Paladins turn up defense to stay unbeaten

Matt Rafferty had 20 points, 11 rebounds and five assists in Furman's
65-51 win at UNC Asheville Sunday. Photo courtesy of Furman

ASHEVILLE - As it turns out, the Furman men's basketball team can win road games against non-Final Four teams as well this season. After their much-celebrated wins at Loyola-Chicago and Villanova, the Paladins made their third road trip of the season Sunday to UNC Asheville. They left with a 65-51 win to maintain their best start in school history at 7-0.

Sunday's highlights won't be displayed all over ESPN like Furman's other road wins this season. However, earning a convincing, business-like win on the road in an atmosphere more like they will see the rest of the season suited Coach Bob Richey just fine.

"It's really easy to get up for 5,000 people in a sellout (Loyola) and 9,000 people in a sellout (Villanova), but what are you going to do in a regular environment at our level when you've got to bring the energy," Richey said. "We're great teammates through energy. We play defense through energy and move the ball to create energy. ... For the most part, I thought we did that today."

After scoring 22 points in Furman's 83-72 home win over UNC Asheville last year, Matt Rafferty got plenty of attention from the Bulldogs on Sunday. Despite hitting the floor numerous times, Rafferty persevered with 20 points, 11 rebounds and five assists to lead the way. Jordan Lyons was the lone other Furman player in double figures with 18 points.

Despite the physical nature of the game at time, Furman committed just six fouls and forced 18 turnovers. Halfway through the first half, seven different Bulldogs had at least one turnover. The Paladins enjoyed a 21-11 advantage in points off turnovers and dominated down low with 40 points in the paint. The Paladins also had 17 assists on 27 baskets and nine steals.

The 51 points Furman allowed were the fewest given up in a road game since a 60-49 win at North Florida eight years ago. The Paladins held UNCA's leading scorer DeVon Baker, who entered averaging 16.2 points per game, to eight points on 3-of-11 shooting.

"It all starts with our defense. We didn't play the way we wanted to against Southern Wesleyan (on Wednesday) and we knew that," Rafferty said. "We played tough on defense and really locked them down at times. It was a good game overall."

Furman held a 22-18 lead with less than eight minutes left in the first half. Back-to-back layups by Rafferty and a Lyons' 3-pointer started a 16-4 run for the Paladins over the final 7:50 to take a 16-point lead into halftime.

UNCA (1-5) opened the second half with back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the lead to 10. Lyons answered with a 3-pointer to start at 12-2 run as Furman took its biggest lead of the game at 50-30. The Paladins never led by fewer than 14 the rest of the way.

Richey was pleased with much more of a complete effort than what Furman showed last time out against Southern Wesleyan on Wednesday. The Paladins will look to keep up the momentum when Southern Conference play begins Saturday at home against Western Carolina.

"Friday's practice really set the tone for this game. We wanted to have a good, 90-minute intense practice and get back to what we do - being great teammates, flying around on defense and moving the ball offensively," Richey said. "I thought we got back to who we are then ... and I thought we did what we needed to do today."

Richey added that the biggest takeaway from Sunday's game was Furman's need to continue to make its depth better. He said they also have to develop that depth quicker than in past years.

"When I say better I mean they've got be able to execute and know what we're doing," Richey said. "This is the first time we saw the matchup zone. I thought our main guys executed phenomenally on it. We shot layup after layup. All of sudden when we get into our depth, they kind of start looking around wondering what to do. That's the grind of college athletics.
"We're done with November and we're 7-0, which hasn't been done before and I'm proud of these guys. We know what are strengths are and what we're capable of. We know that we can go on the road in big-time venues and get wins. But the key to this thing is, can we be sitting here in a month before the meat of the league schedule and see that we've gotten better? That's going to be the biggest challenge."

• Clay Mounce was limited to 22 minutes Sunday as he took as shot to the back late in the first half. After starting the second half, Mounce went back to the locker room for a bit before returning to the bench then the game again. Richey said Mounce should be fine. Andrew Brown, who's been out with a foot injury since the Loyola game, didn't play Sunday but did dress out for the first time since then. Richey said Brown's progressing well, but they're still playing it safe.

Paladins bewildered by FCS playoff snub

Clay Hendrix looks on during the Furman's 35-30 win at Mercer, which
clinched the Paladins' 14th SoCon championship. Photo courtesy of Furman

Furman football has much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. In Clay Hendrix's second year as head coach, the Paladins won six of their last seven games to earn a share of their Southern Conference record 14th conference championship. The run included a four-game winning streak to end the regular season, three of which came on the road.

