Poor foul shooting costs Furman in loss at ETSU

PJay Smith had 17 points and six rebounds in Furman's
72-69 loss at ETSU Sunday. Photo courtesy of Furman

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - It was deja vu all over again when Furman took on East Tennessee State Sunday afternoon at Freedom Hall. The first meeting this season in Greenville saw the Paladins hang on for a 73-70 win as Quimari Peterson's potential game-tying heave from beyond midcourt at the buzzer hit off the backboard and the inner part of the front rim before bouncing away no good. On Sunday, ETSU held on for a 72-69 victory as Eddrin Bronson's potential game-tying three from beyond midcourt at the buzzer bounced high off the top of front rim before falling away no good.

The biggest factor in Sunday's game was another repeat performance. Unfortunately for Furman, this one came at the foul line. The Paladins made just 7-of-13 free throws, while the Buccaneers made 18-of-22. Over the past three games combined, Furman is 27-of-51 (52.9 percent) at the charity stripe. While it didn't cost the Paladins in wins over Mercer and Samford, you can't expect to keep winning when shooting free throws that poorly. Sunday was reminiscent of the Chattanooga game this season when the Paladins made 17-of-28 free throws in a four-point loss to the Mocs, who made 25-of-28.

"I haven't said a ton about the free throws because we haven't necessarily needed to, but it cost us today. That's the reality of it," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "They made their free throws late. We didn't and we lose a three-point game. We're better than that. I'm not saying we should be a 90 percent shooting team, but we should be 70. If you made 70 (percent) tonight, you're tied going to overtime or potentially winning the game because you're not missing the front end of 1-and-1s.

"Free throw shooting is reps. If we have to use our practice time to shoot free throws, then we're not committed enough. That's just getting in the gym, making sure you're getting your reps and making sure you're confident. We shoot some free throws in practice, but you only have so much time."

Sunday's loss was especially frustrating for Furman (17-6, 5-5 Southern Conference) considering how the game started, as it played arguably its best 10-minute stretch all season. Eight different Paladins had scored when Nick Anderson's layup gave Furman a 27-13 lead with 10:03. At that point, Furman was 12-of-16 from the floor - including a stretch of eight consecutive made shots - with just one turnover.

Then all of that just stopped. Over the next seven minutes, ETSU (13-10, 6-4) put together a 19-0 run as the Paladins went 0-7 from the floor with six turnovers. For the final 10 minutes of the half, the Bucs outscored Furman 24-5 to take a 37-32 lead into the break.

"We played really well to start the game, but they got 5,000 in here and it's rocking. They hit back-to-back threes to kind of get the energy back in the building. Then we had a spurt of some ridiculous turnovers for a while," Richey said. "The best thing they do is play in transition, so when you have those turnovers you're just igniting their whole deal. That kind of played out."

That momentum carried over into the second half as ETSU pushed the lead to 44-32 two minutes in. Off all things, Ben VanderWal's first made three-pointer since Dec. 28 against Montreat got Furman on the board in the second half.

The Paladins began clawing their way back later in the half. Consecutive three-pointers by Bronson and two by PJay Smith cut the lead down to three. With 8:34 left Furman tied the game 56-56 when Tom House faked a three, took one dribble toward the bucket and fed Cooper Boswer for a dunk. The next time down, House didn't fake a three. Instead, he drained it as the Paladins finally regained the lead.

"I was really proud of our effort and fight. I thought we showed some resiliency to be down 12 in this environment and come back," Richey said. "We just couldn't close it."

With just under three minutes to go, Furman had the ball and seemingly a solid cushion of a 67-60 lead. Just like in the first half, things suddenly went south for the Paladins. Charles Johnston meekly fouled ETSU big man Jaden Seymour, allowing him to easily make a layup before completing the three-point play. VanderWal, who was 3-of-19 from three this season after that make early in the second half, came on to replace Johnston. On Furman's ensuing possession, VanderWal tried an open three from the corner but it became at least the fifth airball of the game for the Paladins.

Peterson hit a pair of free throws the next time down for ETSU before Seymour added two more to tie the game at 67-67 with 1:40 left. That 7-0 run for the Bucs took all of 61 seconds and it resulted in the toughest place to play in the SoCon becoming as loud as it was all day.

It was still tied with 47 seconds left when Bowser missed the front end of a 1-and-1. Smith had a chance to tie the game when he was fouled with 14.9 seconds left, but he made just 1-of-2 free throws. On the ensuing inbounds play, the baseline official nearly raised his arm for a five-second call but an official closer to the ETSU bench signaled a timeout for the Bucs. After getting the ball inbounded, ETSU managed to play keep away for the next eight seconds before Furman finally fouled John Buggs with 6.8 seconds left.

Buggs made both free throws to make it 72-69. ETSU fouled Smith before he could release a three-pointer with 3.9 seconds left. After making the first free throw, Smith intentionally missed the next but Johnston was whistled for a foul on the rebound with three seconds left. ETSU's Karon Boyd made the first free throw and missed the second. The rebound went to Bronson, who spun forward and took one dribble before his running prayer just missed.

It was Furman's sixth consecutive missed shot to end the game, which followed a stretch in which the Paladins made five shots in a row.

"We've been pretty good in time and scoring in situations, but we weren't tonight. Ben can't shoot that three in the corner there. We've got to know that," Richey said. "We've got to be able to get great shots late. That's part of being able to close games out."

