A Star is Born: Pegues shines in crunch time

Furman's 6-foot-1 point guard J.P. Pegues lobs a shot over Chattanooga 7-foot standout Jake Stephens at
the Southern Conference Tournament championship Monday in Asheville, N.C. Photo courtesy of Furman

When asked about being left off this season's All-Southern Conference basketball teams, Furman's J.P. Pegues took the high road all weekend at the Southern Conference Tournament in Asheville, N.C. When asked about it by his coach after the teams were announced last week, he did the same - with one little addendum.

"We kind of smile about that stuff. ... After we saw the all-conference teams, I asked J.P., 'you doing okay?' He said, 'yeah, I'm just fine. I've been looked over my whole life. I'm used to it.' " Furman coach Bob Richey recalled during Monday's championship postgame press conference. "When he said that I thought, 'he's about to play some ball in Asheville,' and boy did he."

He did to the tune of being named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Pegues is just the third player over the past 20 years to earn Tournament MOP after not making an all-SoCon team, joining ETSU's Isaiah Tisdale in 2020 and Chattanooga's Greg Pryor in 2016.

While the all-SoCon snub probably provided some subconscious motivation for Pegues, last weekend in Asheville was simply more of the natural progression that he's displayed all season. The sophomore offered hints to what kind of force he could be offensively last season.

Pegues made his Paladin debut in the 2021-22 season opener against North Greenville. He came off the bench to put up 10 points, five assists and four rebounds. Pegues reached double figures four other times as a freshman, including an 18-point performance after knocking down six three-pointers against Western Carolina. 

"I don't think he was on the (SoCon) All-Rookie team last year either. We keep a few receipts around here," Richey said with a grin. "We've had our share of disrespect, but our guys just keep pushing."

This season brought the challenge of a new position for Pegues. It wasn't 100 percent clear early on who would fill the shoes of the great Alex Hunter at point guard. In his first two games at the new position, Pegues had a combined total of two points and six turnovers against North Greenville and Belmont. But Richey kept Pegues in the lineup for every game this season as if he had a crystal ball for what was to come.

"Early on, he's got to go against Penn State, Old Dominion, South Carolina, Belmont. He had to go on the road to App State. As a coach, I had to stand by him and tell him how much I believe in him," Richey said. "I had to make sure that he knew, 'we're going to put the ball in your hands and let you go.' "

A sign of what was to come later this season came in the fourth game against Old Dominion in Charleston. While the Paladins' frantic comeback attempt from a 19-point deficit came up five points short, Pegues had 20 points, five assists and one turnover.

Still, the consistent scoring production didn't come for awhile. In the first 18 games this season, Pegues scored in double figures just five times. But as SoCon play began, Pegues' defense really became a huge part of Furman's success. Over Furman's first five SoCon games, opposing team's leading scorers combined for 28 points on 7-of-42 shooting. The primary defender on those players was Pegues.

That defensive effort eventually translated into more offense for Pegues. In the last 16 games, he reached double figures 15 times. The only one in that stretch where he didn't get to 10 points, Furman didn't need any more scoring. He had seven points, nine rebounds and seven assists in the Paladins' 93-59 win over Western Carolina on Feb. 11.

Furman coach Bob Richey, left, and J.P. Pegues celebrate the Paladins' SoCon Tournament championship
win Monday. Pegues was the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Photo courtesy of Furman

SoCon Player of the Year Jalen Slawson told everyone about his point guard after Furman's thrilling overtime home win against Samford. In a matchup against Bulldogs' stud Ques Glover, Pegues had 15 points, seven assists, four rebounds and one turnover.

"I'll go on record and say that before this dude (Pegues) is out of here, he will be player of the year in this league," Slawson said in that postgame press conference on Jan. 25. "He's a tough matchup on both sides of the ball. ... There's not a point guard in the SoCon I'm taking over him.

"He's really good and he's just now scratching the surface of how good he's going to be."

Even Slawson might not have imagined how prophetic his words turned out to be just one month later. While Mike Bothwell scored Furman's first 18 points of the rematch at Samford on Feb. 25, Pegues took over when a third foul sent Bothwell to the bench for the final eight minutes of the first half. Pegues finished with 20 points to help the Paladins win, clinching the SoCon regular season championship and top seed for the tournament.

As great as he closed out the regular season, Pegues took his game to another level in Asheville. In Furman's three wins, Pegues had a combined 63 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists and just one turnover. Pegues has at least 17 points in each of his last five games. In the Paladins' first 29 games this season, Pegues had at least 17 points just four times.

That one turnover in Asheville came midway through the first half of Saturday's quarterfinal win over Mercer. Ball security, much like it was for Hunter before him, has been a big part of Pegues' success in league play. He led the SoCon in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.7). After 32 turnovers in 13 non-conference games, Pegues has just 29 in the 21 games since conference play began.

"It's been a journey for me. It's just something that I've molded into. I've had a routine and a process that I follow," Pegues said in Monday's postgame press conference. "My coaches, my family and my teammates always believed in me from day one. Even on my worst days, there wasn't any question about who I could be. That's because they've seen different sparks on who I can be on the court as a point guard and as a leader.

"For it to all come together today, I'm really happy about that."

It wasn't just the stats that earned most outstanding player of the tournament for Pegues. It was the situations. Against Mercer, Pegues opened the second-half scoring with a five-second sprint from one end of the court to the other for a layup while drawing a foul. He completed the three-point play, which  allowed the Paladins to set up the full court press. Furman's defense off that press the rest of the way helped it rally to win after trailing at the half for the first time this season.

In the semifinal win over Western Carolina, Pegues drew a late foul on a three and hit the game-winning free throws late in overtime. Just a few minutes later, Pegues was late to the postgame press conference because he could barely walk due to cramps. Richey revealed that night that Pegues had been unable to practice for the last two weeks due to injuries. He received fluids for two hours that night.

In Monday's championship, Chattanooga had whittled a 19-point Furman lead down to three late in the half after a four-point play by Jake Stephens. As the final seconds of the half ticked away, Pegues took it straight to the hole against Stephens. He twisted and turned before lobbing a successful one-handed shot over the seven-footer as the clock expired to push some momentum back to the Paladins going into halftime.

"He's the first point guard I've had who called his own play tonight. Right before halftime, he didn't even look at me," Richey said with a laugh. "He just called it up. And he scored, so I'm gonna let him call a lot of plays the next two years."

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Mission accomplished: Paladins win SoCon title

Furman players celebrate their 88-79 win over Chattanooga in the Southern Conference
Tournament championship game Monday. (Paul Lollis/Southern Conference)

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - It's over.

The massive level of gloom imposed by 25 losing seasons from 1981-2015.

