Another big first half helps Paladins top Mercer

Marcus Foster scored a career-high 25 points in Furman's
84-66 win at Mercer Wednesday. Photo courtesy of Furman

On Wednesday night at Mercer, the Furman basketball team showed the best way to overcome a 31-percent shooting second half. That turned out to be shooting 71 percent in the first half. For the second consecutive game, Marcus Foster shot the lights out before halftime Wednesday. Unlike Saturday at ETSU, most of his teammates joined in this first half barrage of buckets.

The Paladins made 17 of their first 20 shots to build an 18-point lead and went on to an 84-66 win over the Bears. It's the 16th consecutive victory in the series for Furman. Foster finished with a career-high 25 points, including 18 in the first half - the same total he scored in the first half at ETSU.

While the two halves could not have been more different offensively for Furman, defensive consistency was once a again a key. After limiting ETSU to 33.3 percent shooting in each half Saturday, the Paladins held Mercer to 41.4 percent shooting in the first half and 42.4 percent in the second half.

"I'll absolutely take an 18-point win on the road. It wasn't as clean of a second half as I'd like, but give them (Mercer) some credit. They came out (after halftime) and played a lot harder. They tried to pressure us and got us out of rhythm," Coach Bob Richey said on the Furman Radio Network's postgame show. "I think they cut it to 14 and then we made some plays to stretch it back out and finish the game well. ... I thought there were a number of guys to step up. Marcus Foster continues to play lights out. I thought Mike (Bothwell) made some crucial plays at critical times."

Furman's defense was a bit uneven from the tip as the game was a shootout for the first few minutes. Shannon Grant's third made field goal at the 16:42 mark gave Mercer an 11-10 lead. While Grant was woofing to the Paladins about his <checks notes> layup, his defensive responsibility - Tyrese Hughey - was headed back down the court. After Grant's score, it took all of six seconds for J.P. Pegues to lob a three-quarter court pass over all the Bears' heads to Hughey for an easy layup.

The Paladins (13-5, 4-1 Southern Conference) never trailed again.

Grant's missed shot on the ensuing possession started a stretch of five consecutive misses for Mercer, the first four of those being shots in the paint. While the Bears got the offensive rebound after four of those misses, Furman made it a 10-0 run thanks to a jumper by Bothwell and 3-pointers by Pegues and Foster.

It was a 23-18 lead with 13 minutes left in the first half when the Paladins went on a 15-2 run over a 5:05 stretch. The first six field goals of that 7-of-8 shooting spurt were made by Ben VanderWal, Garrett Hien, Pegues, Jalen Slawson, Bothwell and Foster.

When Slawson drained a three with 1:35 left in the half, Furman was 20-of-26 from the floor and led by 19. Foster was fouled on a 3-pointer with 55 seconds left and made all three free throws to give the Paladins a 52-32 halftime lead.

"That was a pretty cushion of a 20-point lead, but it was kind of a fool's gold perspective because we're shooting like 80 percent. For a little while there, it felt like we couldn't miss," Richey said. "We were minus-two in box touches at halftime, minus-two in raw possessions and had given up eight offensive rebounds, so there was plenty to come back out here and try to do better (in the second half). I thought we did some of those things better."

After missing its last two field goals of the first half, Furman went 4-of-19 from the floor over the first 14:32 of the second half. But Mercer (7-11, 0-5) never got the lead below 14 thanks to defense and free throws. The Paladins, who made 14-of-17 free throws in the second half, did make four of their last seven shots to seal the win.

For the second consecutive game, Furman lost the rebounding battle (38-31) but won the game. It had gone 0-4 in games in which it was outrebounded this season prior to the last two.

It was also yet another game in which the Paladins made the opposition's leading scorer a non-factor, primarily due to Pegues' defense. Mercer leading scorer Jalyn McCreary, who was averaging 15.5 points per game entering Wednesday, was held scoreless on 0-of-6 shooting. The Bears' second-leading scorer, Kamar Robertson, entered Wednesday shooting 51 percent, including 50 percent (29-of-58) from three. He had 12 points on 3-of-11 shooting, including 0-for-3 from three.

Over these first five games of conference play, opposing teams' season-leading scorers have combined for 28 points on 7-of-42 (16.7 percent) shooting against Furman.

"J.P. continues to be an absolute force on the defensive end of the floor. He's just growing by the day," Richey said. "Even listening to his communication out there, it's so neat to see how he's really taken another step."

On his career-high scoring night, Foster made 7-of-9 shots, including 6-of-7 threes, 5-of-6 free throws and also had a team-high seven rebounds. Bothwell finished with 17 points, while Slawson had 15 points, five rebounds and five assists.

After opening league play against five teams picked to finish in the bottom half of the conference, now the schedule shifts for Furman. The next seven games for the Paladins will be against the four other teams picked to finish in the top half of the league. That begins with a second-place battle against UNC Greensboro (10-8, 4-1) Saturday at 4 p.m. at Timmons Arena. The game is expected to be a sellout.