Unfortunately for Furman, that's how the season came to an end. The FCS playoff selection committee deemed the Paladins not worthy of at-large bid to the FCS' 24-team postseason. Following Saturday's regular season finales, including Furman's 35-30 win at Mercer, quite a few FCS prognosticators had the Paladins in their projected fields. Going by Sagarin computer rankings would've also put Furman among the 14 at-large tearms. But they weren't even included in the committee's "last three teams out" of the field.

As his team gathered to watch Sunday's selection show, Hendrix used a football analogy to describe the process of watching the selections get revealed to his team.

"When you're a running back and you carry the ball, but when you come up at the end of the play and you don't have the ball. Even though you said you were down and you might have been down, you're putting that in someone else's hands to make that decision," Hendrix said. "I said that's what this (selection show) is - putting it in someone else's hands.
"But I thought we earned our way in."

Afterwards, he tried to console a disappointed group.

"I told them that if this is the worst thing that ever happens to them, they'll have a good life," Hendrix said. "We did all we could do down the stretch, but we got penalized for getting off to a bad start. I'll remember last night (celebrating a share of the SoCon title) much more than today or next week for that matter."

Furman is just the second Southern Conference champion to not make the FCS playoffs. Chattanooga shared the 2013 title with Furman and Samford, but didn't make the field after losing its last two games of the season at Samford and at Alabama. Ironically, both Furman this year and Chattanooga that year had lopsided wins over the SoCon's automatic bid winners. The Paladins beat Wofford 34-14 this year, while the Mocs beat Furman 31-9 in 2013.

The lone other SoCon team to make this year's field was ETSU, which was among the "last three teams in" the field. While times are obviously much different for the once well-respected SoCon, that's not the case for the Colonial Athletic Association. A record six CAA teams made this year's field.

"That's shocking to me," Hendrix said Sunday following the selection show. "If they were all playing each other, they wouldn't be talking about six teams because they would beat each other out.
"Maine played two of the other five (CAA playoff teams) and they get the automatic bid and a seed."

Of the five other CAA teams that made the field, Maine only played Towson and Elon. The Black Bears only conference loss came to 4-6 William & Mary. Maine also lost to 5-5 Yale.

Elon (6-4) played four CAA playoff teams, which included the Phoenix snapping James Madison's 22-game CAA win streak. After losing its starting quarterback and running back to season-ending injuries, Elon lost three of its last five games including its last two.

Delaware (7-4) played three CAA playoff teams. Half of the Blue Hens' losses came to teams that didn't make the field, including a 42-21 home loss to Villanova (5-6) on Saturday. It takes a two-game losing streak into the playoffs.

Towson (7-4) actually played all the other CAA playoff teams - and went 1-3 over the last four weeks against them. As a reward for that performance down the stretch, Towson gets to host the lowest (Sagarin) rated team in the field, Duquesne, in round one.

James Madison (8-3) played three CAA playoff teams. The No. 6-ranked Dukes' resume includes an 11-point loss to 4-7 New Hampshire and non-conference wins over Norfolk State and Robert Morris.

And then there's Stony Brook (7-4), who played three CAA playoff teams. Stony Brook opened the season with a non-conference slate of a 38-0 loss at 4-7 Air Force before wins over Bryant and Fordham. Stony Brook ended the season Saturday with a loss at Albany, which was 2-8 and 0-7 in the CAA entering the game.

"Some of them (CAA teams), there's no question they deserve to be in ... but that's a farce," Hendrix said. "That'd be like us not having to play Wofford and Samford every other year."

The CAA's advantage in its structure is highlighted when looking at the Missouri Valley Conference. Led by No. 1 seed North Dakota State, the MVC has four of the top six FCS teams in the Sagarin ratings. Only three are headed to the playoffs though because all the MVC teams actually play each other, for the most part. It's a 10-team league where each member plays eight conference games, so every team plays all but one team in the league.

MVC member Indiana State (7-4) was the biggest FCS playoff snub per Sagarin. Among the eligible at-large teams, they were the highest-rated at No. 138, followed by No. 139 Montana and No. 148 Furman.

"For us (SoCon) to get two teams in, our league was penalized for being really balanced," Hendrix said. "I guess we should just go to 12 teams and two divisions. ... If you catch it right, you won't have to play the best teams."