The disappointing end to shocking runs to the Southern Conference championship game in 2002 and 2015.

The sting of going one-and-done as upset victims at the SoCon Tournament in 2017, 2020 and 2021.

The heartbreak to top all heartbreaks at the 2022 SoCon championship game.

The gut punch at The Citadel three weeks ago that had some aftershocks for a couple of games before a glorious SoCon regular season championship win at Samford.

The knots in your stomach that developed in the first half Saturday against Mercer, came back in the second half Sunday against Western Carolina, and never really went away until about 9:10 p.m. Monday.

The pressure of being the SoCon favorites this season, avenging last year's heartbreak, and wanting to win so badly for two historic graduate seniors who could've moved on to play for any team in the country, but chose to come back.

After 43 years of hopelessness and heartbreak, it's over.

A Furman basketball team that Coach Bob Richey has implored to find joy in everything they do this season, found a whole new level of joy Monday night. The Paladins defeated Chattanooga 88-79 in the SoCon Tournament championship to earn the league's autobid to the NCAA Tournament. Monday's win came 43 years to the day of Furman's last NCAA appearance, when it fell to Tennessee in Jonathan "Stitch" Moore's final game as a Paladin on March 6, 1980.

In their final game against SoCon competition, Jalen Slawson and Mike Bothwell did what they've done so brilliantly in their Paladin careers. Slawson had 20 points, five rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block, while Bothwell scored all 16 of his points in the second half. Meanwhile, Furman's version of "A Star is Born" continued to receive rave reviews in Asheville. J.P. Pegues, who could barely walk after playing more than 41 minutes in Sunday's overtime win, had 17 points, six rebounds, four assists and no turnovers Monday on his way to earning SoCon Tournament MVP honors. 

"There's a lot you can say about tonight. There's a lot you can say about the last year of our lives. But it's just unbelievable to see the joy in our players. I told my staff this morning that I wanted to see this so bad for Mike and Slaw. And this guy to my left (Pegues), two hours of getting fluids last night and just played like an absolute warrior tonight," Richey said in the postgame press conference. "I sat up here a year ago and told y'all that we would be back. ... Glory to God for allowing me to be the leader of all this, but this is just an unbelievable group of people. This isn't a person. This isn't a player. It's a program.

"All (Chattanooga's winning shot last year) did was motivate us to come together and it's an unbelievable story right now because sports are so transitional. ... We're always looking for the next thing and if there's pain, we flee. If it's not how we want it, we run. But we're missing out on a life lesson ... like being a part of something that's bigger than yourself. You can ask these guys (Bothwell and Slawson) what they got to stay here. It wasn't anything. They wanted to be here. They wanted to have an opportunity to come out here and learn through this. These two over here could have gone anywhere, but they would've missed out. ... That connection is what our program is built on and tonight was just an opportunity for us to go display that."

Slawson said it wasn't only the players that learned and got better through the pain of how last season ended. He credited the work ethic of the coaching staff, spearheaded by its leader.

"He (Richey) always brags on us about how much better we're getting and you guys get to see our growth, but you don't really get to see how much he's grown," Slawson said with a cut-down net around his neck and the championship trophy in his arms. "He's worked his tail off since the (Chattanooga) shot went in last year. We knew he had a different energy about him in that first practice we had last summer. He told us, 'I'm not relenting on y'all, but y'all are going to thank me when we get to Asheville' and by God, I thank him right now."

After opening this year's tournament by winning for the first time this season when trailing at halftime and then having to rally after a 20-point lead evaporated the next day, Furman (27-7) saved its best performance of the weekend for last. Chattanooga (18-17) led for all of 47 seconds Monday. After sophomore Alex Williams scored his first points of the tournament on a three-pointer with 16:11 left in the first half, the Paladins had a lead they never relinquished.

Williams' three ignited an 18-0 run by Furman over the next 4:54. A Mocs' team that had shot over 50 percent in each of its three tournament wins to reach Monday's final missed nine consecutive shots before Dalvin White's jumper in the paint cut the lead to 23-9 with 9:35 left in the half. Unlike what happened against Mercer in Furman's quarterfinal win, Chattanooga didn't get any offensive rebounds of those nine misses. For the game, the Mocs only had five offensive boards and six points off those.

A layup by Williams gave Furman its biggest lead of the night at 30-11 with 7:26 left. Outside of freshman Ben VanderWal's 11-point showing against Mercer, the Paladins' bench had only five other points over the first two tournament games. But on Monday, reserves accounted for half of those first 30 points as Williams had 10, sophomore transfer Carter Whitt hit a three and VanderWal had two.

"We came into the year with high expectation and none higher than our own. But we knew we had some guys that had to grow up. ... It's about the collective (team) and I just think that's what grew this year," Richey said. "We've had some tough losses up here. ... I tell you what, I wouldn't change a thing about it because you can see progression every single year. I couldn't be more proud of these guys sitting by me and everybody in that locker room."

After blowing that 20-point lead against Western Carolina, perhaps 19 was a luckier number for Furman Monday. Chattanooga went on a similar run, but never pulled even. It wasn't like that run wasn't expected. Much like Bothwell and Slawson, the Mocs' center Jake Stephens was also a fifth-year graduate who could've gone anywhere after last season. Stephens chose to follow his coach Dan Earl from VMI to Chattanooga to try for that SoCon title and NCAA bid one more time.

Stephens, who broke his hand against Furman on Jan. 18 and missed the remainder of the regular season, made a dramatic return to the lineup with a heavily taped up hand in Asheville. He played like a guy who was named SoCon Player of the Week six times this season all weekend. His three-pointer with 2:37 left in the first half Monday capped an 18-2 run that cut Furman's lead to 32-29.

Pegues answered Stephens' three with a layup. With 51 seconds left in the half, Stephens turned in a four-point play to again cut the lead down to three. If any one play sealed Pegues' MVP, it might've been yet another answer. Pegues took it to the hole against Stephens, spun around and away from him and flipped up a one-handed shot over the 7-footer as his body hit the ground. The shot splashed through the net as the horn sounded and Furman took a 38-33 lead into halftime.

"I've learned - and the results have been better - when I've played harder for others. Knowing it's these two guys' (Bothwell and Slawson) last year and seeing them give everything they have inspired me and inspired the team," Pegues said. "At the end of the day, we just wanted to do good for them because we knew they came back with the same goal as us. We just came in and worked day in and day out together. They led us through the whole journey and I'm super proud of them."

Bothwell and fellow starter Garrett Hien were scoreless in the first half, but that changed quickly in the second. After Chattanooga got as close as it ever did at 39-38, Hien answered with a three-pointer. After the Mocs' next score, Hien answered with a steal and a dunk off an assist from Pegues. Bothwell got in the scoring column with a three-point play on Furman's next possession.

