opponents' leading scorer. That happened when Furman and Mercer (12-12, 6-5) met earlier this year in Macon, Ga. as Djordje Dimitrijevic was held to what's turned out to be a season-low five points on 1-of-8 shooting from the floor.

But Furman's 64-62 win that night was way back on Dec. 20. In his eight SoCon games since then and prior to Wednesday, Dimitrijevic averaged 24 points per game and made 27-of-56 3-pointers (48.2 percent).

Surely the Paladins couldn't hold him to five points again and they didn't. Instead, he scored six. After hitting a jumper on Mercer's opening possession 35 seconds into the game, Dimitrijevic's only other bucket came 10 shots later when he banked in a 3-pointer. All that did was cut Furman's lead to 50-34 with 14:57 left to play, and he didn't attempt another shot after the 10:48 mark. Dimitrijevic was 2-of-13 for the night, including 1-of-9 from three.

"We knew Mercer was coming in hot and we knew we had to be locked in from the minute the ball tipped up," Lyons said. "I think it was one of our best defensive performances of the year."

After Dimitrijevic's opening bucket, Furman scored the next eight points before Mercer responded with a 14-3 run. That's when perhaps the Paladins' finest defensive display of the season suddenly started to kick in.

A putback by Clark gave Furman a lead it never relinquished at 20-19 with 8:03 left in the first half. Alex Hunter made a steal three seconds later and fired to Lyons, who nailed a 3-pointer. A block by Noah Gurley led to another Lyons' 3-pointer. On the Paladins' next possession, Lyons sank yet another three. It not only pushed the Paladins' lead to 10, it also pushed Lyons past Eric Webb as the school's all-time leader in 3-pointers with his 274th.

"It's really special. I thank the Lord for being blessed with the abilities that I've been able to utilize my entire life," Lyons said. "This record is never just going to be about me. There's no way possible I could've done it without the people in my life like the Peachtree City (Ga.) community back home and everybody who's involved with this program - all the coaches I've had and current coaches, all the former teammates and current teammates.
"Everyone believes in me and it's been that way since I came in as a freshman. That's something that's really special about this place. ... I'll forever be indebted to this program and this university."

From the 8:03 mark to the 4:44 mark of the first half, Furman outscored Mercer 16-0 to help the Paladins take a 39-24 lead into halftime. It was the Bears' lowest output in any half of SoCon play. There was no let up after half for Furman as it never led by fewer than 15 and led by as many as 29.

While Furman held Dimitrijevic down in the first meeting, the Bears' 6-foot-11 Maciej Bender had a season-high 19 points and 10 rebounds that night. It was a different story on Wednesday, as he had 10 points on 4-of-14 shooting, eight rebounds and four turnovers.

"The whole team had a 'nothing easy' mindset. Down in Macon, we were leaving the paint open and he was just scoring easy dunks and off easy rolls (to the basket)," Gurley said. "It was a five-man effort, but (Jalen) Slaw(son) really stepped up and accepted that challenge."

Gurley finished with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting to lead Furman. Lyons and Slawson each scored 13 points, while Clay Mounce had 12 points and six rebounds. Mike Bothwell had 10 points, five assists, two steals and no turnovers in 22 minutes off the bench, and Hunter finished with nine points, five assists, two steals and one turnover.

Furman overcame a 12-of-24 night at the foul line, as well as getting outrebounded 41-29. Mercer pulled down 20 offensive rebounds, but only managed to score 11 second-chance points off those.

"In defense of our guys, Mercer missed 40 shots. Now letting them go get 20 of those misses isn't good, but I did see the effort to go and impact the second shot," Richey said. "They're very efficient in their offense, so it wasn't like we just stymied a bad offense. ... It all starts with our defensive intensity. That's what we've got to continue to buy into.
"It's hard to play that way, but you embrace that's who you are. ... When you stick to that, we're really hard to score against."