Smith had team-highs in points (17), rebounds (6), assists (4) and steals (2) to lead Furman. Smith, the lone Paladin in double figures, also had one turnover and no fouls. Coming off a 24-point showing against Samford, second-leading scorer Nick Anderson had eight points on 3-of-8 shooting, including 0-of-3 from three. It's just the second time this season - and first time since game three - that Anderson didn't make a three. Bowser had nine points, while Garrett Hien and Bronson each scored eight.

Furman will next play its last home game away from Bon Secours Wellness Arena. The Paladins host Western Carolina Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Bob Jones University.

Defense powers Furman past SoCon's top dog

Cooper Bowser had 21 points - on 8-of-8 shooting - and three blocks in
Furman's 72-70 win over Samford. Photo courtesy of Furman

To have a chance to knock off the reigning Southern Conference champions and current first-place team, Samford, one might have thought a typical offensive game from Furman's leading scorer would be required. On Wednesday night at The Well, it was not. For the first time this season, PJay Smith didn't hit a three, but for the second time this season a Samford opponent never trailed the Bulldogs.

Nick Anderson and Cooper Bowser combined for 45 points - and four missed field goals - as the Paladins edged Samford, 72-70. While "Bucky Ball" has been very successful during Bucky McMillan's five years as head coach of the Bulldogs, it still hasn't left Greenville with a victory. Samford's lone win at Furman since 2014 came in 2019.

Just as vitally important as the offensive nights for Anderson and Bowser, was the team defensive effort by Furman (17-5, 5-4) from the start. A Samford (17-5, 7-2) team that's ranked in the top 15 nationally in scoring much of the season averaging 84 points a game was limited to 25 in the first half Wednesday. The Bulldogs had more turnovers (10) in the first half than made field goals (9-of-28).

"It seems like all these game with us and them have turned into instant classics. Two teams that play extremely hard and have clear systems and identities of how they want to play. You get in the game and its just ends up being a chess match," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "I thought our defense in the first half set the tone. I think we had 18 deflections and seven steals (in the first half). That's what this team is learning.

"We held people to 64 points a game in the non-league. I think out of our nine (out of conference) Division I wins, only two of them are currently not in the top three in their league. So it's not like we didn't play good teams. We just defended and that was our primary focus. This team has gotten back to that. Sometimes you've got to go through hard lessons to figure that out, but our defense led the way tonight."

Furman took its biggest lead of the night at 33-21 thanks to a four-point play by Anderson with 3:19 left in the first half. The Paladins didn't score the rest of the half though and given how things went for Samford's offense that half, the Bulldogs were likely relieved to only be down 33-25 at the break.

As folks had to kind of sense the way the first half ended, Samford came out with a stronger sense of urgency in the second half. Turning up the full-court press defense more as the Bulldogs' offense got on track.

Samford cut the lead to three less than three minutes into the second half, but Furman kept answering. Midway through the second half, a key sequence from some Paladins off the bench provided what turned out to be needed cushion later on. After seeing his three-pointer from the corner miss off the side of the backboard, Tom House had the moxie to fire up another three the next time down and drilled it. Davis Molnar, who assisted on House's three, then had a steal at midcourt and drove down for a layup to force a Samford timeout as Furman led 56-44.

"That's what great teams have to have. You can't rely on one or two people. You've got to have a team," Richey said. "The good thing I've seen in House the last couple of games is he's playing with so much more positive emotion. I love the fact that he missed that first one bad and came around and shot the next one. Great shooters have to have an 0-for-0 mentality on every shot."

Molnar's layup with 10:57 left turned out be the last field goal for any Paladin besides Anderson or Bowser. The Bulldogs' press seemingly resulted in all or nothing for Furman much of the rest of the way as it seemed to result in a turnover or an easy bucket for Bowser down low.

On a night in which Bowser went 8-for-8 from the floor, seven of those came in the second half. Quite a few of those came on layups and dunks off lobs as he patiently stayed low while teammates tried to conquer the press.

"It's definitely kind of nerve-racking watching your four teammates trying to get the ball up the court, but as soon as it crosses midcourt I try to find an advantage. I try to find an angle, find a seal and try to get behind the defense," Bowser said. "So when we're attacking, they can just throw it up there or maybe throw a bounce pass and I can just finish at the rim. My teammates did a good job of finding me when they broke the press and throwing lobs."

Samford came all the way back to tie it at 63-63 on Trey Fort's three-pointer with 5:53 left. With 3:38 left, the Bulldogs' Lukas Walls hit a game-tying layup and was fouled. He missed the free throw though as Samford never could claim the lead. Arizona is the only other team who never trailed the Bulldogs in a game this season.

In a 34-second span, Furman pushed the lead to five on back-to-back buckets by Anderson. His jumper with 1:49 left, gave the Paladins a 70-65 lead. That remained the score until 29 seconds were left when Walls did convert a three-point play to slice the lead to two.

Furman took its last timeout with 14 seconds left because Molnar was having trouble inbounding against the press from the sideline. Coming out of the timeout, Molnar was still unable to find an open Paladin before he fired a high lob to Bowser who went up and caught it and was fouled on his way to the basket. Bowser made both free throws to make it 72-68.

"Good gracious it felt like we couldn't get it in off the side. The hard part is that you want to get it to a specific guy and for us, that's Nick or PJay. We told Davis in the timeout, if we're going to turn it over just turn it over in the backcourt and let's just go Hail Mary," Richey said. "If we get to 1004 (counting to five), let's throw a jump ball and let our seven-five wing span (Bowser) go get it. We had confidence because he had just made two critical free throws earlier. It was a huge play in that moment."

After Samford got a layup to cut it to 72-70 with five seconds left, it immediately fouled Smith. Smith missed both free throws, leaving the door open for the Bulldogs. Fort's three-point try at the buzzer bounced off the rim no good and Furman could breath again.