The Paladins pushed the lead to 10 three times over the next 10 minutes and led 69-57 on Pegues' layup with 7:25 left. Chattanooga kept hanging around though. A blocked shot by Stephens led to a layup by Chattanooga sixth-year senior A.J. Caldwell, who played the game of his life, slicing Furman's lead to 69-65 with 5:02 left.

Slawson answered on the Paladins' next possession when he drew a foul and hit both free throws. That was essentially the difference between Sunday and Monday. On Sunday, Furman missed 16 of 46 free throws, which allowed the Catamounts to come all the way back. On Monday, the Paladins made 24-of-30 free throws (80 percent) including 20-of-23 in the second half.

Marcus Foster, who scored only one point Sunday, drilled a three-pointer in the left corner with 2:51 left Monday to push the lead back to 10. That shot probably took the nervous level of the Furman fan section down from a 10 to about an 8. With just under two minutes to go Pegues found Slawson for a dunk and after a pair of misses on the other end, Foster provided the dagger. This time in the right corner, his three pushed the lead to 81-69 with 1:19 left and those Furman fans could finally breathe amongst all their hollering.

"When Marcus Foster hit those two threes, oh my goodness," Bothwell said. "That's what it's all about - a team victory. ... It was a perfect Furman game."

Bothwell, who made 12-of-13 free throws and drew nine fouls, scored Furman's final seven points to wrap things up. The Paladins' final field goal of the game could not have been more perfect. With Chattanooga in a full-court press trying for a steal, Slawson received a pass at midcourt and immediately fired a pass across the court to Bothwell streaking to the basket for a dunk.

That was it. The drought was over.

"We lose two of the first six in the league and people want to count us out. We noticed, but internally they kept believing. They won 14 of their last 15 and won the regular season (championship) on the road. They wanted to come up here and eliminate all doubt and they did," Richey said. "I just want to reiterate how much I love them, every single person in our program. This is a program night. This is a Furman University night. I wasn't born in 1980, but I don't have to hear that mess again and I thank God for that."

In addition to the big three's output, Williams finished with 12 points, six rebounds and no turnovers for Furman. Foster had eight points and a team-high nine rebounds.

Stephens had a game-high 25 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and drew 10 fouls to lead Chattanooga, which shot 45.8 percent from the floor. Jamal Johnson added 17 points, while Caldwell finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.

Furman will have to wait until Sunday to find who it will face and where it will play next, but after 43 years what's a few more days? The Paladins will hold an NCAA Selection Show watch party at Timmons Arena that's free for fans to attend. Doors open at 5 p.m. and the show begins at 6 p.m.

Paladins find a way to reach SoCon title game

Mike Bothwell had 26 points to lead Furman to an 83-80 overtime win over Western
Carolina in the SoCon Tournament semifinals Sunday. Photo courtesy of Furman

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Survive and advance indeed.

Furman took an 18-point lead over Western Carolina with less than 14 minutes to play in its semifinal matchup at the Southern Conference Tournament Sunday. Twelve minutes later, that lead was gone. Just when it looked like the Paladins' NCAA hopes were choked away, Mike Bothwell and J.P. Pegues teamed up for a Heimlich maneuver.

On a day when Furman missed entirely too many free throws, Bothwell hit two to force overtime, Pegues hit two to give the Paladins the lead, and Bothwell hit two to seal an 83-80 win. After breaking the school record for wins in a season, Furman (26-7) advances to play in Monday's championship game at 7 p.m. on ESPN. The Paladins will play seventh-seeded Chattanooga (18-16), who advanced with a 74-62 over sixth-seeded Wofford.

"Wow, what a college basketball game. A lot of credit to Western Carolina. ... To be down 19 in the second half and fight back, you have to tip your hat to them. It was an unbelievable game that you hate to see somebody lose, but this team is callused. They know hard and they know tough. They've been through it," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "Tonight, when it felt like things were slipping away a little bit, they made all the critical plays they had to. The storyline is going to be that we couldn't make a free throw and there's some truth to that. But when the free throws had to be made, they made them.

"Twenty-six wins in a season has never been done in Furman history. They got to do that tonight and they get to go play for a championship tomorrow night. We said last year that we'd be back. Because of their will and their guts late down the stretch, we've got that opportunity tomorrow night. We can't wait to be a part of it."

In the regular season, the Paladins blew nine-point leads in each half in its 12-point loss at Western on New Year's Even then blew out the Catamounts in Greenville on Feb. 11. On Sunday, both of those games seemingly combined into one.

Furman went on a 20-8 run over a five-minute stretch late in the first half to take a 15-point lead into halftime. That lead grew to 20 in the second half and was 58-40 on Pegues' layup with 13:51 left. But it could've been more. At that point, the Paladins were 14-of-24 from the foul line. Even with a sizeable lead, it had to creep into some thoughts that all those missed free throws could come back to haunt them.

It's not like the Paladins were shooting any better from anywhere else after halftime. Furman made just 7-of-24 field goals in the second half and were 0-for-11 on three-pointers.

Much like Furman's last trip to North Carolina to face the Catamounts, Western (18-15) made plenty of layups and dunks to shrink the advantage. It did so while the Paladins seemingly made 1-of-2 free throws over and over on the other end. The Catamounts used that 2-for-1 trade to come all the way back.

Furman was still up by five before Western's All-SoCon do-it-all man Vonterius Woolbright made a jumper and drew Jalen Slawson's fifth foul with 2:02 left in regulation. Slawson had picked up his fourth foul with 4:37 left on an incredibly delicate charge call. Woolbright made the free throw to cut the lead to 70-68.

With the SoCon Player of the Year on the bench on Furman's next possession, the Paladins looked lost. As the shot clock ticked down, Pegues threw up a wild shot off the backboard and he hit the floor. With Pegues on the ground, the Catamounts had a 5-on-4 advantage and All-SoCon guard Tre Jackson easily drove to the hole for a layup to tie the game with 1:25 left.

"We were a little bit discombobulated offensively. Part of it was not being able to get play calls in because they couldn't hear me. ... We will have to tighten that up," Richey said. "I knew there was going to be a lot of people in here today and when they started going on their run, you could tell there were a ton.

"It got really, really loud and they were playing with a lot of momentum. I'm just proud of our guys when they had to stand up. ... It was similar to the Samford game at home, where we just had to find a way."

After a timeout, Furman still looked lost on offense and committed a shot clock violation. In this crazy game, that was the Paladins' third and final turnover of the game. The other two came on weak charge calls. Furman's care of the ball didn't matter much when Woolbright scored to give Western a 72-70 lead with 38 seconds left. 