Saturday will be a matchup of the SoCon's best offense and best defense. Furman is fifth in the country in assists per game (19.2), 11th is shooting percentage (49.8), 13th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.53) and 21st in scoring (82.1 points per game). The Spartans lead the SoCon in scoring defense (64.1 points allowed per game), field-goal percentage defense (39.5) and three-point shooting percentage defense (30.7).

The teams have split the season series each of the last four years. Last season, Furman won at UNCG, 58-54. In the rematch at Bon Secours Wellness Arena, the Paladins went on an 18-0 run to take a one-point lead with 59 seconds left but the Spartans pulled out a 58-56 win.

"It's going to be a different challenge. We know how well they guard. We know last year they guarded us great in both games. Both were unbelievable games with unbelievable finishes," Richey said. "I've got a lot of respect for (UNCG coach) Mike (Jones) and the way he does it. We're gonna be back at Timmons and hopefully will have a great crowd with tons of energy, because it should be a heck of a college basketball game."

Foster's treys, Pegues' defense lift Furman to win

J.P. Pegues' defense powered Furman to a 70-54 win at
East Tennessee State Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - There was a point in the first half of Furman's game at East Tennessee State Saturday in which Furman missed 12 consecutive shots. As it turns out, the Paladins had simply not found the right shooter in the right spot yet.

Marcus Foster ended that skid with a three-pointer. Then he hit another three. And then another. And then another. Foster scored 18 of his game-high 21 points in the first half, and also pulled down 11 rebounds, to power Furman to a 70-56 win. The Paladins (12-5, 3-1 Southern Conference) held the Bucs to 33.3 percent shooting in each half in recording their second-largest margin of victory ever at ETSU.

"We got to do this with our defense. We've been trying to emphasize it and fight with these guys about it and give our team credit. ... It's starting to pay off. We guarded the ball better. We kept the ball out of the post for the most part. We did a really good job in transition defense, and we did a really good job on their best player," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "We got off to a really good start and then they went zone, which we anticipated that because they did that here last year. ... Once we finally settled down, took a timeout and just relaxed our guys a little bit, we started getting some better movement against the zone and that opened it up for Marcus to get loose.

"Man, it's fun to watch him shoot the ball, defend like he's defending right now, and really rebound the way he's rebounding right now. He just looks like the player we all know he can be. When he plays well, it gives us a whole new dimension."

For the second consecutive game, Furman (12-5, 3-1 Southern Conference) got off to a great start especially on the defensive end of the court. Mike Bothwell's three-point play with 9:51 left gave the Paladins a 21-11 lead, but then the cold snap began. That stretch of 12 consecutive misses included one agonizing possession where Foster grabbed three offensive rebounds - and missed three putbacks.

What had to be frustration on the offensive end never affected Furman's defense though. Over that five-and-a-half minute stretch without a bucket, ETSU only got the lead down to 23-18 with 4:25 left. That's when the next three minutes became the Marcus Foster show. Alex Williams got a rebound and found Foster for his first three. After a Ben VanderWal offensive board, J.P. Pegues hit Foster for his next three. Williams found Foster for his next one, and Jalen Slawson hit him for his fourth.

"We were in that little slump and I just tried to stay ready for my opportunity and calm. My teammates kept finding me and I was able to knock them down," Foster said. "To hold them to 56, we're proud of that. We've been working on defense relentlessly, so it's good to see that translate."

VanderWal's fast break dunk followed Foster's personal 12-2 run and what had been a five-point lead with less than five minutes left in the half became a 37-20 lead with 1:04 left. ETSU got one of its three three-pointers for the game at the buzzer to send the game into halftime at 37-23. Furman had just two turnovers in the opening half.

For the second consecutive game, the Paladins didn't get comfortable despite having a comfortable lead. After the Bucs (6-11, 2-2) made their first shot of the second half 39 seconds into it, their next made bucket didn't come until the 11:04 mark. By then, the Paladins had stretched the lead to 51-32. Furman led by as many as 22 and never by fewer than 13 the rest of the way.

The Paladins outstanding defensive effort once again was sparked by making the opposition's top scorer miserable, and that effort was once again spearheaded by Pegues. ETSU leading scorer Jordan King, who entered Saturday averaging 13.1 points per game, was held to five points on 0-of-9 shooting. As a team, the Bucs were 20-of-60 from the floor, including 3-of-21 from three.

"The defense that J.P. Pegues is playing right now for us is incredible. We lost a machine on that end of the floor in (former point guard) Alex Hunter and J.P. is really emerging as the guy there," Richey said. "You look at these last two games and how he was able to guard (Citadel leading scorer Austin) Ash and how he was able to guard King today, it's pretty impressive."

That defensive effort helped Furman overcome a few things that didn't go its typical way, which should actually be a confidence boost moving forward. For the first time this season, the Paladins won a game in which they were outrebounded (42-35). Bothwell had 13 points on 4-of-14 shooting, including 0-for-7 from three. As a team, Furman shot 41.7 percent - well below it's top 10 nationally rated average of 50.2 percent entering Saturday.