Anderson finished with 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting, including 5-of-8 on three-pointers. Bowser had 18 of his career-high 21 points in the second half. Ben VanderWal had five points, nine rebounds, six assists and no turnovers. He finished with a team-best plus-nine. In his 14 minutes off the bench, Molnar had four assists as Furman finished with 19 as a team.

On a night when Smith had six points on 3-of-14 shooting, including 0-for-7 on three, Furman still shot 49.1 percent from the floor (27-of-55), including 53.6 percent in the second half.

"What's made this team so fun to coach is that they have a unique care for one another. We're in there celebrating and everybody's going crazy dancing and having a good time. Then Ed (Eddrin) Bronson looks up and says, 'Hey coach, isn't that Garrett's (Hien) 100th win?' " Richey said. "That's the type of character we have in that locker room. The players knew that going into that game."

Samford's leading scorer, Jaden Brownell, had a similar fate as Smith. Brownell is a post player who can also shoot from the perimeter and was coming off games of 20 and 18 points scored, respectively. He finished with seven points Wednesday on 3-of-13 shooting, including 0-of-4 from three.

Furman will try to keep the momentum going Sunday when it plays at East Tennessee State at 2 p.m. The matchup of the only two SoCon teams to defeat Samford this season will be televised by CBS Sports Network. The Buccaneers (12-10, 5-4) are coming off a 70-65 loss at UNC Greensboro on Wednesday. 

Paladins produce true team win at Mercer

Eddrin Bronson had 16 points off the bench in Furman's 79-74
win at Mercer Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman

MACON, Ga. - Coming off perhaps its most disappointing game of the year in a 91-82 loss at VMI three days earlier, Furman reverted back to its most common starting lineup this season at Mercer on Saturday. In turn, the Paladins reverted back to looking a lot more like the team that got off to a 13-1 start this season, rather than the one that had lost three of its last four.

Furman's defense wasn't perfect, but it was a strong-willed effort from start to finish. That was rewarded on the other end with the Paladins' best shooting game of the season against Division I competition. Furman shot 54.5 percent from the floor on its way to a 79-74 win at Hawkins Arena.

The lineup change saw Ben VanderWal rejoin the starting five and freshman Eddrin Bronson come off the bench. The move seemed to pay off as both had big games, but this was a team win in every sense of the term.

"I think sometimes when you go through hard patches, you can try to scheme things up, change the lineup and do all this different stuff. ... We all kind of panicked, including myself," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "At the end of the day, we had to get back to guarding. We had to get back to having a connected defense. We had to get back to doing the things that got us where we were, so we put the starting lineup back with the three "non-shooters" out there. But you know what? We moved it, we screened it, we cut it and most importantly, we got stops.

"This place was electric and packed today. They (Mercer) hit some tough shots. They're coming off a huge road win (at UNC Greensboro) so I knew they were going to come out with some confidence, but we had a team playing with more purpose. We had a team that was playing more aligned to our values."

After being dominated by the Keydets in the paint, the Paladins (16-5, 4-4 Southern Conference) seemed bound and determined to not let that happen from the start Saturday. Here's how Furman's first six possessions ended:

• Cooper Bowser - short jumper missed
• Ben VanderWal - fouled on driving layup attempt
• Garrett Hien - short jumper made
• Bowser - dunk
• Hien - missed three
• Hien - layup

Hien had seven of Furman's first 10 points as his three-pointer tied the game at 10-10 at the 14:23 mark. This came after logging only seven minutes at VMI, the lowest total in three years for the veteran big man.

"I woke up the next morning (after the VMI game) and thought, 'You know what? This is Garrett's team. He's our fifth-year guy. He's won an NCAA Tournament game and started on one of the best teams in school history," Richey said. "He's got a guarantee of 12 games left and then wishing he could play for a Furman basketball team for the rest of his life. I told him in front of the team yesterday, 'I'm not bringing you off the bench and if you have a tough start like you did at VMI, I'm not subbing you out. ... You've got to come out here and play like the winner you are.' ... I thought he was much better tonight.

"Garrett's an unbelievable human being who bleeds purple. He's Furman through and through. We're going to ride him. If we're going to get to our best, Garrett's going to be a part of that. He's going to be part of the answer to that."

After Hien's three, the Paladins hit a lull and trailed 17-10 with 12:09 remaining. Bronson snapped the cold streak with a three-pointer that started a 10-2 run over the next 76 seconds. Nick Anderson followed a three-pointer with a steal which led to his own layup. Another steal by Anderson led to a VanderWal layup off an assist by Bronson as Furman took a 20-19 lead at the 10:28 mark. A layup and then a three by PJay Smith a couple of minutes later made it a 14-2 run as Furman pushed the lead to six.

The Paladins led by as many as eight in the first half before the Bears (10-11, 3-5) came back to tie the game. Anderson's three-pointer with 1:19 left gave Furman a 41-38 lead at the half. The Paladins shot 59.3 percent (16-of-27) in the opening 20 minutes and held the lead despite Mercer making 8-of-15 three-pointers.

"That was a whole discussion at halftime. ... I thought we guarded the three-point line much better in the second half," Richey said. "I think that's why we were able to build the margin and get the win."

For much of the second half, Furman seemingly maintained a five-to-nine point lead. Every time the Paladins had a chance to really take command, a turnover or a bad shot invariably led to a bucket for Mercer on the other end.