When they needed it most, the Paladins finally had someone rise up as Bothwell drove to the basket and drew a foul with 26 seconds left. Bothwell, an 84.2 percent foul shooter who had missed five free throws at that point, calmly sank both free throws to tie the game 72-72. With Marcus Foster smothering Woolbright denying him the ball, Furman held its breath as Western's Russell Jones missed everything on a jumper as time expired to send the game to overtime.

Jackson opened overtime by nailing a three for Western. With 1:49 left, Bothwell hit Furman's lone three after halftime and lone field goal in overtime to tie the game at 77. Western answered 19 seconds later on a dunk by All-SoCon big man Tyzhaun Claude.

On Furman's ensuing possession, Bothwell drew Claude's fifth foul on a three. He made 2-of-3 free throws to tie it up again. The Paladins trailed by one with 28 seconds left when Pegues was fouled on a three. He made 2-of-3 to give Furman an 81-80 lead.

"Over the course of the game, I got hot and they started bringing a big man out. ... I knew (Bernard) Pelote was close to me, so I threw a pump fake and he jumped in the air," Pegues said. "As soon as he jumped, I knew I had a foul if I sold it."

Jackson's jumper on the other end missed. Foster grabbed the rebound and got it to Bothwell, who was fouled. Just as he did in the final seconds of regulation, Bothwell sank both to push the lead to 83-80 with eight seconds left. With Bothwell on Jackson's left, Foster on his right and Garrett Hien nearby, Western's sharp-shooter launched a three that hit off the backboard and bounced off the rim as time expired.

After the game, Pegues had trouble walking to the press conference and then had trouble getting out of his seat to leave. What Richey revealed makes Pegues' play this weekend and down the stretch of the regular season all the more inspiring.

"J.P. hasn't practiced in about two weeks. Justin Games, our trainer, (who's helped Pegues get ready to play) is one of the best in the country. J.P.'s dealing with some things that he just continues to fight through," Richey said. "He's competitive as they come. He's averaged 21 (points per game) over the last four and he's just gotten better (playing) all year."

Bothwell finished with 26 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals to lead Furman. Pegues had 24 points, five rebounds, two assists and a steal. Slawson put up 15 points, nine rebounds and two blocks, while Hien finished with 12 points, four rebounds and a block. Furman went 7-of-31 from three and 30-of-46 from the foul line.

Bothwell made 10-of-16 free throws, but connected on seven of his final eight over the last two-and-a-half minutes of regulation and overtime. He said the overtime period gave him a bit of chance to reset things that had gone wrong in the second half, especially at the foul line.

"I still didn't make every one of them after that, but there's a lot going on in your head in these games. ... You've just got to try to eliminate all those things, remember your technique and act like you're just shooting in practice," Bothwell said. "I think we learned from times earlier this year when we freaked out when things weren't going our way. ... You've just got to find a way to win, no matter what. Thankfully, today we did."

Woolbright tied a career-high with 30 points, and also had 11 rebounds and five assists to lead the Catamounts. Jackson scored 22, while Claude had 15 points and 11 rebounds also for Western.

Pegues, pressure propel Paladins past Mercer

J.P. Pegues had 22 points to lead Furman to a 73-58 win over Mercer at the Southern
Conference Tournament Saturday in Asheville, N.C. Photo courtesy of Furman

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - As the No. 1 seed in the Southern Conference Tournament for the first time since 1991, Furman found itself in an unfamiliar position playing the noon game of the quarterfinals at Harrah's Cherokee Center. After the opening 20 minutes Saturday, the Paladins were in another unfamiliar position as it trailed a SoCon opponent at the half for only the second time this season.

Furman coach Bob Richey knew something had to change in the second half and did it ever. The Paladins went to a rare full-court press and turned over - literally - eighth-seeded Mercer's upset bid. Furman forced 13 turnovers in the second half and All-SoCon snub J.P. Pegues scored a game-high 22 points as the Paladins won, 73-58.

Furman (25-7) advances to face fourth-seeded Western Carolina in Sunday's first semifinal at 4 p.m. The Catamounts (18-14) advanced with a 69-57 win over fifth-seeded ETSU Saturday.

With their 18th consecutive victory against Mercer, the Paladins tied the school record for wins in a season set in 2018-19 and 2019-20. Furman had been 0-5 when trailing at the half this season prior to Saturday.

"I thought (Mercer coach) Greg (Gary) really had his team ready to play and they had a great plan. They really tried to slow the tempo of the game down. ... We weren't moving the ball well. I think we only had three assists in the first half. They only had three turnovers and it was just clear to me that we had to change the tempo," Richey said. "We went to pressure, and man, our guys started flying around and kind of energized us. We built off that energy. I felt the ball start popping while we started attacking better. You could just see it.

"We say it all the time - when we're leading at the half, 'there's nothing more irrelevant than a halftime score.' Today, we kind of flipped that but it's the same thing. We had to go out there and understand that this thing can change, but we're going to have to do some things differently."

There were three keys to Furman trailing at the half Saturday. The Paladins missed half of their free throws (4-of-8), forced only three turnovers - two of which were shot clock violations, and allowed Mercer to grab 10 offensive rebounds in an opening half in which the Bears only shot 38.7 percent (12-of-31).

After Mercer pushed its lead to 34-29 a minute-and-a-half into the second half, Pegues had one of those "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take this anymore!" type of plays. Pegues took an inbounds pass under Mercer's basket and dribbled all the way to Furman's basket for a layup and drew the foul. Total time on that play was five seconds.

"I knew in the second half we had to come out and be aggressive," Pegues said. "On that play, I said to myself, ‘I’m going to go by this guy.’ I ended up seeing the lane and making the right play."

Pegues hit the free throw to cut the lead to two. More importantly, it allowed Furman to set up the press for the first time. Mercer's ball-handler was stuck underneath Furman's basket with 23 on the shot clock when the Bears called timeout. That 12-second span of Pegues' shot and the Paladins' defense set the tone for the rest of the game.

Coming out of the timeout, Mercer got the ball past midcourt but shortly thereafter, Jalen Slawson knocked it away. Slawson picked it up around midcourt and took it the rest of the way for a dunk. Furman never trailed again.

Another layup by Pegues with 16:45 left put the Paladins ahead for good. Pegues and Bothwell each hit threes to push the lead to 44-36 with 14:52 and Mercer called timeout as the Furman crowd was in a frenzy.

"We pressed a little bit earlier in the year and it got us back in some games. ... We had time to tighten up a few bolts if we were going to have a curveball and we spent time on the press the other day in practice," Richey said. "It was enough to allow us to got to it if needed. Then the crowd got into it and the whole energy changed."

Another Pegues' three two minutes later pushed the lead to 13 and forced another Mercer timeout. The timeouts did nothing to stem the tide. Coming out of the timeout, Mercer's next two possessions ended on a 10-second violation and a Slawson steal.