Despite those numbers, the Paladins got a 14-point victory in historically one of the toughest environments in mid-major basketball. It's just Furman's second win in Johnson City since the 2004-05 season and its most lopsided there ever outside of a 78-54 win in the 1984-85 season.

"We only score 70 tonight, about 12 points lower than our average, but the main thing is 56 points (allowed). ... That strengthens Coach Richey's argument that it all starts on the defensive end and we keeping buying in," said Slawson, who finished with 16 points, seven rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocked shots.

"Alex Hunter was a heck of a defender and J.P. Pegues is right on par with him and he's only a sophomore. He's only going to keep getting better, bigger, faster and stronger. ... He cherishes these kind of matchups, which is something you don't see often out of a sophomore."

The victory marked the 100th in the careers of Bothwell and Slawson. Bothwell eclipsed the 1,700-point mark in his career as well. Bothwell's 1,705 points are two shy of Mel Daniel for 10th place on Furman's all-time scoring chart.

The Paladins will next play at Mercer Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Paladins start hot, keep lead and rout Citadel

Alex Williams (24) scored a career-high 19 points off the bench in Furman's
97-72 win over The Citadel Wednesday. Photo courtesy of Furman

An ironic flip side about a talented team that struggles with consistency could be that it should be hard for them to play two bad games in a row. Such was the case Wednesday for Furman, which looked like a different team than the one that blew a pair of nine-point leads in a 12-point loss at Western Carolina last Saturday.

When it got up by nine Wednesday against The Citadel, Furman didn't get comfortable like it did in Cullowhee. Instead, the Paladins expanded the lead. When they got that expanded lead, it never completely disappeared like it did against Stephen F. Austin and Appalachian State. Instead, Furman maintained focus on both ends and cruised to a 97-72 win at Timmons Arena.

"I'm really proud of our guys. Defensively, it's not a finished product. It's Jan. 5, but we're much improved," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "(Citadel coach) Ed's (Conroy) done a great job in terms of what they've been able to do in a short amount of time. His style of play is a headache. They challenge you so much off the bounce, which is where we've struggled here recently.

"Our on-ball defense wasn't perfect but it definitely was better. We fouled way too much in the first half. We improved from the disaster that we saw Saturday, but we've still got some things that we've got to clean up."

The Paladins (11-5, 2-1 Southern Conference) limited the Bulldogs to 40.7 percent shooting, while they shot 58.2 percent - second only to the 58.3 percent they shot against Belmont for best shooting nights against Division I opponents this season. Perhaps most notable about the defensive effort was that while Furman typically relies on deflections and turnovers for its success defensively, that didn't happen Wednesday. The Bulldogs only had eight turnovers, but the Paladins did score 14 points off those.

It appeared that kind of shooting night was in order when it took nearly seven-and-a-half minutes for Furman to miss its first shot of the night. The Paladins were 7-of-7 from the floor and 5-of-5 from the foul line before Alex Williams' three-point shot rimmed in-and-out no good with 12:37 left in the half. By then, the Paladins had built a 21-8 lead. Less than 30 seconds later, Williams made a steal which led to a Marcus Foster layup that gave Furman its biggest lead of the night.

Having a 23-8 lead was far and away the Paladins' most impressive opening eight minutes of a game this season. It was a welcome sight for a team that had not gotten off to a really good start since the Stephen F. Austin game on Dec. 17.

The approach to that advantage was also a fresh one as Furman attacked the paint and drew fouls. The tone of that approach was set from the start. While Furman prides itself on ball movement and did end up with 23 assists Wednesday, it's opening bucket came when Mike Bothwell got a rebound on one end and dribbled all the way to the hoop on the other as he made a contested layup.

"Coach has been telling us the past couple of games that we need to try to get in the paint more. We've been trying to keep the other team out of the box and we try to get in there more and we actually track that," Bothwell said. "Every media timeout, we're seeing those numbers so it's becoming more of an emphasis for us. That's going to help us get even more shots from from three that are more uncontested because teams are going to have to flow and help."

On a team with 11 players that shoot anywhere from 29 to 46.6 percent from three, the Paladins didn't attempt their first three Wednesday until Bothwell drained one at the 13:48 mark to push the lead to 18-6. After taking that 15-point lead on 8-of-9 shooting, there was bit of a cold stretch for Furman. The Paladins made just one of its next eight field goal attempts and Citadel got the lead down to 30-24 with 6:41 left.

But Furman seemed bound and determined to not have a repeat of Saturday, when it shot 65.2 percent in the opening half only to take a three-point lead into halftime. The Paladins went on a 13-4 run highlighted on threes by Bothwell, Foster and Ben VanderWal and took a 43-30 lead into half.

After going 0-for-5 from three in the first half, Citadel popped a couple early in the second half but could never get Furman's lead into single digits. It was a 49-39 game just over three minutes into the second half when back-to-back threes by VanderWal and Williams started a 23-4 run over the next 6:28. VanderWal's third three of the spurt gave Furman its biggest lead at 72-43 with 10:05 left.