Much like Furman could never pull away, the Bears could never pull even. They cut the lead down to one twice, but the Paladins had a response each time. With Furman leading 64-63, VanderWal's offensive rebound led to a Davis Molnar layup off an assist from Smith. Leading 66-65, Anderson got a layup off an assist from Molnar with 5:30 left. Just over a minute later, Molnar had a huge layup off an assist from Tom House to push the lead to five.

House is an example of what a team win this was. He finished with no points on one shot, two rebounds, one assist and one steal, but the Paladins outscored the Bears by nine during his 10:31 on the court.

"If we're going to have a shot at this thing, we're going to have to be one of the best 'teams' in the country. This isn't about a person. It's about a program. I've got to lead and make decisions like that," Richey said. "We've got a lot of parity on that bench, but we've also got a lot of care on that bench. It's one of those things where we've got to trust it. We don't win that game tonight without Tom tonight, because those 10 minutes are 10 minutes where PJay and Nick can rest."

"This feels like a top 15 win for us in our tenure because of the circumstances around the win. It's hard man. People don't understand that this stuff is grueling. For our group to come out and be that poised on the road, I couldn't be more proud of them."

With one minute left, Smith drilled a tough three-pointer to give Furman a 77-72 lead. The Paladins then held on as they missed consecutive front end of 1-and-1 free throws leaving Mercer with a chance to tie, trailing 77-74. The Bears missed three-pointers with nine seconds left and five seconds left before Smith grabbed the rebound, got fouled and hit both free throws to seal the win.

Anderson finished with 18 points, four rebounds, three steals and no turnovers to lead Furman. Bronson scored 16 after hitting 4-of-6 three-pointers and had two assists and no turnovers. Smith had 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Hien finished with nine points, while Bowser had eight points, five rebounds, four assists and a plus-minus of plus-13.

VanderWal made all three of his field goal attempts. Only a 1-for-6 showing at the foul line kept him from a double-digit scoring night as he had seven points and nine rebounds. Molnar had six points, four rebounds and four assists in his 23 minutes off the bench.

"Starting the previous three games helped build my confidence. Returning to a more familiar role today allowed me to just go out there and play free. It felt good," Bronson said. "I think it (the three-pointers he made) switches the way people play us. ... Being able to to spread the court opens so much more for us offensively with cutting and different actions."

Mercer standout Ahmad Robinson finished with 24 points, six assists and three steals. A key moment in the second half came with 8:25 left when VanderWal drove strong to the basket and drew Robinson's fourth foul, sending him to the sideline for the next four-plus minutes. Robinson wasn't available to take either of those last two threes after fouling out with 19 seconds left.

Furman returns to its home away from home this season at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena Wednesday to take on Samford at 6 p.m. The game will be televised by CBS Sports Network. The Bulldogs (17-4, 7-1) are in first place in the SoCon and are coming off a 77-61 win over Wofford on Saturday.

Paladins' defensive woes continue in loss at VMI

Ben VanderWal had 15 points and 12 rebounds in Furman's
91-82 loss at VMI. Photo courtesy of Furman

After winning by scores of 100-60 and 94-63 in its previous two visits to VMI, things went a little differently for Furman on Wednesday. The Paladins led for all of 41 seconds as the Keydets snapped their five-game losing streak in the series with a 91-82 victory. VMI hit 40.9 percent (9-of-22) of its three-pointers and dominated the paint as Furman's once mighty defense remained missing in action in Southern Conference play.

It's the third consecutive win for the Keydets (9-11, 3-4), a feat they last accomplished in SoCon play in the 2021-22 season - which was also the last time they defeated the Paladins. Thanks to missing 44 field goal attempts, there were plenty of chances for offensive rebounds for Furman and it grabbed 20 of them. However, the Paladins scored just 20 points off those and was outscored in the paint 40-20 as quite a few of those misses were layups.

In spite of the blown chances on offense, 82 points is usually enough to defeat VMI. Not when you allow the Keydets to shoot 51.8 percent from the floor though. This comes on the heels of allowing Chattanooga to shoot 60 percent over the final 30 minutes of that loss on Saturday. Much like the Mocs did in going 25-of-28 from the foul line to seal their win, VMI hit 24-of-27 free throws to help seal its victory.

"It's pretty clear that we aren't guarding anybody. If we're going to be so worried about our offense that we're just going to quit playing defense, then we're just going to continue to get the results that we're getting," Furman coach Bob Richey said on the Furman Radio Network's postgame show. "We couldn't guard the ball and keep it in front and we fouled. We had no connectivity on defense and ultimately, that's on me.

"We're not playing real well right now. That's pretty clear. You just exacerbate the problem when you have a refusal to guard the ball."

Wednesday marked just the second time since Jan. 21, 2022 that VMI scored at least 90 points against a Division I opponent. The only other time was a 134-96 loss to Samford last season. It was pretty evident from the start Wednesday that Furman (15-5, 3-4) wasn't sniffing 134 or any other triple-digit total.

Garrett Hien's tip-in at the 18:41 mark tied the game at 2-2 and that wrapped up all of the scoring for Furman's starters in the first half. The Paladins managed to stay competitive that half thanks to scoring from Charles Johnston and Ben VanderWal off the bench.

Johnston's three-pointer gave Furman a 29-28 lead with 4:59 left in the half. VMI's Linus Holmstrom answered with a three 24 seconds later. Another Johnston three put the Paladins up 36-35 with 1:47 remaining. Tan Yildizoglu's layup 17 seconds later started an 8-0 run to end the half for the Keydets. T.J. Johnson's three at the buzzer gave VMI a 43-36 lead at the half. Furman's starters went 1-for-15 from the floor and did not attempt a free throw in the first half.