A pair of Ben VanderWal free throws with 8:01 left made it a 25-4 run over a stretch of 8:44 as Furman took an insurmountable 61-40 lead. That lead stretched to as large as 22 the rest of the way.

"At halftime, I just told the team that they were being tougher than us. They were setting the rules of engagement for the game and that's never good. ... We were doing a lot of uncharacteristic things that kind of showed we weren't mentally tough," Bothwell said. "We came out in the second half with the thought that the season's on the line and we've got to be tough. The press kind of gave us that edge. We started forcing turnovers, flying around and the toughness grew from that."

Along with his game-high 22 points, Pegues had four rebounds, a game-high four assists and one turnover. Bothwell had 13 points, while Slawson had 12 points, four rebounds, three steals and one magnificent block midway through the second half after yet another Mercer offensive rebound. That led to a Slawson layup on the other end.

VanderWal accounted for all 11 of Furman's bench points and he and fellow reserve Alex Williams led the team with six rebounds apiece. Marcus Foster finished with nine points and two steals also for the Paladins. Furman had 19 points off those 13 turnovers by the Bears in the second half.

After those 10 offensive rebounds in the first half, Mercer had six more in the second half but only scored four points off those. The Bears made 9-of-26 field goals (34.6 percent) in the second half and none of those came against Furman's full-court press. Five of those nine came in the final 4:14 when Furman had things well in hand.

"I had two all-conference guards here on my left. That helps. ... They were just warriors. ... I hope I didn't offend anybody there. I was going by my all-conference ballot. I'm sorry about that," Richey said with a smile. "This was the third team in four games that really tried to change the tempo of the game on us. In one of those, I really regretted not doing something to change the tempo.

"We said all year, we lost well as a team. ... You learn from it. ... We had to go out and change the tempo because we're best when we're fast. The defense allowed us to do that today."

Jalyn McCreary was the lone double-figure scorer for Mercer (14-19) with 18 points.

After SoCon's top honor, Slawson eyes league title

Furman's Jalen Slawson is the consensus Southern Conference
Player of the Year. Photo courtesy of Furman

When Furman's Jalen Slawson found out he was named the top player in the Southern Conference during a team meeting on Wednesday, he experienced a range of emotions. Slawson was the consensus Player of the Year in the league, finishing atop the voting by the SoCon's coaches and media.

Slawson was obviously happy that the work he's put in this season and in his career was recognized. But there was also a bittersweet feeling that he had for fellow fifth-year senior, Mike Bothwell, who he shares the school record for career wins with at 112. There's no doubt that Bothwell got plenty of Player of the Year votes as well, as he and Slawson each made both All-SoCon first teams.

"The whole team celebrated it, but I kind of had a hole in my gut. ... I wanted to be excited for myself, but I knew Mike was just as deserving of the award as I was," Slawson said. "I knew Mike was happy for me, but I thought about for a long time. I finally just shot him a text saying, 'as far as I'm concerned, this is our award. In my eyes, we will always be co-players of the year.'

"He told me he was excited for me and said, 'let's go win this thing.' "

Slawson's ultimate feeling was that earning the SoCon's top individual honor is a wonderful perk of a longer-term mission that culminates this weekend. Slawson and Bothwell will try to end Furman's 43-year NCAA Tournament drought when the top-seeded Paladins compete at the SoCon Tournament in Asheville.

"I definitely wouldn't be here without our staff and my teammates. ... It feels good and a lot of hard work was put into it, but awards aren't the ultimate goal in all this," Slawson said. "I didn't come into this season expecting to or trying to be SoCon Player of the Year. I came into it trying to win a championship and take the program back to the NCAA Tournament."

It's the second consecutive season that Slawson and Bothwell earned first team All-SoCon honors. Slawson, who also collected the SoCon Defensive Player of the Year award last year, once again filled up multiple stat columns this season.

The Summerville native averaged 15.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.6 blocked shots per game. In SoCon play, Slawson was even better. He averaged 16.2 points and 7.5 rebounds per game in league games to help Furman (24-7, 15-3) earn a share of the SoCon regular season title for the first time since 2017 and its first No. 1 seed for the conference tourney since 1991.

"I think he'd be the first to tell you that he grew the most this year out of any of the years he's been here. That's what has been neat about coaching him. He never carried an entitlement like 'hey, I decided to come back. I need to be able to do whatever I want,' " Furman coach Bob Richey said after Wednesday's honors were announced. "He had to go through a position change for our best and also for his long term development, moving him from the five to the four. He did that with the understanding that he's still going to have to be willing to play the five with the time calls. He never made it about him.

"I probably coached them harder this year than any year. There were some things that as a leader - that responsibility and weight - he had to accept and carry it. Since early January, you can see his composure is the best it's been. You can see the flip and see him channeling that energy in the right direction."

Even though Furman lost to UNC Greensboro, 86-80 in overtime Jan. 13, that seemed to be where Slawson really took his game to another level this season. He had 22 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots that day. The Paladins followed that loss by winning eight consecutive games and Slawson was named SoCon Player of the Month for January.

On Jan. 26, Slawson had 26 points and 11 rebounds in Furman's critical overtime win over Samford. In what was likely Slawson's final game at Timmons Arena on Feb. 22, he had 27 points and seven rebounds in a 70-67 win over Mercer.

"Honestly, I just started shooting the ball more (in January) and as a whole, our focus changed a little bit," Slawson said. "We started paying a lot more attention to our defense. As a team, we bought into the fact that defense was what was going to lead us to a championship. I'm at my best when I play in transition, so I have a give me teammates a lot of credit for that."

Slawson put up slightly better scoring numbers than last season (14.4 points per game), and did so with a much better shooting percentage. After making 48.4 percent of his shots last season, he's shooting 55.4 percent this year. Slawson hit 30.6 perfect of his three-pointers last year, but is shooting 38.2 percent from beyond the arc this season.

Slawson is the first Paladin to win SoCon Player of the Year since Devin Sibley in 2017 and the third in the last eight seasons. Stephen Croone won it in 2016. From 1981-2015, Furman only had one winner - Chuck Vincent in 1998.

It's the third time that Bothwell has earned All-SoCon accolades. He led the SoCon averaging 17.9 points per game, to go along with 3.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. Bothwell added to his legendary career of clutch shots when he hit the game-winner in the final seconds of a 72-70 win over Stephen F. Austin. That capped a career-high 36-point scoring effort.

In SoCon play, Bothwell saved his best for last. He scored Furman's first 18 points of last Saturday's win at Samford. He finished with 35 points in the 93-79 win that gave the Paladins a split of the SoCon regular season title and top seed for the tournament. Bothwell, who's shooting 52.9 percent from the floor and 84.5 percent from the foul line this season, is currently in sixth place on Furman's all-time scoring chart with 1.935 points - one shy of Croone.