The biggest head-scratcher has to be the fact that three Southland teams made the field, including at-large bids for first-time playoff participants Incarnate Word and Lamar. Samford, the SoCon's fourth-place team, had a higher Sagarin rating that any Southland team. Five SoCon teams rank higher than No. 173 Incarnate Word, while seven SoCon teams are ahead of No. 186 Lamar. Lamar's resume includes losses to 5-6 Northwestern State, 4-7 Southeastern Louisiana and a 77-0 loss to FBS member Texas Tech (5-6).

Southland champion Nicholls State gets to host San Diego, who earned the automatic bid out of the non-scholarship, non-defense Pioneer League. At No. 202 in Sagarin, San Diego is the second lowest-rated team in the field and had a strength of schedule that ranked No. 249. San Diego went 9-2 this season, including overcoming a 789-yard rushing performance by Davidson a 56-52 home win. The FCS playoff committee is chaired by Brad Teague, AD of the Southland's Central Arkansas, by the way.

Duquesne, who earned the automatic bid out of the Northeast Conference, ranks No. 209 in Sagarin. It's one of six playoff teams, including four at-large teams, that Furman ranks ahead of in Sagarin.

While there a few teams who will still be playing football the next two Saturdays that had one or more losses to teams with losing records, that wasn't the case for Furman. The Paladins' losses came to Clemson, a healthy Elon team that ended James Madison's 22-game CAA winning streak, SoCon co-champion ETSU and a Samford team that beat all three SoCon champions. Of those four losses, Furman starting quarterback Harris Roberts only played more than half a quarter against ETSU because of injuries. That was also Roberts' first game with any significant snaps in his career.

There's also plenty of playoff teams who don't have a win as impressive as Furman's 20-point win over Wofford, which was ranked No. 4 nationally at the time.

"They say the schedule matters, but obviously it didn't," Hendrix said. "And what does it matter to play your best at the end of the year?
"I just hate it for our kids because I don't know of anybody who had more adversity than we did."

Of all things, the weather could be partly to blame for Furman's snub as well. While Clemson was able to host Georgia Southern at noon on the Saturday that Hurricane Florence threatened, other teams in the Carolinas moved their games up from Saturday. But Colgate didn't want to visit Furman earlier to get in a rematch of a game that the Paladins won on the road, 45-17, last season. So Furman didn't get a chance against a team it led 31-0 less than 20 minutes into the game in 2017, and could find nobody else willing to play on the Paladins' off date.

"I'm sitting there thinking if we had played a Division I non-scholarship team, we'd be in," Hendrix said. "There was a team or two from a league that could've played us and wouldn't play.
"They can say what they want, but we got penalized for the hurricane."

The cancellation certainly didn't hurt Colgate (9-1). Facing a schedule that ranks 223rd-toughest in Division I, Colgate went undefeated against FCS teams to get a No. 8 seed in the playoffs.

Of course, all this could've been avoided for Furman if it had not blown a 27-6 third quarter lead in a 29-27 loss at ETSU. If the Paladins held on that night and everything else went like it did, Furman would've been the SoCon's outright champion and in the playoffs with the automatic bid.

But why does a bad quarter-and-a-half against a conference champion haunt Furman while other at-large teams had losses to teams with losing records? While Elon seems to have received the benefit of the doubt for its late-season injuries, the same courtesy wasn't granted to Furman over its early-season ones.

Some may point at the lack of a impressive non-conference win as what doomed the SoCon on Sunday. But one has to wonder what the Southland's impressive non-conference showing was? Nicholls overtime win at FBS' punching bag Kansas? Surely, you can't be serious.

In terms of national respect for the SoCon, does having the FCS' all-time passing leader, Samford's Devlin Hodges, playing for the fourth-place team not count for anything?

Something's definitely not right here, but there's nothing Furman can do about it now. While it's an especially tough deal for senior leaders such as captains Jaylan Reid, Aaquil Annoor and Roberts, there will be 29 different juniors, sophomores and freshmen who earned starts in 2018 coming back next season. That doesn't include freshman bandit Adrian Hope, who led all of Division I in sacks with 15 despite not making one start.

It's a pretty safe bet they'll be back in 2019 with a big chip on their shoulders.

Paladins improve to 6-0 for first time ever

Tre Clark scored a career-high 10 points in Furman's 74-57 win over
Southern Wesleyan Wednesday. Photo courtesy of Furman

It wasn't the prettiest encore to one of the biggest wins in school history, but Furman did what was necessary against a Division II opponent Wednesday night at Timmons Arena. Matt Rafferty scored a game-high 18 points - all in the first half - to lead the Paladins to a 74-57 win over Southern Wesleyan.