Seven seconds into the second half, Yildizoglu's three-point play made it an 11-0 run and the Keydets - who shot 56 percent in the second half - never led by fewer than six the rest of the way. That layup and foul set the tone after halftime as it felt like VMI had a layup drill to wrap up the win. From the 7:45 mark until 13 seconds remained, the Keydets went 7-for-7 from the floor with six layups and made 11-of-11 free throws.

"Give credit to VMI. They were the aggressor. They came right at us. Every time we'd make a shot to try to get back in the game, they'd go get an uncontested back cut or just drive with no help (defensively)," Richey said. "It's gut check time. It's not going to get any easier. People can see that we're a little down on the mat.

"It's just unfortunate to see a boxscore where we get 20 offensive rebounds, 14 more shots than they get and win the boards by 15, by give up 40 points in the paint and let them shoot 27 free throws. ... We look like a poorly coached group right now."

While Furman's starters struggled, VMI's sizzled. Augustinas Kiudulas and Rickey Bradley scored 22 and 19 points, respectively, to lead the way. Johnson scored 12 points, while Yildizoglu had 11 points, five rebounds, four assists and no turnovers before fouling out. The lone starting Keydet to not reach double figures was A.J. Clark with six points, but he also had four steals and three blocks in 23 minutes of action. Holmstrom finished with 10 points off the bench.

Johnston had 18 points, 11 rebounds and four assists to lead Furman before fouling out. Leading scorer PJay Smith scored all 18 of his points on six three-pointers in the second half and also had four assists. VanderWal finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds. After making 7-of-8 three-pointers over the previous three games combined, Nick Anderson couldn't find that same stroke Wednesday as he made 1-of-9 threes and finished with eight points.

"I'm obviously not very happy right now, but we've got a good group of guys," Richey said. "Unfortunately, we've got a couple that just aren't giving the effort that they've got to defensively. That's on me to get that corrected. ... The surprising thing for me is this group has shown that they can come out correct and can guard."

Furman will try to get on track at Mercer Saturday at 4:30 p.m. After losing each of the prior 18 meetings in the series, the Bears swept the Paladins last season. Mercer (10-10, 3-4) snapped a four-game losing streak in wild fashion on Wednesday at UNC Greensboro. Over a nine-minute stretch of the first half, the Spartans went on a 35-6 run to take a 44-21 lead with less than five minutes remaining.

UNCG led by as many as 15 in the second half before Mercer stormed back to pull out a 79-78 win. The Bears never led in the second half until Ahmad Robinson's game-tying and game-winning free throws with seven seconds left. Robinson had 33 points, six assists, five rebounds and five steals to lead the comeback win.

Chattanooga flips Furman's script, rallies for win

Nick Anderson scored 15 points in Furman's 75-71 loss
to Chattanooga Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman

Furman earned the moniker of "Find a Way Furman" this season by consistently finding some path to victory in close games. The Paladins were 8-0 in games decided by single digits going into its Saturday's home matchup against Chattanooga. The Mocs usurped that title from Furman at The Well though as they rallied from a 16-point deficit and held on for a 75-71 win.

The comeback win for Chattanooga (12-7, 4-2 Southern Conference) was not unlike the one it had three days earlier when the Mocs rallied from a 15-point deficit to defeat Wofford in overtime. While Furman's losses have been frustrating, they've all been lopsided prior to Saturday. The close loss brought a new level of frustration, primarily because of things the Paladins (15-4, 3-3) finally started doing better.

Furman hit 10-of-23 three-pointers, limited a very good shooting Chattanooga team to just 4-of-13 threes and played with a level of effort that was necessary to get the job done. The major reason the Paladins didn't get the job done came at the foul line, where they made just 17-of-28 (60.7 percent) while the Mocs hit 25-of-28 (89.3 percent). Once again, Furman was also dominanted in second-chance points. Chattanooga had 17 points off its 12 offensive rebounds, while the Paladins had just three points off their nine offensive boards.

"The game plan was to hold those guys at the three-point line. They came in making 13 threes a game at 47 percent. We hold them to 4-for-13 and probably couldn't have done a better job there, but our interior play was pathetic at best in the second half, specifically," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "We didn't play with the physicality down there to win and separate a game where we had a decent little marging for a lot of the second half.

"Give Chattanooga credit for throwing a punch there in the last quarter of the game. From missing 11 free throws to giving up that many second-chance points again, it's just not the mental toughness that you've got to have to win high-level basketball games."

The pain of Saturday's loss also stems from the fact that it might've been Furman's best start against Division I competition this season. The Paladins raced out to an 11-0 lead more than five minutes in before Chattanooga finally got on the board with two of those second-chance points at the 14:38 mark of the first half.

With 9:14 left in the first half, PJay Smith drew a foul on a three-point attempt and sank all three foul shots to give Furman its biggest lead at 22-6. Over the final 8:30 of the half, Chattanooga outscored the Paladins 21-12 to cut the lead to 34-27 at the break.

Furman started the second half much like it started the game. The second-half scoring began on an alleyoop from Smith to Cooper Bowser. Eddrin Bronson followed with a three-pointer and Nick Anderson's layup on the next trip down pushed the lead to 41-28. The Mocs responded with a 13-2 run over the next four minutes to cut the lead to 43-41.

The Paladins still maintained the lead until the 4:35 mark when Collin Mulholland's three-point play gave Chattanooga its first lead of the game at 60-58. Bronson's layup tied the game on Furman's ensuing possession, but the Paladins never regained the lead.