"Mike's not afraid of the big lights. We've always known that and that's a great quality to have. You think about Saturday (at Samford). You think about Chattanooga in the (tournament) championship last year. You think about last year at Wofford when when we wanted to try to start to turn the tide on that rivalry and we did, he came out there guns blazing," Richey said. "With everything that was on the line Saturday, he will look back at that game forever. ... I got home Saturday night and had a two-word text from him: 'thank you.'

"Just to see that, it was like him saying, 'totally the right decision (to come back this season). ... I'm so appreciative for what you guys have done for me.' That's what you want. You want to have a program of appreciation. I just want it so bad for this to work out for him and for both of them to be like, 'this was all worth it.' "

Also earning postseason honors was Ben VanderWal, who made the All-Freshman team. VanderWal averaged 4.9 points and 3.2 rebounds and was a big part of a bench that has proven to be vitally important in league play. He scored a career-high 14 points in Furman's win over The Citadel in January and had his first double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds in the Paladins' win at Wofford.

Unfortunately, sophomore J.P. Pegues was not recognized despite his transformation into an elite point guard in his first year at the position. With his ability to shut down many opposing teams' leading scoring guards, his speed and a knack for making crucial plays on offense, Pegues has been as big a part of Furman's success as anyone. For the record, he was third member of the second team on my All-SoCon ballot.

Furman will open Saturday's quarterfinal round of the SoCon Tournament against eighth-seeded Mercer at noon at Harrah's Cherokee Center. Mercer advanced with a 66-41 over ninth-seeded Citadel Friday evening. The Paladins will try to extend their 17-game winning streak in the series and take the first step of winning a championship after last year's heartbreaking title game loss.

"They're (Mercer) going to have our attention. They just played us really closely. We've got to be ready to roll," Richey said after last Saturday's win at Samford. "There's one mission. We've got to go play with joy and with an unbelievable connection.

"This group is going to be ready. We've been looking forward to this for 51 weeks."

Bothwell leads Paladins to SoCon title, No. 1 seed

Mike Bothwell scored 35 points to lead Furman to a 93-76
win at Samford Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman

HOMEWOOD, Ala. - So evidently Mike Bothwell's fine.

Coming off his longest scoring slump in three years, the sixth-leading scorer in Furman history showed he hasn't forgotten how to put the ball in the basket Saturday. Bothwell showed it in a major way and did so in the Southern Conference's game of the year.

In true "big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games" fashion, Bothwell scored 35 points to lead the Paladins to a 93-76 win at Samford and a share of the SoCon regular season championship for the first time since 2017. As a result of sweeping the season series over the Bulldogs (21-10, 15-3), Furman (24-7, 15-3) earned the No. 1 seed for the SoCon Tournament for the first time since 1991.

"High tide lifts all ships. When somebody is playing at a high level, that energy is infectious. When you've got a guy out here and he's not just making shots, but he's playing with that spirit ... and belief, you can feel it. You can see that true belief in people's faces and in their expressions," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "That was the best thing about today. Outside of the four minutes after halftime, I just didn't think we looked super rattled. The crowd got into (to start the second half). We had some bad turnovers they converted into points, but I thought our faces just showed, 'hey, you know what, we're gonna win this thing.' That's what you've got to have in big-time ballgames."

Following a stunning upset loss at The Citadel that snapped an eight-game winning streak, the Paladins overcame some rough play to get a pair of close wins and give themselves a championship shot Saturday. After Wednesday's victory over Mercer, Richey said he felt like his team might play a little more freely at Samford after finally getting there - even with so much at stake. Following a bit of a slow start, his thought came to fruition.

"Sometimes as coaches, you're very routine driven because routine is comfortable. I flipped the script on them this week. After a Wednesday game, we typically go pretty soft on Thursday just to try to re-rest them and then go have contact on Friday and go play (Saturday). On this Thursday, we went for about an hour and then (Friday) we did strictly shots and walkthrough just to change it up a little bit," Richey said. "We also talked about the gratitude of being in this game. This is what they came here for - to play in front of a sold out crowd on national TV for a chance to be a one seed. We wanted to focus on being thankful to be in this environment and play in this game.

"We knew it was going to be one of the best atmospheres we've been in all year, but the lines are the lines. Once we get on this court, we've got to go play and I was thankful our guys did that today. This was our most complete game of the year and that's what you want this time of year. You want to be playing your best when it matters the most."

Entering Saturday, Bothwell was coming off a three-game stretch in which he made just two field goals in each game and didn't reach double figures in points in any of them. The last time Bothwell went more than two consecutive games without at least 10 points in any was in a four-game stretch in the middle of the 2019-20 season. He also had made more than one three-pointer in just one of his previous 10 games, when he hit 3-of-8 at VMI.

On Saturday, Bothwell's single-digit scoring skid ended in a hurry. Playing in front of a raucous home crowd in what had to be Samford's biggest SoCon game ever, Furman got off to a bit of a slow start. Nearly five minutes in, the Paladins trailed 5-2 and were 1-for-6 from the floor. Their only made bucket was a putback by Bothwell.

But with 15:03 left, Bothwell hit a layup. Then he hit a three. Then another three. Then another three. Then another three. Then he was fouled on a three. Coming back from the media timeout, Bothwell missed his first shot of the day. He made the other two free throws though, and it was Mike Bothwell 18, Samford 7 with 11:47 left in the half.

"I've just got to thank God, my teammates and coaches. ... I got all kind of messages from teammates and coaches to make sure I was in the right headspace," Bothwell said. "It's ironic what happens when I just lose myself in the team and focus on getting the win. Things open up for me and I can just be myself and be confident."

Furman led 24-18 with 7:56 left in the first half when what should've been Bothwell's 20th point on a driving layup was waved off by a weak charging call. The worst part for the Paladins was that it was Bothwell's third foul, which gave him the rest of the half off.

So this was reality at that point for Furman: It was facing a team that had already clinched a share of their first SoCon regular season title, but was fighting for the outright crown and top seed for the SoCon tourney. It was "Senior Day" and a "red out" in a hostile environment, where Samford had gone 16-1 in conference play over the past two seasons. And now it was trying to sustain a six-point lead with its leading scorer - who scored its first 18 points of the game - on the bench for the remainder of the half.

Sustain? Forget that. The Paladins thrived.