"Alex's whole demeanor has changed. He wants to be coached and he's taking feedback. He's coming over to me when something doesn't go well and saying, 'hey coach, what did you see right there?' That's when this game gets really fun for a coach - when feedback can go both ways and it becomes about what we can do to get better," Richey said. "The world we're in right now, everything has to be an argument. But improvement usually comes from real dialogue.

"He's just been a joy and he hasn't even scratched the surface. He's 6-foot-5, can shoot it and can handle it. He really sees the game and has incredible feet."

As hot a start as Furman got off to, it was even better in the second half when it made 63.8 percent of its field goals. The Paladins, who also made a season-high 21-of-24 free throws, are currently seventh in the country in shooting at 50.2 percent.

The Paladins had 39 bench points Wednesday after scoring two at Western. A key to that was Richey putting Foster back in the starting lineup and bringing VanderWal off the bench. VanderWal didn't miss a shot and finished with a career-high 14 points and seven rebounds, while Williams scored a career-high 19 in 17:50 off the bench.

"I know my role is to come off the bench and just give 100 percent every time I'm on the court," Williams said. "I think I have to do that in order for us to just keep the energy going."

Bothwell was dynamite all night as he finished with 27 points, six assists and five rebounds. Jalen Slawson kept his cool and his focus on the game amidst some foul trouble and finished with 11 points and seven assists in 17 minutes. Foster made it five Paladins in double figures as he finished with 10.

"Ben and A-Will did an unbelievable job off the bench. Slaw really responded to some tough adversity ... He handled it well and had a great impact on the game," Richey said. "Mike really set the tone in a lot of ways. He gets 27 points on 14 points and six assists and was at plus-28."

A big-time performance not necessarily seen in the boxscore came from J.P. Pegues, who held Citadel sharpshooter Austin Ash to eight points on 3-of-12 shooting, including 1-of-7 from three. He entered Wednesday leading the Bulldogs in scoring at 16.4 points per game.

"I think (Ash) is the best shooter in the league. The shots are unreal on film, just from where he pulls from and how quick he does it," Richey said. "J.P. took a ton of pride in his responsibility on him. He just did a really, really good job defending him."

Bothwell added, "J.P. was the player of the game tonight. ... That one three (Ash) made was on me. It wasn't on J.P. ... We didn't get the turnovers we're used to, but they only had 10 assists so we forced more one-on-one plays and tougher shots."

Stephen Clark led Citadel (6-9, 1-2) with 18 points thanks in large part to personally drawing 10 fouls against Furman. He only logged 25 minutes though and fouled out with 6:47 left.

Furman will look to build that missing consistency when it goes back on the road Saturday. The Paladins will tip off at East Tennessee State at 4 p.m.

No bench, no boards equals no win for Furman

Garrett Hien matched a career-high with 20 points in Furman's 79-67
loss at Western Carolina Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman

CULLOWHEE, N.C. - After shooting 65.2 percent in the first half at Western Carolina Saturday, Furman shot 34.6 percent in the second half.

That wasn't the worst of its troubles.

The Paladins got essentially nothing from its bench all day. In the second half, they made just 3-of-8 free throws and were annihilated on the glass. All that added up to a 79-67 loss as Western snapped its 13-game losing streak in the series.

Furman had a 41-38 lead at halftime and an 11-8 edge in rebounding in the first half. In the second half, the Catamounts won the rebounding battle, 27-10, including nine offensive boards. After the Paladins got 39 points off the bench in the win over VMI two days earlier, Alex Williams' 2-of-4 free throw shooting accounted for all the bench points Saturday. Furman dropped to 0-4 in games in which it's been outrebounded this season.

"There's things you can point to, but at the end of the day, we didn't play with the right spirit. We had two times that we were up nine at different points in the game and we did not make the plays necessary to continue to push the margin," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "Instead, we got comfortable. We came off shooters. We came out of gaps. We didn't guard the ball.  They basically scrapped a lot of their offense and just start driving us.

"I still have a lot of belief in this team. We're just not consistent in our defensive intensity. We don't have enough guys that are taking responsibility collectively to demand that this is how we have to play on that end of the floor. Until we do that, you can't expect it."

Western opened Southern Conference play Thursday with a 72-47 home loss to UNC Greensboro. The Catamounts (8-7, 1-1) shot 20 percent (12-of-60) in that game, including 3-of-31 in the second half. On Saturday, Western shot 51.9 percent (28-of-54), including 10-of-22 (45.5 percent) from beyond the arc. In all eight of the Catamounts' wins this season, they've hit at least 10 threes. In all seven losses, they didn't reach double figures in made threes.

Furman once again got off to a slow start as it trailed 17-12 midway through the first half. The Paladins (10-5, 1-1) responded with a spurt of outstanding defense. Western had seven consecutive possessions that ended with: a shot clock violation, a putback dunk, a blocked shot and Furman rebound, a steal, a three-second call, another shot clock violation and a traveling call.

That helped the Paladins go on a 16-2 run capped by a Garrett Hien three that gave Furman a 28-19 lead with 6:18 left in the half. The Paladins never had another defensive effort that sniffed that one and - despite Furman making nearly two-thirds of its shots - Western whittled the lead down to three at the half.