Smith's wild, off-balance three-pointer with 11.2 seconds left cut the Mocs lead to 71-70. After UTC's Honor Huff made both free throws with 8.6 seconds left, Smith was fouled with 4.2 seconds left as Chattanooga was looking to foul before a three-point shot was launched. Smith's hands went up like he was going for a shot, but the ball came free on the foul from Trey Bonham. Officials huddled for a couple of minutes before ruling it a foul on the floor. After Smith made the first, he intentionally missed the second.

On a frustrating day at the foul line for Furman, it couldn't even purposely miss right as Smith's shot caromed off the backboard without touching the rim. That automatically gave the ball back to Chattanooga. Bonham hit a pair of free throws with 3.9 seconds left to seal the win.

In addition to the decision on the Chattanooga foul, Richey also lost an argument at the 3:33 mark when Bonham's three-pointer pushed the Mocs lead to 65-60. It appeared that the back of possibly both of Bonham's shoes were out of bounds prior to the shot. With 7:59 left, Davis Molnar - who had been playing well off the bench - went to the sideline with his fourth foul on a play where it appeared any foul should've been Cooper Bowser's second.

"I can't wait to see the clip on PJay. It's a act of shooting when the whistle goes up, so I don't get that. But whatever, that stuffs out of my control," Richey said. "They (officials) didn't miss 11 free throws for us. They didn't give them 12 offensive rebounds that turned into 17 points. So I don't want to be the one sitting up here faulting them for (the loss). ... I am curious to see that call, because obviously the game is on the line. I think that's just an unfortunate situation."

Bonham and Huff scored 16 points apiece for Chattanooga. The real problem for Furman came from UTC's Frank Champion, who had 16 points (on 6-of-9 shooting), nine rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block.

Smith had a game-high 18 points and two blocks to lead Furman. Anderson was the lone other Paladin in double figures with 15 points, coming of 5-of-7 shooting as he still didn't reach the 10-shot minimum that Richey has said they need to get him to. Even Anderson wasn't immune from the charity strip woes. After making 39-of-41 free throws this season coming into Saturday, Anderson was 2-of-5 there for the game.

Furman will try to rebound Wednesday when it begins a stretch of three out of four games on the road with a visit to VMI. The Keydets (8-11, 2-4) are on a two-game winning streak thanks to a 66-50 win over Western Carolina last Wednesday and a 75-70 win at The Citadel on Saturday. Wednesday's tip is scheduled for 6 p.m.

"We're not where we want to be one-third of the way through league play. There's all kinds of ebbs and flows to the season, but we've just go to go do the things that we were doing successfully when we were winning at the level we were winning at," Richey said. "This was a 50/50 game with two great teams battling it out. We led for 35 minutes of the game. They led for 4:20. Those are the ones that hurt you.

"I'm disappointed. I'm mad. I'm furious to be perfectly honest, but that doesn't mean I'm discouraged. My frustration is that I know we're better than this. I know we can play physical. I've seen it. I've seen us lead well. I've seen us make free throws. At the end of the day, we've got to go do."

Paladins tweak lineup and effort to beat ETSU

PJay Smith had 21 points and six rebounds in Furman's 73-70
win over ETSU Wednesday. Photo courtesy of Furman

Furman didn't have a whole lot of time to figure out what exactly needed to be done between its loss to Wofford Monday and its next game against ETSU on Wednesday, but there was a sense that something had to change. While there was plenty that took place behind the scenes in those 48 hours between games, a transparent change came in the starting lineup. Freshman Eddrin Bronson made his first collegiate start on Wednesday, while Ben VanderWal came in off the bench.

A very transparent change came after tip-off as the Paladins clearly came out with more fire in their belly than they did to start the Wofford game. Neither one of those factors equated to a simple fix though. While neither team led by more than five points for the first 38-and-a-half minutes of the game, Furman trailed for more than 20 minutes. With the game on the line down the stretch though, the Paladins' defense stood tall and Furman held on for a 73-70 win.

"Tonight was a gut check for our group and I thought it was a heck of a response. We haven't been playing as well as we need to from an energy, emotion and effort standpoint. We've been playing tight. ... We lose one in Greensboro and since then, we almost look like we're in a pressure cooker," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "We showed clips this morning of some of our defense early in the year and mirrored it to clips from Monday night, just to show the difference. It wasn't by any means perfect tonight. There's still some possessions we'd like to have back, but it was better and it looked more like Furman basketball.

"It was a very good opponent. (ETSU coach) Brooks (Savage) does a great job. It was a war of a game, and I thought we had some gumption down the stretch to finish it out."

This marked the ninth time that Furman has come back from a second-half deficit to win. As has been the case in many of these games in which it "found a way", this was truly a team effort. The Paladins (15-3, 3-2 Southern Conference) trailed for most of the first half. They stayed within striking distance down the stretch of it thanks to Davis Molnar, who entered Wednesday averaging 3.3 points per game off the bench. From the 6:28 mark of the first half to the final second, Molnar accounted for all seven of Furman's points.

"Davis is one of those guys that just loves to compete. He's fearless. ... All summer and fall, he's worked on his shot and his shooting numbers are fantastic in practice. He's got to shoot with confidence," Richey said. "Davis is incredibly physical and he can play the three, the four or the five. He's a little bit like a Swiss Army knife. He can dribble it up, post it, drive guys and make shots from the hedges."

ETSU (10-8, 3-2) shot 53.8 percent in the first half but only led 36-35 at the break after Furman's Nick Anderson drilled a three-pointer at the final horn. The biggest problem for the Paladins in the opening half was the result of offensive rebounds. Furman had nine offensive boards, but only eight points off them. Meanwhile, the Buccaneers had six offensive boards and 12 points off those.