After the third foul on Bothwell, Samford stud Ques Glover hit a jumper to cut the lead to four. That was as close as the Bulldogs ever got the rest of the way. Ben VanderWal answered with a four-point play off an assist from J.P. Pegues. On Furman's next trip, Alex Williams grabbed an offensive rebound and Pegues hit a three off an assist from VanderWal. Then Pegues hit Marcus Foster for a layup. Pegues drained another three and then had an assist on a Jalen Slawson layup.

Pegues ended one of Furman's best halves of the season with another three-pointer to stake the Paladins to a 50-33 lead at the break. After Bothwell left with that third foul with just under eight minutes left, Furman outscored the Bulldogs 26-15 the rest of the half. The Paladins had 48 points over the final 15:03 of the half.

"Mike went out and we were up six, then we got into the tunnel (at halftime) up 17. That's team. I know it sounds cliché sometimes when I talk about it, but it's what I believe in. It's my core," Richey said. "Everybody that played tonight and to be honest, even guys that didn't play tonight, the bench, the staff, everybody carried themselves like we wanted to come in here and do this thing together."

That's the thing about a championship team like Furman. It's not only a "team" in the sense of sharing the ball to the tune of ranking in the top five nationally in assists per game. Or a "team" in the fact that the nine-man rotation is filled with versatile players all of whom can shoot from anywhere. It's also the "team" sense of everyone in purple and white Saturday being genuinely happy for Bothwell's incredible start and feeding off that energy.

"For him to come out tonight and score like that was unbelievable," Pegues said. "But we knew Mike Bothwell was gonna be Mike Bothwell. He's been here five years and he's our guy. We have full trust in him and he showed why by not forcing things in those tough games."

Pegues started the second half like he ended the first. His three-pointer on Furman's first possession after halftime gave the Paladins their biggest lead of the day at 19. Samford did take advantage of back-to-back turnovers by Furman to cut the lead to 55-44. That forced Richey to take a rare early timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Garrett Hien drained a three off an assist from Pegues.

That was the story for the rest of the game. Every time the Bulldogs sniffed getting the lead to single digits, the Paladins had an answer. Over the next 10 minutes after Hien's three, Samford cut the lead to either 10 or 11 eight different times. They only got the lead under 10 once at 70-62 with 9:09 left. That single-digit advantage lasted all of 17 seconds before Hien dunked off a feed from Slawson.

"Even when they went on runs, we were all about 'next ball action,' and getting the ball out quickly. ... We didn't let one or two plays affect us as a whole," Pegues said. "We knew what the stakes were today, but we were just really excited for the chance. Multiple guys were saying we wish could've played last night after getting here. We just find joy in what we do and that helps us a lot. We don't think about pressure. We go out there, cut loose and have fun."

Unlike its previous three games, Furman was nearly perfect from the foul line in the second half. The Paladins sank 17-of-18 free throws after halftime to help put the game out of reach. The win made Bothwell and Slawson the winningest players in school history with 112 victories in each of their illustrious careers. For the game, Furman shot 54.7 percent from the floor, including 50 percent from three (14-of-28), and 87.5 percent from the foul line (21-of-24).

Bothwell made 10-of-15 shots, including 5-of-8 threes, and 10-of-11 free throws. His 35-point performance was one shy of the career-high he set against Stephen F. Austin earlier this season and leaves him one shy of Stephen Croone for fifth place on Furman's all-time scoring list. Saturday's effort helped Bothwell earn SoCon Player of the Week honors.

Pegues finished with 20 points, four assists and four rebounds, while Foster had 16 points, four rebounds, two steals and a block. Slawson added seven points, 10 rebounds, three assists and a block. While Tyrese Hughey didn't attempt a shot, he had a big-time contribution with four rebounds, two assists and a steal in only six minutes off the bench.

"We learned from the past three games that you can't come out tight. You can't come out scared to lose. ... If you get down on yourself, their crowd, their team and style of play can get on your really quick," Bothwell said. "We just manned up. I had a feeling all day looking at our group that we were dialed in. ... We came to Furman to play in these types of games and man, we were ready today. I've got to give credit to J.P., Marcus and all the guys. We were just ready to play no matter what was thrown at us."

Glover finished with a career-high 27 points to lead Samford.

The top-seeded Paladins will face either Mercer or The Citadel in Saturday's quarterfinal round of the SoCon Tournament in Asheville at noon. The eighth-seeded Bears and ninth-seeded Bulldogs kick off the tourney at 5 p.m. Friday. Being the top seed guarantees Furman an NIT bid, but obviously the goal is to cut down the nets next Monday and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1980.

"We love winning and love being champs, but we know we've got to go do this thing in Asheville. We've got to celebrate tonight, but wake up tomorrow and be hungrier. But we've also got to be humble. We haven't won every single game," Richey said. "We've got to go in that tournament with a humility that if we go play together, we play with belief and we do the things necessary to play a complete game like we did today, then we can earn the right to be successful.

"We're gonna celebrate the heck out of this because I'm a believer that winning is hard, but when we get back in that building on Monday we've got to be ready to go get better."

Furman tops Bears to earn title shot at Samford

J.P. Pegues had 18 points and five assists in Furman's 70-67
win over Mercer Wednesday. Photo courtesy of Furman

For the third consecutive game, things really go as Furman probably planned Wednesday. For the second game in a row, it didn't affect the bottom line. In the home finale, the Paladins missed key free throws, went more than 11 minutes without a field goal in the second half, had more turnovers than assists, got outrebounded and had a total of four bench points. They overcame all of that to defeat Mercer, 70-67, to extend their winning streak in the series to 17.

The victory was the 111th in the stellar careers of fifth-year seniors Mike Bothwell and Jalen Slawson, tying Alex Hunter's school record for career wins.

While it may not have looked exactly like Furman (23-7, 14-3 Southern Conference) wanted, the win positioned the Paladins exactly where they wanted entering the regular season finale. Furman will play at Samford (21-9, 15-2) Saturday at 2 p.m. in hopes of sharing the SoCon regular season championship.

A victory would give the Paladins a series sweep, which would secure them the No. 1 seed at the SoCon Tournament and an autobid to the NIT. Should Furman win and UNC Greensboro wins at ETSU Saturday, there would be a three-way tie for first place and the Paladins would earn the top seed out of that tiebreaker. A Furman loss Saturday would leave them as the No. 3 seed unless UNCG also loses, which would give Furman the No. 2 seed.

"It was great to see Slawson, Mike and Rett (Lister) close out the homestretch with a win tonight and just stay in a position to be able to fight for a championship at the end, I'm sure there's going to be a bunch of questions about how clean it was, but this time of year the only thing that matters is we found a way to get a win," Richey said. "I credit these guys for 23 wins. It's only happened six times in school history and five of those have been since 2016. Now we have a chance to go down there and play for a championship."

Now that they've gotten that chance, Richey believes his team might play a little more free Saturday.