"Once (6-foot-8 forward Tyzhaun) Claude got his second foul right about the four-minute mark going into halftime, they just start going dribble-drive. They kind of carried that into the second half and you know, it's no secret. It's our weak spot," Richey said. "We just made some mental errors tonight that we've got to do a better job of. We did not contain the ball. Our gaps weren't active. We weren't flowing aggressively. We allowed the rim and the paint to be exposed.

"It's disappointing because I thought we came off on one of our better defensive performances of the year (in an 85-62 win over VMI). Then we come out here and we do this."

Another three by Hien pushed Furman's lead to 50-41 with 16:06 left. Hien's blocked shot out of bounds on the other end led to the under-16 timeout and left the Catamounts with five on the shot clock. Coming out of that timeout, Western immediately nailed a three-pointer, then got a three-point play and another three-pointer. Just 80 seconds after the timeout, the game was tied at 50.

Mike Bothwell's layup with 10:24 left gave the Paladins a 57-55 lead, but that was their last lead of the day. Over the next seven-plus minutes, Furman went 1-of-8 from the floor and 1-of-3 from the foul line. Meanwhile, Western went on a 20-3 run over that stretch to take an insurmountable 75-60 lead with 3:17 left.

"We go back up nine (in the second half) and then we have a couple of breakdowns right in succession and before you know it, the game's tied," Richey said. "Give them credit. They played really well. They basically just went to five out offensive and just start dribble driving us. We just could not contain the ball. Our second layer defense was poor. Our ability to protect the basket was poor and they got 17 layups basically at the rim in the second half."

Claude, Western's leading scorer averaging 15.2 points and 8.4 rebounds a game entering Saturday, was held to seven points and five boards in just under 16 minutes of action. As Richey mentioned though, his foul trouble ironically became a detriment to Furman and allowed other Catamounts to rise up. Iowa State transfer Tre Jackson led Western with 17 points, while Winthrop transfer Russell Jones Jr. had 15 points and three steals. Vonterius Woolbright had 14 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, and Bernard Poole added 14 points and eight rebounds off the bench.

Hien matched his career-high of 20 points set earlier this season in the rout of South Carolina. Bothwell finished with 18 points, while Jalen Slawson had 16 points and seven rebounds. Furman will next host The Citadel at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

"We lost the second game on the road last year in the league. The team that won the league last year lost in Cullowhee as well. This doesn't kill all hope, but it makes the road harder," Richey said. "We've got to learn from it. We've got to figure out how to be more consistent."

Foster powers Paladins to win in SoCon opener

Marcus Foster had 23 points and eight rebounds in Furman's
85-62 win over VMI Thursday. Photo courtesy of Furman

Much like basketball teams do, many players go through the ebbs and flows of a season. Furman's Marcus Foster seems to have had an entire season's worth already and we haven't even turned the calendar to 2023 yet. The junior started the first four games this season, came off the bench for the next three, started the next four and has come off the bench for the last three.

In Thursday's Southern Conference opener, Foster showed that it really doesn't matter where you start as long as you do what it takes to reach your desired destination of a victory. Foster knocked down 7-of-12 three-pointers on his way to a career-high 23-point night as the Paladins rolled past VMI, 85-62. Foster also had eight rebounds, two assists, no turnovers and played the kind of defense that's been a staple for him since he arrived at Furman. That defensive effort resonated throughout the team.

"I thought that was our best on-ball defensive performance of the year and man, I'm thankful because we spent a lot of time on it since we got back from Christmas. I just thought we took more pride in keeping the ball in front. (VMI coach) Andrew (Wilson) has done a phenomenal job with that team. I don't know if it's referenced enough how much they lost. ... They've got four freshmen out there and (Sean) Conway," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "They've shot as many threes as anybody in the country. ... They average almost 30 three attempts a game and we held them to 17 attempts (five made) tonight. So we we're able to cut their volume down almost a third and did a great job on Conway.

"I told Marcus today, 'you're gonna you're gonna have a coming out party tonight and it's going to be because of how you prepared these last two days.' Not only did he make threes, but his defensive effort was incredible."

The Paladins (10-4, 1-0) got off to a rough start. By the first media timeout at the 15:56 mark, they were 0-for-4 from three, had two turnovers and trailed 6-3. Coming out of that timeout, Mike Bothwell - a career 82 percent foul shooter - missed a pair of free throws. But also coming out of that timeout, was Foster and Tyrese Hughey entering the game. That duo instantly sparked the offense.

Given Furman's start, the bitterly cold spell that Greenville endured since the last game prior to Christmas must have metaphorically froze the rim. Hughey was wise enough to fire up a three-pointer off the backboard to shake off all that ice as it fell through the net to tie the game at 6-6.

"No, I didn't," Hughey said with a smile when asked if he called "bank."

Hughey followed his three with a steal, but another turnover led to a VMI layup. Foster answered that score with a three. Then Hughey hit another three. Then Foster hit another three. Hughey's jumper in the paint gave Furman a 17-11 lead with 10:51 left in the half. Foster and Hughey accounted 14 of those 17 points.