Furman made sure that didn't last in the second half. While ETSU did collect nine offensive rebounds in the second half, they scored 11 off those. A big reason the Bucs, who trail only Wofford in highest offensive rebound average in the SoCon, got so many in the second half is that they had so many more opportunities thanks to misses. The Paladins held ETSU to 31 percent (9-of-29) shooting in the second half.

After Jaden Seymour's putback cut Furman's lead to 59-58 with 6:07 remaining, ETSU didn't make another field goal until there was just 19 seconds left to play. With 3:31 left, the game was tied at 60 before Anderson's second three-point attempt of the game splashed through the net. With 2:08 left, VanderWal's putback pushed the lead to 65-60. Garrett Hien made a tremendous leaping steal along the sideline 16 seconds later. That led to a PJay Smith layup with 1:29 left as Furman took the biggest lead of the night for either team at 67-60.

Anderson's layup with 38 seconds left pushed Furman's lead to 70-62 and it looked like that might seal the win, but this game was far from over. After VanderWal missed a pair of free throws with 26 seconds left, ETSU's John Buggs drilled a three-pointer and drew a foul. Buggs completed the four-point play to cut the lead to 70-68 with 19 seconds remaining. After Smith made 1-of-2 free throws with 11 seconds left, the Bucs passed on trying for the tie. Instead, Quimari Peterson drove in for a layup with 4.9 seconds left to cut the lead to 71-70.

Smith ran back to Molnar to catch the inbounds pass, before spinning away from two defenders and racing down the sideline. Smith fired a pass to Bronson, but before he got it off a third ETSU defender had caught up and fouled him with 2.1 seconds left. Smith made both free throws this time. Everyone then held their breath as Peterson's heave from beyond half court hit the backboard and the inner front of the rim before falling away no good as time expired.

Peterson, the SoCon's leading scorer, finished with 21 points for ETSU. Seymour added 18 points and eight rebounds before fouling out. 

Smith had 21 points and six rebounds to lead Furman. Anderson finished with 14 points on just 4-of-5 shooting and had four assists. After not scoring over the previous three games, Bronson had 11 points while Molnar finished with nine. Hien was huge factor Wednesday as the Paladins outscored the Bucs by 15 points during his 22 minutes on the floor. Hien had five points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals. Two of his assists were beautiful passes from the top of the key to Bronson down low.

"Ben understood (the lineup change) and he's a great teammate. ... Ed's been a little timid lately, but he's coming along. We know what he can do, so it's just great to see him come out there and play the way he played," Smith said. "Then Ben came on and made big plays. That tip-in (to make it 65-60) was huge. They're just two great teammates."

Hien's impact on the victory started well before Wednesday.

"We're all leaving here two nights ago (after the Wofford loss) and we're miserable. I look down at my phone and it's Garrett. He said, 'I need to come talk to you. Can I come to your house?' So at 11 o'clock at night, Garrett Hien and PJay Smith walk into my house," Richey said. "They told me, 'We can't go to sleep tonight without discussing this. We've got to get this right.'

"That's the winning fabric that allows you - in a 48-hour window - to change your starting lineup, change a few different roles and do whatever we've got to do to get this thing right. That's what I'm most proud of tonight. ... I don't think people understand how hard it is to turn on a game that emotional in which you got beat that bad. Idealistically, you can think you're just supposed to wash that and flip the page. It's not that easy."

Richey met individually with a few players Tuesday evening, including VanderWal. Before Richey could begin to discuss what to do moving forward, VanderWal had an idea about the starting lineup.

"He said, 'Coach, take me out of the lineup. Don't do that to G (Hien). He's a fifth-year and I see that one of us has to come out. Let it be me.' You just don't see that. Nobody comes to you and is like, 'Coach, I get it.' " Richey said. "So then I meet with Garrett and tell him that we've got to get more spacing out there and he's got to play with more belief. ... I told him, 'I need your spirit and your leadership.'

"That's why this group has been special. We're not going to be defined by a loss or two here or there. We're going to be defined by how we finish."

How they finish is another reason for the starting lineup switch. Richey said he wanted to make it crystal clear that it was in no way a demotion for VanderWal. In the here and now, it was done to get a third shooter on the floor and space things out more. It also gives Furman the chance to bring a guy off the bench who always brings a ton of energy in VanderWal. In the long term, Richey believes Bronson's development is going to be a big part of Furman's fortunes in March.

"I don't think Ed's going to think he played perfect tonight, nor do I, but I do think he played with some swagger and aggression. This team needs a third guard that can take some stress off PJay and Nick," Richey said. "Ed's a three-level scorer who was playing unbelievable basketball this summer before his injury. ... It all comes down to what happens in March and I've got to get him these reps now to let him work through some things and build confidence.

"You're talking about an athlete, who can finish and can create. ... He's got the capability to make big plays and if we can put those on film, it changes how they're able to guard Nick and PJay."

Furman will wrap up the three-game homestand on Saturday when it hosts Chattanooga at 5 p.m. The Mocs (11-7, 3-2) enter the 100th meeting in this series coming off a thrilling 83-81 overtime win against Wofford on Wednesday. Saturday's game will be the second half of a doubleheader at The Well as the Furman women's team takes on UNC Greensboro at 2 p.m.