Top seed in SoCon could be as valuable as ever

Furman coach Bob Richey
Photo courtesy of Furman

We're past the midway point of the Southern Conference basketball season. When SoCon teams return to the court Wednesday, it will begin a final stretch of two games a week for the rest of February leading into the SoCon Tournament the first weekend of March.

If the regular season ended Tuesday, Furman would have the No. 1 seed thanks to its head-to-head win against ETSU at Timmons Arena. This season, that top seed could prove to be as valuable an asset as ever before.

A look at the standings indicates the "big four" are still the big four. Furman (18-5) and ETSU (19-4) are tied for first place at 8-2, while UNC Greensboro (17-6) and Wofford (15-8) are tied for third at 7-3. These are the only four who have each won at least 10 games at home this season and Wofford is the only SoCon team who hasn't suffered a home loss in league play (5-0). Meanwhile, Furman and UNCG are two of 19 Division I teams that have won at least seven true road games.

Last season, those four teams went a combined 47-1 against the rest of the league. This season, it's a different story as the middle of the pack have proved to be quite formidable. Western Carolina (14-7) and Mercer (12-11) are tied for fifth at 6-4 in the SoCon, while Chattanooga (14-9) is seventh at 5-5. After quite a few injuries early on, Mercer is currently the hottest team in the league. The Bears will come to Furman on Wednesday riding a six-game winning streak.

While the Paladins will have had a week off to prepare, it remains to be seen whether that will be a good thing or a bad thing. Coach Bob Richey said he would've preferred to keep playing this past weekend, but it did provide a final long break before the final stretch of the season.

"It's the grind of the season and everybody's tired right now," Richey said after Furman's win over VMI last Wednesday. "We've got to rest our bodies and take advantage of the time (off), but we've also got to stay sharp. It's a fine line.
"This is the first gap of the schedule since Christmas and we've got to use it to improve. It's an opportunity for us to get better, if we have the right attitude at practice. ... There are some bolts that need to be tightened."

While Samford (8-16, 2-8), VMI (6-17, 1-9) and The Citadel (6-17, 0-10) are the only SoCon teams with losing records, that haven't exactly rolled over in league play. Samford has a five-point loss to Wofford and seven-point loss to UNCG. VMI lost by six at ETSU and gave Furman all it could handle last week in Greenville before falling 74-72 in overtime. The Citadel had a two-point loss at Wofford, a four-point loss to Western Carolina and a five-point loss at Mercer this past Saturday.

"I don't know if the league is better than it was last year, but I know it's way more balanced," Richey said. "There are dang good coaches in this league and there's a lot of good players.
"The trick in February is going to be who shows up every single night to play as hard as they can play and play to their identity. And then who can get teams out of their identity and catch somebody slipping."

While it seems any team can challenge any other in the SoCon, there's does seem to be a clear line in the sand between the top seven and bottom three teams this year, making that No. 1 seed even more important than usual. That top seed will face either the eighth or ninth seed in the quarterfinal round in Asheville.

For the Paladins to maintain its current position as that top seed, they will probably have to win all the games they should be favored in - all four remaining home games and their game at Samford. Furman will also likely have to win at least one on the road against either ETSU, UNCG or Western Carolina. If it can be only one of those three, UNCG might be the one to get as a Spartans' win would give them the season sweep and a tiebreaker advantage over the Paladins.

Now matter how it all shakes out, it should be an entertaining ride through February to what should be a whale of a tournament in Asheville.

"We've got to get better. We're in the hunt and we're going to be in the hunt. This is a championship-level group. I love this team, but it's going to hard. There's going to be battles," Richey said. "You can't sit there and try to figure out 'what game do we have to be our best.' When you've got to play a game in the Southern Conference, you'd better show up and be ready to be your best because if you don't, you're going to get beat. ... It doesn't matter who you're playing.
"I don't think the league gets the credit it deserves  This is big time ball, every single night."