While Furman improved to 6-0 for the first time in school history, there was nothing else particularly noteworthy Wednesday. A media circus has buzzed around the team for two weeks, hitting an all-time high following the Paladins' overtime win at reigning national champion Villanova Saturday. Following all of that, a ho-hum 17-point win Wednesday was just fine with Furman coach Bob Richey.

"It's a relief to know that we're definitely not going to be on SportsCenter tonight," Richey said with a grin. "All of us have to get off our phones a little bit. It's hard because these kids' phones have been blowing up. ... All of a sudden, it's a lot coming at them.
"We created lifetime memories that will be there forever and we're going to appreciate what we've done, but in this moment we've got to put it behind us a little bit. We've got to get out of some of this external stuff and focus on the task at hand."

Richey said he was looking forward to the team enjoying Thanksgiving Thursday and kind of closing a chapter of the season along with it. With no more non-Div. I opponents left to play, Furman shifts into facing competition similar to what it will see in Southern Conference play beginning Sunday at 4 p.m. at UNC Asheville.

Richey wasn't pleased with sloppy play at times from the Paladins Wednesday. After committing three and six turnovers, respectively, against other non-Division I opponents Bob Jones and North Greenville this year, the Paladins had 15 Wednesday. While Furman limited Southern Wesleyan to 40.4 percent shooting from the floor, the Warriors did connect on 11-of-28 3-pointers (39.3 percent).

Meanwhile, Furman made just 5-of-21 shots (23.8 percent) from beyond the arc. The difference came in the paint, where the Paladins posted a 44-18 advantage. Furman also used 13 steals for a 20-11 edge in points off turnovers and a 14-0 advantage in fast break scoring.

"We didn't shoot the ball as well as we'd like and we let them shoot too well," Richey said. "For whatever reason, some of our starters had a rough night with focus and intensity.
"I knew there was going to be some physical fatigue, but I didn't really expect all the emotional fatigue. I think you could kind of see some of that tonight."

Much like last Thursday against North Greenville, Furman jumped out on top early Wednesday before allowing Southern Wesleyan to get back in it. The Paladins led 23-13 with 10:26 left, but suffered turnovers on each of their next five possessions and the Warriors went on a 9-0 run during that stretch.

A 3-pointer by Lamont Smith gave Southern Wesleyan its only lead of the night at 28-27 with 5:55 left in the half. Furman went a total of 5:34 between field goals until Noah Gurley's layup with 4:52 left in the half. The Warriors tied it for the last time at 30-30 with 4:32 left before Furman closed out the half on a 12-2 run to take a 42-32 lead into halftime.

"It wasn't the way we want to play. That's on me and all the leaders. ... We got the win. That's all that matters, but we've got the flip the page quickly," Rafferty said. "Being 6-0 is exciting and something the program has never done, but like Coach Richey just said, we can think about that stuff after the season. We've got to worry about our next game and just focus on getting better."

Clay Mounce hit a 3-pointer off an assist from Rafferty 12 seconds into the second half. Two minutes later, Rafferty found Mounce for three again. Thirty-five seconds later, Rafferty stole the ball and fired a beautiful beautiful bullet of a pass to Mounce who soared to the basket for a dunk to push Furman's lead to 50-34. The Paladins never held a lead of fewer than 13 the rest of the way.

No starter played more than 23 minutes for Furman. The only Paladin who played more was Tre Clark who came off the bench to score a career-high 10 points in 24 minutes. In addition to his game-high 18 points on 6-of-6 shooting from the floor, Rafferty had four assists and two steals. Mounce finished with 13 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Jalen Williams had nine points and eight rebounds in 13 minutes off the bench, while Mike Bothwell also scored nine. In just 14 minutes of playing time, freshman Jalen Slawson had four points, five rebounds, three blocked shots and three steals.

"Obviously, it wasn't our sharpest performance of the year, but we got the job done and we were able to play 10 guys pretty good minutes," Richey said. "Even though we weren't having the sharpest night, I thought it was important to get our depth some minutes.
"Our young guys brought some energy. Tre Clark brought some energy, Mike Bothwell had his best game of the year and Slawson was really active defensively and made some great plays. Jalen Williams got in there and mixed it up and got physical."

Furman stuns 2018 national champ Villanova

Matt Rafferty had 15 points and career-high 17 rebounds as Furman
stunned No. 8 Villanova, 76-68, Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman

So, this must be what it's like to be LeBron.