Wofford uses dominant effort to thump Paladins

Charles Johnston had 14 points and seven rebounds off the bench in
Furman's 81-62 loss to Wofford Monday. Photo courtesy of Furman

While Greenville got it worse than Spartanburg over the weekend, the winter storm didn't wreak nearly as much havoc as Wofford did to Furman Monday night at The Well. In a game that was postponed two days by the weather forecast, there was a thought that an exhausted Paladin squad could benefit following their long road trip. However, it appeared more like the Terriers spent the extra time sharpening their ankle-biting incisors as they gnawed Furman to a pulp in an 81-62 win.

It's the most lopsided Wofford win in the rivalry since a 74-49 decision in Spartanburg 10 years ago. That season, Furman finished in last place in the Southern Conference before making a run to the Tournament championship. From a student perspective, the thought could be that 'I waited two extra days to see my team get blown out and all I got was this lousy Who-fford t-shirt.' *

Rivalries tend to elicit more emotion from players, so who really knows how much fuel the classless shirt added to Monday's game. Wofford definitely came out with more fire than the Paladins did though. The Terriers (9-8, 3-1) led 8-0 just over two minutes in and 13-4 at the first media timeout. By the 11:41 mark, Wofford was up 20-9 and never led by fewer than 11 the rest of the way.

"Obviously, give Wofford a lot of credit. I thought they were the aggressor early and ... their energy was good off the bat. They saw the ball go in a lot early," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "Unfortunately, we came out on our heels. Typically in games like this, when you do that, it's hard to change that energy.

"I was proud of our effort in the second half. We scored more than twice the points we scored in the first half, but it was just too late. ... It was very similar to the game in Greensboro. They hit a ton of threes and we couldn't buy one. You're not beating people doing that."

Wofford's Justin Bailey, a USC Upstate transfer who led Blue Ridge High to the Class 3A state championship in 2022, celebrated his return to Greenville with a pair of threes to open the scoring. Reigning SoCon Player of the Week Kyler Filewich made a layup at the 17:56 mark to push the lead to 8-0.

After Garrett Hien's putback cut Wofford's lead to 13-9, the Terriers reeled off a 9-0 run over a less than three-minute span to take a commanding lead that was never challenged. From the 14:28 mark to the final seconds of the first half, Furman went 2-of-23 from the floor. As the final horn of the first half sounded, Charles Johnston's three-pointer bounced three times on the rim before falling through to end Furman's streak of 14 consecutive missed shots and cut the lead to 40-20 at the half.

"We didn't come into this game with the right mindset. We weren't ready to fight tonight and that can't happen. That's ultimately on us," Ben VanderWal said. "This is a tough league. If we come out and play the way we played tonight, it's going to be hard to win games.

"We've played with toughness at points this year. We didn't win the gams we've won playing soft. But in our last two losses, we've been out-toughed. ... We weren't able to punch back tonight and that can't happen." 

While Wofford cooled down to a 42.9 shooting percentage by halftime, the Terriers got 11 offensive rebounds off their 22 missed shots in the opening half. Meanwhile, Furman made 7-of-35 shots (20 percent) in the first half, including just 2-of-17 three-pointers (11.8). While the outside shooting was abysmal, the inside wasn't much better. The Paladins were 2-of-11 on layups and dunks in the first half.

Furman (14-3, 2-2) clearly played harder in the second half, but it was too little much too late. They still had a rough go of it defensively. Wofford shot 53.3 percent in the second half and hit 8-of-13 three-pointers. The Terriers missed 14 shots after halftime, but grabbed nine offensive rebounds. That math will never work for a team trying to rally from a 20-point halftime deficit.

"You can't make runs unless you can string stops together," Richey said. "Once that team (Wofford) gets to feeling good, they're really good and they felt great all night. We did nothing to change that.

"If teams can just go in and tell their guys to just push us around, put their hands on us and just start yelling and talking; if that stuff is going to rattle us, then you're going to get the outcome that you got tonight. You've just got to be able to go play your game."

For the game, Wofford scored 19 points off its 20 offensive rebounds, while Furman had just 12 points off its 18 offensive boards. Dillon Bailey finished with a game-high 19 points to lead the Terriers, while Corey Tripp had 16 points and six rebounds. Filewich added a stat line of nine points, 12 rebounds, six assists, one steal, no turnovers and no fouls.

Johnston finished with 14 points and seven rebounds in 18 minutes off the bench to lead Furman. The only other Paladin in double figures was Nick Anderson, who had 12 points and three steals. Anderson made 2-of-3 three-pointers, which is easily the fewest amount he's attempted since the Jacksonville game on Nov. 11.

Furman will have to get things turned around quickly as always physical East Tennessee State visits the Well on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. game. The Bucs (10-7, 3-1), who are coming off a 70-52 win over The Citadel on Saturday, are led by guard Quimari Peterson. Peterson leads the SoCon in scoring, averaging 18.2 points per game.

"We gave up 20 offensive rebounds, which is ridiculous, but we kept battling. These last few games, we've gotten a little adversity and clearly not playing as well," Richey said. "A lot of times, seasons come down to how you deal with adversity. This is something we've got to respond to and figure it out. ... Adversity can make you better if you let it.

"Our mentality has to change. ... We've got to come to the arena ready to fight on Wednesday. That's the reality of what this is. That's a decision. ... Who's going to be the more aggressive team? Who's going to come out and play hard? Who's going to exert more energy on defense? That's what wins games. We've got to understand that we can't compromise there." 

*Note: I understand marketing is not an easy task and I applaud Furman's efforts to create more buzz within any athletic program. Perhaps the next t-shirt giveaway could be something more Furman-like though, such as "Go Paladins" or "Beat Wofford." Or, if you want to have fun with a specific season like this one, something like "Find a Way Furman" with a graphic of a math riddle that Will Hunting would find challenging. Just a thought.