Another Furman turnover helped the Keydets go on an 8-0 run to take a 19-17 lead with 7:31 left. That's when the Paladins really tightened up the defense and Foster just kept scoring. Foster's fourth three-pointer capped a 13-0 run. After VMI snapped that scoreless streak on a pair of free throws with 20 seconds left, Foster's fifth three-pointer as time expired gave Furman a 33-21 lead at the half.

While the Paladins defense wasn't quite as stingy in the second half, their offense picked up the pace to ensure the lopsided win. After taking that 12-point lead into the break, Furman never led by less than 12 the rest of the way.

"You guys know how much turnovers bother me and frustrate me. We didn't have a great first timeout because of them, but I give our guys credit," Richey said. "We had five to start the game and only had five the rest of the game."

Eight of those 10 turnovers came in the first half. One of those two after halftime came just nine seconds into the second half on an offensive foul. After having assists on all 11 made field goals in the first half, Furman had assists on 14 of 19 makes in the second half for its second consecutive game with at least 25 assists.

Foster's career night for points and threes came after scoring 17 against Anderson in the last game before the Christmas break. He had just 21 points combined in the four games before that. Despite coming off the bench, he played more than any other Paladin Thursday, logging 35 minutes and one second.

"It was fun being out there. It was crazy because I came in and didn't come back out until the very end. I was just appreciative to be out there and for coach to have that trust in me," Foster said. "That (Anderson) game was huge for my confidence coming back into conference play. ... Luckily for me, I was able to get hot tonight and just kept firing it up there and kept making shots."

Perhaps in a sign of the difference between a redshirt junior and a true sophomore, while Foster's defense helped him stay on the court, Hughey's did not. But as soon as Hughey got back on the court in the second half, he stroked another three to give Furman its biggest lead at 27. Hughey finished with 13 points and four rebounds in his 10:16 off the bench.

"Tyrese's ceiling is so high, you can just see it. I get frustrated because there's missed assignments out there that don't get picked up so easily, but his heart is so good and he cares so much," Richey said. "Tyrese was in here yesterday morning early. We've had to give Tyrese a morning time limit. Our strength coaches have had to tell him, 'you can't come in here until this time.' So what's happening is he's got a ton of confidence in it because he's put the work in. He had a few missed assignments ... but he's just going to keep getting better."

In Thursday's opening half, Furman leading scorers Bothwell and Jalen Slawson and VMI leading scorer Conway combined for two points. Slawson was 1-of-6 from the floor, Conway was 0-of-6 and Bothwell didn't attempt a shot. Conway finished with eight points on 2-of-9 shooting and 10 rebounds for the Keydets (5-9, 0-1).

Bothwell ended up with 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting and three steals, while Slawson may have had a triple-double if the game had been closer. He finished with seven points, nine rebounds, eight assists and three blocked shots in less than 30 minutes of playing time. J.P. Pegues had 15 points, six rebounds and no turnovers also for the Paladins.

"Mike had no shots at halftime, but I couldn't tell. He just had a competitor, strong face. ... He's been on the other side of this too. His sophomore year at Chattanooga, they decided to stay out on the other all-conference players and he goes for 26 (points). The open guy is the go-to guy. That's just how we operate," Richey said. "At the end of the day, for him to play a half with no shots is completely on me. We did a better job of getting him shots in the second half.

"Mike's leadership has been consistent all year. It's the best he's ever led. ... This is a bold comment from all the great players that we've had here, but he's rivaled anybody that I've coached in terms of leadership qualities that he's presented our team with this year."

Furman will next play at Western Carolina Saturday at 4 p.m.

Paladins' defense a concern entering SoCon play

Furman coach Bob Richey, right, shakes hands with Anderson coach Jimmie Williams. Williams
was an assistant on Richey's staff for the previous four seasons. Photo courtesy of Furman

Two days after a thrilling last-second win over Stephen F. Austin, Furman came out a little sluggish against Division II Anderson on Dec. 19. A 60-point second half helped the Paladins take command and go on to a 106-79 win. In the final game of the non-conference schedule, five Furman players scored in double figures.

The Paladins (9-4) put up a season-high total of 29 assists on its 35 made field goals in Jimmie Williams' return to Timmons Arena. Williams is in his first season as head coach of the Trojans after working as an assistant to Furman head coach Bob Richey for the past four seasons.

While all those offensive numbers were great, offense hasn't been the concern during non-conference play. Defense has been a lingering issue and that didn't change against the Trojans.

"I'm sure that was fun to watch. You got to see a lot of offense and not much defense, until the second half. ... I wish we would've guarded better in the first half," Richey said in the postgame press conference. "I get that you can come up with all the reasons: It's an emotional, quick turnaround. Everybody's ready to go home. It's the last one before the break, but we have to be better. That's just the bottom line.

"I'm really proud of Jimmie. Turning a program around is a hard deal. I've been a part of it a couple times and it takes time. ... From the situation he took over to right now, you can see they've made some fast progress. Our system is not easy to teach. It's not easy to learn, but they're in a much better rhythm than I anticipated at this point. And he's got some guys that really have bought into it."