For the third time in eight days, the Furman men's basketball team was all over ESPN SportsCenter Saturday night. This time it came after the Paladins stunned eighth-ranked and reigning national champion Villanova, 76-68, in overtime in Philadelphia. All five starters scored at least 13 points as the Paladins improved to 5-0, it's best start to a season in 31 years. It's the highest-ranked team Furman has defeated since a win over No. 5 Davidson in 1965.

Eight nights earlier, Furman created national buzz with a win at the other 2018 Final Four participant on its schedule. Clay Mounce's last-second dunk lifted the Paladins to a 60-58 win at Loyola-Chicago. On Thursday, Jordan Lyons had Furman basketball trending again as he tied the NCAA record for most 3-pointers in a game with 15.

It was a game in between those two that received no national attention but turned out to possibly be a big factor in Saturday's win. On Tuesday, the Paladins blew a 14-point lead but found a way to pull out an overtime win against Gardner-Webb. That was Furman's first overtime victory in seven years. Now the Paladins have two in five days.

"The way we won Tuesday night's game helped us tonight," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "With dealing with the adversity in overtime Tuesday night being so fresh, it gave us a lot of confidence going into overtime.
"If you can get a group of people that buy into being connected, playing together, loving each other and trusting each other, you really get to experience things that are bigger than you. I think that's what this night shows us. We get a lifetime memory of being able to do something that we could only do as a group."

With the Paladins facing their third game in five days Saturday, Richey essentially gave the team the day off Friday. Instead of practicing together, they toured different historical parts of Philadelphia together. Villanova (2-2) was coming off a 73-46 home loss to Michigan in a rematch of last season's national championship game.

Given the Wildcats' previous result, there could've been a thought that they were going to take their frustrations out on Furman. But the well-rested Paladins quickly showed they weren't there to be anyone's punching bag. A 3-pointer by Mounce staked Furman to an 8-2 lead three minutes in. Villanova came back and led by as many as 10 in the first half, but a pair of Noah Gurley free throws with five second left cut the Wildcats' lead to 36-31 at the break.

Furman opened the second half on a 7-0 run on a layup by Matt Rafferty, a 3-pointer by Mounce and a jumper by Lyons that put the Paladins up 38-36 with 16:36 left. From that point no team led by more than four until Alex Hunter's 3-pointer with 4:40 left gave Furman a 58-53 lead.

The Paladins didn't make another field goal the rest of regulation, but Lyons hit a pair of free throws to tie the game 60-60 with 48 seconds left. Furman had one last chance to win it in regulation. After Hunter's 3-pointer missed in the final seconds, Villanova was called for hooking Rafferty's arm on the rebound with two seconds left. That was the Wildcats' seventh foul of the half sending Rafferty to the line for a 1-and-1.

Rafferty could do no wrong on Saturday, but his front end free throw went in-and-out no good. Rafferty swatted away Villanova's last second lob attempt and the game went to overtime. As the teams gathered together before the extra five-minute session, the poised senior showed no signs of lamenting his miss.

"He came to the bench going to overtime and had this big ol' smile on his face," Richey said. "The positivity of the break before the overtime started is what won us that game.
"Our ability to flip the script and not worry about the missed free throw, we just continue to do the next right thing. That's what has been so great about being around this group."

It's as if Rafferty smile told his teammates he knew what was coming.

Mounce hit a three to put Furman up 65-63. Lyons hit a jumper with 2:45 left to push the lead to four. It remained a 67-63 lead when Lyons' layup was blocked with 1:22 left, but Rafferty made his 17th rebound of the night his biggest. After working more time off the clock, Rafferty drained a fadeaway jumper along the baseline as the shot clock expired. That staked Furman to a six-point lead with 50 seconds left to essentially seal the Wildcats' fate. The Paladins hit 7-of-8 free throws over the final 39 seconds to seal the win.

Lyons only hit one 3-pointer Saturday, but found his points in plenty of other ways as he finished with a team-high 17. In addition to his career-high 17 rebounds, Rafferty had 15 points, four blocked shots, three assists, two steals and zero turnovers. It's the fourth game this season that Rafferty hasn't had a single turnover.

"Jordan was great. They were really pressuring him trying to make him bounce it and to his credit, he did bounce it. He drove it to score it. This is just the dividends that he's getting for all the work he did in the offseason," Richey said. "Matt just doesn't get fazed or rattled. He had 17 rebounds against one of the elite offensive rebounding teams in the country."

Mounce finished with 15 points and three steals, while Hunter scored a career-high 13. Gurley had a sensational linescore with 13 points, eight rebounds, four assists and just one turnover. Furman limited Villanova to 33.8 percent shooting from the floor (24-of-71), including 30 percent in the second half.