"I don't want to take any credit away from Mercer. They played incredibly hard, but we looked a little tight," Richey said. "I told them after the game, 'now you're here. This is where you wanted to be.' We knew we had to win these two games to stay in the race. ... Sometimes you try to hide that pressure from the guys, but that's what the end of the year is. It's a bunch of one-game seasons."

Three of the biggest factors in Furman's success this season has been rebounding, bench points and assist-to-turnover ratio. That last factor has actually been a staple of this program for years now and the Paladins were ranked sixth nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio entering Wednesday.

So in what was an ugly game for much of the night, it was bizarre to see Furman struggle in all three of those categories. Mercer held a 36-31 rebounding edge, including 14 offensive boards, and had a 30-4 advantage in bench points. Furman finished with 14 turnovers and 11 assists.

But a deeper look at a couple of those numbers reveal a bit of how Furman got the win. While they had 14 turnovers, the Paladins only made three in the second half. They forced 15 and outscored the Bears 20-14 in points off turnovers. While Furman had five fewer offensive rebounds than Mercer, it outscored the Bears 14-12 in second-chance points.

The sign of a good team is the ability to overcome things that don't go like they typically do. While Furman may not have had to overcome all three of these factors in the same game before, it has overcome them at different times this season. The Paladins are now 3-2 in games in which they had more turnovers than assists, 4-5 in games that they've been outrebounded in - after starting 0-4 in that category, and 11-4 in games where the opponent had more bench points. Furman moved to 2-4 in games where the bench had no more than five points.

"I really think this is going to end up being beneficial for us. ... Nobody's going to Asheville and winning games by 15 or 20 points. That's not how Asheville works," Richey said. "Those are going to be tight games. So I think Sunday (an 83-79 win over ETSU) and tonight are going to be productive experiences."

Despite a pretty sloppy opening half, it appeared that the Paladins were positioning themselves for another lopsided win after an 84-66 win at Mercer earlier this season. Furman held a 25-13 lead with less than eight minutes left in the first half and a 10-point lead with less than 50 seconds left. But once again, the Paladins fizzled out to end the half.

On its final three possessions of the half, Furman had two turnovers wrapped around a missed three. The last turnover came on a misfired lob after the Paladins had held to try to get the last shot. A dunk or layup there would've given Furman a nine-point lead at the half. Instead, Mercer (12-18, 5-12) gathered the loose ball and Shawn Walker's three-pointer at the buzzer cut the lead to 33-29 at the break.

The Bears scored on their first two possessions of the second half and just like that, it was tied 33-33. Outside of the first two minutes of the game, Furman never trailed though - even during a second-half stretch of 11 minutes and 30 seconds without a field goal. After Slawson's jumper with 15:18 left, the Paladins didn't make another bucket until Slawson's layup with 3:48 left. Furman actually outscored Mercer by two during that 0-for-7 stretch. That was thanks to going 14-of-19 from the foul line as the Paladins just started driving and Bears just started hacking.

After Slawson ended the field goal drought, J.P. Pegues made it a bucket spurt. Pegues hit a three-pointer and a pair of layups to give Furman its biggest lead of the second half at 65-59 with 46 seconds left.

"I just decided to be aggressive as I should be at the end of the game," Pegues said. "I feel like I'm one of the fastest guards in the league and they were picking me up at midcourt, so I just decided to make an aggressive move and ended up making a play."

Pegues missed a pair of free throws with 11 seconds left, leaving Furman with a 67-65 lead. But Mercer standout freshman Jah Quinones dribbled the ball off his foot out of bounds on the ensuing possession. Slawson hit just 1-of-2 free throws to leave the Bears one more chance down by three with 4.5 seconds left.

Given Mercer's 14 offensive rebounds, Richey chose not to foul and just have the Paladins heavily guard the perimeter. The Bears' Luis Hurtado proceeded to drive to the hole for a layup with 0.9 seconds left to cut the lead to one as his coach, Greg Gary, looked on in disbelief. Slawson then made a perfect, three-quarter court inbounds pass to Marcus Foster. Foster hit a pair of free throws to close out the game, handing Mercer its third consecutive three-point loss.

"I've watched two games this month where the team that's fouled (up by three late) has lost. ... I believe there's not necessarily an absolute 'yes' or 'no' on fouling there. You've got to know your team and the context for the game," Richey said. "I thought '4.5 seconds left, soft pressure, three-point defense, know what we're doing on hand-offs and on ball screens, and if they punch to the paint, let it go.' I thought Slaw made a genius play to bait them into the drive.

"Then he had the awareness to inbound it long. It was a beautiful pass. What you can't do there is throw it out of bounds because they get a spot (under their basket), so you've got to put a little air on it."

In what was very likely his final game at Timmons Arena, Slawson finished with a season-high 27 points and posted game-highs in rebounds (7) and blocks (2). Slawson was 7-of-10 from the floor, including 3-of-4 on three-pointers. He also made 10-of-16 free throws as he drew 11 fouls. The Paladins only shot 65.7 percent from the foul line, but hit 23-of-35 (22-of-33 of which came in the second half) to improve to 16-0 when making more free throws than the opposition.

Pegues was the only other Paladin in double figures with 18 points and a game-high five assists. Bothwell had nine points as Furman's leading scorer didn't reach double figures and made just two field goals for the third consecutive game. Those two field goals came on a putback 77 seconds into the game and a three-pointer - on his only attempt - not quite three minutes into the game. He did make all four of his free throws - all late in the second half. The last time Bothwell went three consecutive games without reaching double figures was a four-game stretch from Dec. 14, 2019-Jan. 4, 2020.

"Slaw played a tremendous game. I couldn't be more proud of him. J.P. did some unbelievable things. Let me tell you something, Mike had a big-time second half. I felt like he made some big plays," Richey said. "I have total faith in Mike. ... This is three games in a row where his volume's been restricted.

"He's a scorer. He's almost got 2,000 (career) points. We're at that point where I've got to look at it and figure out as a coach how to help him. ... I owe it to Mike to do every single thing I can to help him in any way I possibly can."

Now all eyes turn to Samford on Saturday for a game that will be televised by CBS Sports Network. Furman is going for its first regular season title since 2017 and its first top seed in the SoCon tourney since 1991. In the first matchup this season, the Paladins rallied from a five-point deficit in the final two minutes of regulation and then scored the final seven points in overtime for a 91-84 win in Greenville.

"It means everything to me to be able to go out here and play this game for all the people that came before me. Guys like Matt Rafferty, Jordan Lyons, Clay Mounce. They'd give anything to go back and have one more game to go play for a championship, so it means a lot," Slawson said. "We're not going to make it more than a game though. We're just going to go out there and tear it up for 40 (minutes), do what we do and see who the better team is."