Williams' squad came out unintimidated and fighting. Anderson rallied from an early 12-6 deficit to take a 19-14 lead midway through the first half. Marcus Foster hit a three-pointer to ignite a 10-0 run as Furman regained the lead for good.

"They beat us down the court. They beat us off the bounce. They beat us on the backboards," Richey said. "We threw some balls in, but we just didn't come out with the right intensity."

After taking a 10-point lead into halftime, the Paladins (9-4) quickly took command in the second half thanks in large part to Garrett Hien and Ben VanderWal.

On the opening possession of the second half, Jalen Slawson hit a jumper off an assist from Hien. Then Hien had a block, hit 1-of-2 free throws and drained a three-pointer. VanderWal then scored five points in 11 seconds thanks to a three-point play followed by a steal and dunk. Hien followed with a layup on Furman's next possession to stretch the lead to 59-40 just 2:18 into the second half.

"I wasn't really enjoying the processing of this game knowing that (Williams) and I were going to be competing against each other with the friendship that we have. As I got out there and just watched him coaching and watching his guys competing. To be honest with you, watching them play harder than us in the first half, I was just really proud," Richey said. "As frustrated as I was with our group at halftime to see what he's doing there, that's pretty neat.

"To our guys credit, with a little bit of an urgent halftime, they responded well, I thought that four minutes right out of halftime was our best four minutes of the game. We were able to push the game open and score 60 points because we played better defense."

Furman never led by less than 12 the rest of the way as it shot 58.8 percent from the floor in the second half, including 9-of-20 threes.

Foster, who had gone four games without reaching double figures in scoring after doing so in six of the first eight games, had 17 points and six rebounds off the bench.

"Marcus has been doing a really good job doing what we need from him, whether that's starting the game or coming off the bench," said J.P. Pegues, who had a team-high 20 points, six assists, two steals and one turnover. "To have somebody like Marcus who can come off the bench and give us that spark is great. ... The energy on the defensive end is leading to everything for him offensively, where he can just go out and play free."

Slawson had 18 points, six rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks. Hien finished with 14 points, five rebounds and three assists in 18 minutes. while VanderWal had 13 points and three steals. Tyrese Hughey had a team-high seven rebounds in 15 minutes off the bench.

Coming off one of the best performances in Furman basketball history when he scored 36 points on 12-of-14 shooting, including the game-winning bucket in the final second against Stephen F. Austin, Mike Bothwell made every field goal he attempted against Anderson.

All both of them.

Two days after Bothwell's career-high scoring night, he went from scorer to distributor. He had a career-high eight assists, along with nine points, five rebounds and no turnovers.

"We had 1.4 (points per possession) on offense, which is incredible, but a 1.03 on defense just isn't where it needs to be. It's something that I've got to take some time over the break and figure it out," Richey said. "I've got to figure out what's scheme, what's technique, what's execution, what's effort and what's attitude.

"Our offense is humming along pretty well ... but we're still a work in progress defensively. We let the game be in transition 42 percent of the time tonight, which is just not good enough."

With the Christmas break behind them, the Paladins turn their focus to the "second season." Furman opens Southern Conference play Thursday when it hosts VMI at 7 p.m. The Paladins will have a quick turnaround to play at Western Carolina Saturday at 4 p.m. After the new year begins, Furman will be on a Wednesday and Saturday/Sunday game schedule for league play the rest of the way.

All's well that ends well for Bothwell at The Well

Mike Bothwell scored a career-high 36 points and hit the game-winning shot
in Furman's 72-70 win over Stephen F. Austin. Photo courtesy of Furman

The Furman basketball team gave its fans about every emotion imaginable in its first game of the season at its downtown home, the Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Saturday at the Greenville Winter Invitational. At halftime, the game appeared to be a laugher. With a couple of minutes left, it appeared to be a killer. At the end, Mike Bothwell made it just another thriller.

As he so often has in his career, Bothwell drained a game-winning shot in the final second to lift Furman to a 72-70 win over Stephen F. Austin. Just like he did on the same court three years ago against Wofford. Just like he did the last time Furman played a team from Texas that same season against UT-Arlington.

"We call this (arena) The Well, but I'm going to petition to rename it 'The Bothwell.' What an incredible shot," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "Everybody on our sideline and their sideline knew where the ball was going and he still made the play.

"We tried to run the double away to tie up some help and none of those guys bit on that thing. Both of them ran right to him and he turned around and he made it like a winner. That's what he is." 

Don't let another clutch shot by Bothwell distract that his entire game Saturday was one of the best performances by anyone to ever wear the purple and white. And don't let either of those distract that Saturday's game was one of the most gut-churning, ripsnorters ever.

That last-second jumper capped a career-high scoring day as Bothwell poured in 36 points, 21 of which came in Furman's 28-point second half. He made 12-of-14 field goals, 11-of-11 free throws, drew eight fouls and had three assists.

"Bothwell's such a great player. ... To get 36 (points) on 14 shots, I mean, you should be playing in another league versus playing against us today," Stephen F. Austin coach Kyle Keller said. "He should send this tape to every NBA scout and agent around the country. We made him a lot of money tonight."