Paladins claim SoCon-best 14th championship

Harris Roberts threw a career-high five touchdown passes in Furman's
35-30 win at Mercer Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman

MACON, Ga. - Hope sealed Furman football's 14th Southern Conference championship Saturday. Hope is also what the Paladins still have for an at-large bid to the FCS playoffs.

Mercer looked to have one Hail Mary throw to the end zone on the final play of the game Saturday, but Furman freshman Adrian Hope sacked quarterback Kaelan Riley as the Paladins held on for a 35-30 win. Furman's win created a three-way tie for the SoCon crown between the Paladins, ETSU and Wofford.

Furman (6-4, 6-2) needed to hold Mercer to 16 points or less to secure the tiebreaker for the autobid. Those hopes ended on the first play of the second half when the Paladins allowed their third fumble return for a touchdown this season. While Furman will nervously watch the FCS playoff selection show Sunday at 12:30 p.m., Paladins coach Clay Hendrix believes they deserve an at-large bid.

"This bunch is deserving. We lost a (cancelled) game and we played a brutal schedule," Hendrix said. "One thing in our league is that everybody plays everybody. You don't get to not play the best teams. We're conference champions, so I'll live with whatever happens but we ought to be playing. I hope we get that chance."

In order to be in a position for a three-way tie for the title, Furman needed an ETSU loss to Samford Saturday. By the time the Paladins took a 20-10 lead into halftime, they were fully aware that that happened. They also knew they were faced with having to hold the Bears (5-6, 4-4) to no more than six points the rest of the way. Hendrix told his team simply to focus on the task at hand.

"I was told at half about the other score and I went immediately to our kids and said, 'Look, this is the deal. I don't want to hear another word. Let's go win a conference championship,' " Hendrix said. "I knew what the point thing was but I didn't really care about that. I just wanted to win a championship and I'm proud of our bunch for hanging in there and doing it."

Furman put up 245 yards rushing Saturday, as senior captain Harris Roberts directed some big gains off the option. But on the first play of the second half, Devin Wynn couldn't handle the pitch and Mercer's Sidney Otiwu returned the fumble 12 yards for a touchdown.

While Furman went three-and-out on its next possession, the Paladins recaptured the momentum with a 10-play, 95-yard drive that was capped by a 24-yard touchdown pass from Roberts to Ryan DeLuca. Later in the third quarter, Hope had a sack and forced a fumble that Jaylan Reid recovered. That led to a 42-yard field goal by Grayson Atkins. Atkins' 11th consecutive made field goal pushed the lead to 29-17.

But Bobby Lamb's Bears didn't quit. In a scene all too similar for Furman to the ETSU game earlier this season, Mercer called on former starting quarterback Riley on its next series. In the SoCon opener eight weeks earlier, ETSU trailed Furman 27-6 in the third quarter when it turned to former starting quarterback Austin Herink following a turnover. Herink led the Bucs to a 29-27 comeback win.

Riley came in Saturday and marched the Bears right down the field on a 75-yard scoring drive in 2:49. It ended on the 2017 SoCon Freshman of the Year's 11-yard touchdown pass to Marquise Irvin. After Furman went three-and-out, Mercer put together a 67-yard scoring drive in 2:35. Riley's 24-yard touchdown pass to Tyray Devezin gave the Bears a 30-29 lead with 11:37 left in the fourth quarter. Furman came up with a big stop of Devezin - who rushed for 185 yards - on the two-point conversion.

Unfazed, Furman's offense answered as Roberts completed 5-of-5 passes on its ensuing possession. Those were wrapped around Carson Maples two-yard gain on fourth-and-one near midfield. Roberts fifth touchdown pass of the game went for 11 yards to Jake Walker, putting Furman back ahead 35-30 with 6:52 left.

"It's been a year of adversity. Throughout that team has grown and matured, and we certainly had our share tonight too," Hendrix said. "The score to go up and then the drive to put us in position to punt it down there and start them in their five, and then our defense just coming up with big, big plays. It took a total team effort and that's what we had."

After Furman's defense forced a three-and-out, the Paladins drained 4:24 off the clock before punting it back to the Bears. The Paladins had tremendous coverage on Atkins' kick and tackled Irvin at the nine-yard line. A personal foul backed Mercer up to start at its own four-yard line with 1:28 left. The Bears pulled off 12 plays and went 50 yards in those final 88 seconds before Hope's sack and second forced fumble ended it, setting off a massive celebration by Furman.

"It was a storybook moment," Hope said. "You can't even make this stuff up."

Hope finished with 2.5 sacks Saturday giving the freshman reserve bandit 15 this season. That moved him into third-place on the school's single season sack ledger, a half-sack ahead of Kelly Fletcher in 1988 and one shy of Fletcher's 1989 total.

Roberts completed 16-of-23 passes for 189 yards with a career-high five touchdowns and no interceptions. The Paladins essentially ran between each 20-yard line then took to the air off play-action in the red zone. Devin Wynn had a career-high 28 carries for a career-high 135 yards, while Corey Watkins had a career-high 86 yards rushing.

Roberts has overcome injuries to have a terrific senior season in his only year of taking significant snaps. Now he's just hoping it's not over.

"We had a tough start to the season, but we just kept working to make Furman football better each week to get to this point," Roberts said. "We were able to handle a ton of adversity tonight and couldn't be more proud of the guys on this team.
"I'd do anything for at least one more (game)."

Amid playoff talk, Furman focuses on Mercer

Furman will try to bolster its FCS playoff hopes with
a win at Mercer Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman

By now, Furman football players and coaches are fully aware of what's on the line in the final Saturday of the FCS regular season. Any scenario that would allow the Paladins to either win the Southern Conference's autobid to the FCS playoffs or bolster their resume for an at-large bid requires one basic outcome: beating Mercer.

Furman (5-4, 4-2 SoCon) enters Saturday's 3 p.m. kickoff in Macon, Ga. having won five of its last six games. A win Saturday would ensure the Paladins at least a second-place finish in the league. A win combined with a Samford win over ETSU would give Furman a share of the SoCon championship, along with ETSU and Wofford. In a three-way tie, the Paladins would claim the league's autobid if they hold Mercer to 16 points or fewer. Otherwise, Wofford gets the autobid.

"If we don't take care of business, nothing else matters," Furman coach Clay Hendrix said. "I told the team the same thing last week and I was proud of how they responded.
"This week, we've battled the weather but we got out there every day and got good work in. I'd be surprised if we didn't go play well."

The Paladins are coming off their most complete overall performance of the season in last week's 49-13 victory at VMI. Furman piled up a season-high 590 yards of total offense while holding the Keydets to their lowest scoring output of the season against FCS competition.

Despite having just 149 yards of total offense last week at Chattanooga, Mercer somehow pulled out a 13-9 win. That gives the Bears (5-5, 4-3), coached by Furman legend Bobby Lamb, a chance at a winning season and their best SoCon finish.

So along with SoCon title and playoff hopes in the air, two great friends going against each other in Hendrix and Lamb, there's also a game that could provide plenty of drama based on the series. Each of the four meetings since Mercer joined the SoCon have been decided by seven points or less.

With ETSU and Samford kicking off at 1 p.m., that result is bound to make its way to the Furman sideline well before its game is over. While trying to get his team focused on the No. 1 goal Saturday, Hendrix said he has thought about how game management plans could go if the Paladins are in a position to limit Mercer to fewer than 16 points.

"Have you thought about it (the scenario) and try to have a little bit of a plan? Yeah. You have a few scenarios in your head," Hendrix said. "But again it goes back to if you lose 14-10, it doesn't matter."

Hendrix believes that any Furman win - no matter the score, or what happens elsewhere - should ensure a trip to the playoffs. No matter how "down" the SoCon may be considered to be, it's hard to fathom that a SoCon team that finishes first or second after winning six of its last seven games and leads the league in strength of schedule could be left out.

"If you look at how we've played down the stretch, and who we've played (all season) - we didn't have a layup on there anywhere," Hendrix said. "I think our kids have played their best football down the stretch and at the end of the day, I think you try to put the best teams in there."

Lyons makes NCAA record 15 3-pointers

Jordan Lyons tied the NCAA record for 3-pointers in a game (15) and had 54
points in Furman's win over North Greenville. Photo courtesy of Furman

While Furman junior guard Jordan Lyons had not exactly been lighting it up from the floor the last two games, he hit some clutch 3-pointers. Last Friday, Lyons hit a game-tying 3-pointer with three minutes left in the Paladins' win at Loyola. On Tuesday, Lyons' only successful 3-pointer of the night tied the game with two minutes left in overtime of Furman's win over Gardner-Webb.

On Thursday night against North Greenville, Lyons had some 3-pointers down the stretch that were also dramatic, but for very different reasons than the previous two games. After taking nearly 43 minutes for his first 3-pointer two days earlier, it took 33 seconds for his first one Thursday.