Bothwell became the first Division I player to score 35 or more points on 85 percent shooting from the field and a 10-of-10 or better night at the foul line in a decade. Bothwell is the first Paladin to score 36 in a game since Jordan Lyons had 40 at VMI on New Year's Day of 2020.

While both coaches talked up Bothwell in the postgame press conference, what he talked about shows why he is a winner. Bothwell didn't speak a lot about having another game-tying or winning shot fall, or about his career-best scoring day. Instead, he reflected on the anniversary of his career-worst day.

"A year ago today, we played at Mississippi State and I had zero points. I got off that plane ride feeling really down about myself," Bothwell said. "All the things I've been through since that moment with Coach Richey, Slaw and all my teammates; they never stopped believing in me.

"A year later to come out and be able to have a game like this, I just can't thank everyone that's helped me do this enough. I wouldn't be here without my teammates."

It didn't appear that any of those heroics would be necessary after Furman put on its best 20 minutes of the season in Saturday's opening half. The Paladins (8-4) trailed 5-3 after the Lumberjacks' A.J. Cajuste hit a three-pointer at the 17:15 mark. That was SFA's second made field goal of the game. Its third came eight minutes and two seconds later. It's fourth came at the 5:49 mark.

Over that stretch of 11 minutes and 25 seconds between the second and fourth made shot, the Lumberjacks were 1-of-20 from the floor. Furman turned that 5-3 deficit into a 29-10 lead during that stretch. By the end of the half, the Paladins had a 44-22 lead and SFA had no timeouts left. Seven seconds into the second half, Ben VanderWal dunked to give Furman its biggest lead at 24 points.

Then everything changed.

The team with the huge lead suddenly got called for fouls left and right. SFA was in the bonus less than five minutes into the second half. Along with the seven fouls, Furman also committed five turnovers in that time span. Meanwhile, the Lumberjacks - who shot 26.5 percent in the first half - suddenly couldn't miss and had that 24-point lead sliced to 46-40 at the 15:04 mark.

"We knew how hard this game was going to be just by watching them through the years and seeing the dominance they've had at this level. ... We knew they were going to come out after halftime and make a run. I didn't expect it to be that fast," Richey said. "The story is going to be you know, they came back and we made a shot. But the margin that we'd built, we needed every single bit of it."

It appeared that Furman had things back in order on Bothwell's bucket that pushed the lead to 53-43 with 12:47 left. He was 10-of-12 at that point, but then SFA really ramped up the defense on him. While Bothwell was drawing fouls and knocking down free throws, his next field goal attempt didn't come until there were only 27 seconds left. By then the Lumberjacks had taken a 69-68 lead. 

That shot with 27 seconds left will forever be overshadowed by his game-winner, but this one was even tougher. Bothwell dribbled to the middle of the paint, twisted back to his right and shot a fadeaway that bounced off the front rim and through as Furman reclaimed the lead.

Then things went to a whole other level of unbelievable. A bounce pass in traffic on the other end landed between the knees of a Lumberjack and Bothwell snatched the ball away as he was falling to the ground. An official blew the whistle and ruled that a Paladin called timeout although it appeared none was called. With Furman out of timeouts, a class B technical foul was assessed. Class B means one shot for the non-offending team, but the Paladins got possession after it.

So with 9.6 seconds left, SFA's Latrell Jossell calmly drained the game-tying free throw. That the Kansas transfer's 21st point of the game, all of which came in the second half.

"To be honest with you, I'd almost had rather them not called it so we could've fouled and maybe got the ball back," Keller said. "It was a really awkward situation."

Bothwell took the inbounds pass and the ball never left his hands until the shot. He dribbled up the middle of the court then to the left, where he paused at the arc. That little pause cause the defender to pause as well and then Bothwell drove hard to the baseline before he pulled up and shot a rainbow fadeaway that hit nothing but net.

"I live for that moment. ... Nothing excites me more than a game-deciding shot so I always want the ball in my hands in moments like that," Bothwell said. "I'm just glad I was able to make the play for us tonight."

After that dunk by VanderWal seven seconds into the second half, the only other Paladin to score besides Bothwell was Slawson. His two second-half buckets were big ones as he had a putback and a three-pointer during the middle of that stretch where Bothwell didn't have a shot.

While things got hairy in the second half, Furman's defense had one of its better nights. Even though SFA shot 62.5 percent after halftime, it shot 41.4 percent for the game. Perhaps the most impressive stat from the Paladins' defense was the fact that the Lumberjacks scored only six second-chance points despite grabbing 14 offensive rebounds.

Furman's offense overcame 19 turnovers by shooting 52.2 percent from the floor and 85.7 percent (18-of-21) from the foul line. Slawson finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds, two blocked shots, two steals and no turnovers. J.P. Pegues had a career-high eight assists and four rebounds, and also was able to complete the game after picking up his fourth foul with more than eight minutes remaining.

The Paladins return to action Monday night when they host Division II Anderson at 7 p.m. The Trojans are coached by former Furman assistant Jimmie Williams.