And he seemingly never stopped making them.

Lyons tied an NCAA - and Southern Conference - record with 15 3-pointers to lead the Paladins to a 107-67 win. He finished with 54 points, which is the eighth-highest scoring game in school history. It's the most points by a Paladin since Darrell Floyd scored 56 in Furman's 124-87 win over Clemson in 1955. It's also the most points by any Furman player not named Floyd or Frank Selvy.

"We knew Jordan wasn't going to shoot this low (percentage) this season. We knew his time was coming because he's worked so hard at it," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "He's been shooting great in practice and taking great shots. The biggest thrill for me to see him have the night he had is because he was due.

"His body fat went from 17 to 10 this summer. That's huge. His shot selection, discipline and leadership all got rewarded tonight. This wasn't accidental."

Even in the pursuit of an individual honor, Richey said he was proud of how it was still within the "team" concept.

"The neatest thing about tonight was the engagement of his teammates to want to get that done. About the 10-minute mark, you start thinking about your sub patterns and getting the bench in the game," Richey said. "Matt Rafferty, of all people, came to me and said, 'Coach, we've got to leave him out there. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.' Everybody wanted to see him get it.

"The other neat thing about that is (former walk-on) Brady Schuck scored five points tonight and Jordan assisted on all five. So in the middle of the pursuit, he was still a great teammate."

The record of 15 3-pointers in a Division I game was established by Marshall's Keith Veney against Morehead State in 1996. Veney held that record alone for 22 years before Robert Morris' Josh Williams tied it, ironically enough, on Wednesday night.

Lyons also set an NCAA record with 34 3-point attempts. With everyone in Timmons Arena knowing what was up when Lyons tied the record with 3:09 left to play, he missed his last five 3-point attempts. He was fouled on two others as the Crusaders aggressively guarded him and made 4-of-6 free throws to push his point total to 54. It's the most points scored by a Division I player since Kentucky's Jodie Meeks scored 54 against Tennessee in 2009.

"It's an unbelievable night and unbelievable feeling. My coaching staff and teammates all believe in me and they instill this confidence in me on a daily basis," Lyons said. "I'm truly blessed to be playing with the type of teammates, coaches and people we have here.

"It's an amazing night I'll never forget ... and it has nothing to do with just me. This night will forever be about this whole program doing it collectively."

Furman tied the school's team record with 21 3-pointers and set a new school record with 49 attempts, for a 42.9 percentage from beyond the arc. While Lyons and his teammates were trying to get him the record throughout much of the second half, they stayed within what Furman does offensively. The Paladins (4-0) finished with 24 assists, six turnovers and 14 steals. While Matt Rafferty had a team-high six assists, Lyons and Tre Clark each had four. Rafferty added 10 points while freshman Jaylon Pugh scored a career-high nine.

Forgotten in the excitement of Lyons' night was the fact that midway through the first half the game was tied 21-21. After Lyons' 3-pointer put Furman ahead 33-29 with seven minutes left in the first half, an unhappy Richey called a timeout. Richey was not at all pleased with a defense that had allowed the Crusaders to go 5-for-6 on 3-pointers to that point.

"When you try to play defense as a unit and connected, one guy that doesn't get in his stance or misses an assignment can make the whole possession look awful," Richey said. "I didn't think our ball pressure was where it needed to be and we were losing shooters.

"But that's some of the stuff that we're going to go through early. ... We had to clean some stuff up and I thought we did. I thought we came out with a good, deliberate intent in the second half."

During that timeout, Furman got the message loud and clear. North Greenville went 1-for-9 from beyond the arc the rest of the night. Meanwhile, the Paladins went on a 17-2 over the final 4:07 of the first half to take a 55-38 lead into halftime. Lyons had 31 points and hit 9-of-16 3-pointers in the opening half, breaking the school record of eight made 3-pointers with 2:08 left in the half.

The Paladins stretched the lead to 31 just 5:10 into the second half and led by as many as 42.

After taking care of business twice at home this week following last Friday's emotional win at one of the 2018 Final Four participants, Furman's hits the road to face another one Saturday. The Paladins take on reigning national champion Villanova at 5 p.m.

"It's a program that I respect a lot - the way they play and how they do everything on and off the court," Richey said. "They're as fundamental as it gets. They're going to be raged up after what happened last night (a 73-46 home loss to Michigan), so we'll get their best shot.

"It's going to be a monster challenge for us. We're not going to be able to go up there and have success trying to do anything other than what we do. ... We're going to go try to play the style we play the best that we can, and then just see what happens."