Paladins rally past Princeton in Mid-Major clash

Furman's Garrett Hien blocks a shot during the Paladins'
69-63 win over Princeton. Photo courtesy of Furman

Furman playing the majority of this season's home games in an arena that's hosted NCAA Tournament games only added to the aura of its matchup against Princeton last Saturday. Playing in front of some NBA scouts on press row at Bon Secours Wellness Arena, the two Mid-Major powers put on a show that felt like a No. 12 vs. No. 13 seed March matchup to go to the Sweet 16.

The Paladins raced out to a big lead in the first half only to have the Tigers take command in the second half. For the second consecutive game though, Furman's defense held an opponent to no more than three made field goals over the final nine-plus minutes. PJay Smith scored a game-high 23 points and the Paladins survived without him for the final 1:50 to earn a 69-63 victory.

The four-point win for Furman (9-1) comes a year after a heartbreaking one-point loss at Princeton. On that day, the Tigers rallied from an 11-point deficit with four minutes to play and got three offensive rebounds on its final possession before hitting a game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer.  

"That's a heck of a win in what's been a great series with them. That's two classic games. I don't care what level you're at," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "You got down to the last five minutes, it comes down to who gets the most stops and I thought that was us today.

"They scored three baskets in the final 11 minutes. For us to be able to do that good a job on their talent. The have the returning Ivy League Player of the Year (Xaivian Lee), who had a handful of scouts here today and was coming off a triple-double. I thought our team did a phenomenal job on him."

Playing in front of 3,227 fans at The Well for the first time in 22 days seemed to energize the Paladins following their long, tiring road trip. Garrett Hien and Nick Anderson helped Furman race out to leads of 7-0 and 14-2. Smith then got heated up and his three-pointer staked the Paladins to a 22-9 at the 9:42 mark of the first half. Princeton (7-4) got the first half lead down to three with three minutes remaining, but Hien's putback at the buzzer gave Furman a 37-29 lead at the break.

Hien's tip-in gave him 10 points in a scintillating first-half performance. That featured a phenomenal dunk on one end and a tremendous blocked shot on the other 50 seconds later that got the home crowd roaring.

"I love Garrett to death. He's one of the most unique guys I've ever coached. His care is as high as anybody I've ever coached," Richey said. "He plays with a lot of emotion and sometimes can get emotional, but he kind of needs that. He needs to go out there and play with a certain spirit."

Smith pushed the lead to 11 on a three-pointer to open the second half before the Tigers quickly turned the tide. Princeton went on an 18-2 run over the next six minutes to take a 47-42 lead. Anderson hit a three to cut the lead to two before Princeton's CJ Happy answered with a three. Following a Furman turnover and foul, Peyton Seals hit both free throws to give the Tigers their biggest lead at 52-45 with 11:27 remaining.

That's when Furman really turned up the defense as Princeton only made three more field goals following Happy's three with 11:46 left. A steal by Anderson led to a Tom House three-pointer that got the Paladins final rally going. The lead was sliced to two 18 seconds later when Smith hit a pair of free throws after he made a steal.

Princeton leading scorer Xaivian Lee answered with a layup to push the lead to 54-50 with 9:51 remaining. After that bucket, a Princeton team that made 1-of-13 field goals over the first eight minutes of the game made 2-of-12 over the final nine minutes.

"We got off to a great start, but it really started on the defensive end," said Ben VanderWal, who was key part of that defensive performance. "This team has a lot of unselfish guys who are just focused on winning. Whatever it takes to win the game, no matter what lineup is out there or what the situation is like.

"So when you get in these types of games, you don't really tense up. You almost loosen up because you believe in your connection. You believe in your guys."

A putback by Tyrese Hughey was followed by a steal and a layup by Smith to tie the game 54-54 with 8:46 left. Smith's layup with 7:10 remaining gave Furman a two-point lead it never relinquished. That started a little two-minute flurry by Smith in which he had two rebounds, a jumper, a steal and then an assist on VanderWal's layup that gave Furman a 62-56 lead with 5:18 remaining.

Points were hard to come by for both teams the rest of the way and then Furman had to overcome the loss of its point guard when Smith was whistled for his fourth foul with 2:12 left and his fifth foul 22 seconds later. On a day when he was enjoying a truly epic performance, Smith fouled out on a loose ball collision.

"It was frustrating. I was in a bad spot at the wrong time (on the fifth foul). I was flipping out a little bit, but one of our younger guys - Eddrin Bronson - told me 'we're going to take care of the rest,' " Smith said. "I just had faith in my team and they went out there and executed. ... It's not about me. It's about all of us. At any time, anybody can step up and close out a game."

In addition to his huge offensive night, Smith was also tasked with guarding Lee. Lee, who declared for the NBA Draft last April before deciding to return to Princeton for his junior year this season, made a pair of free throws after Smith's fourth foul to cut the lead to 62-60.

Furman's lone field goal over the last five minutes came when VanderWal made a layup and was fouled with 1:12 left to push the lead to 64-60. While VanderWal missed that free throw, Furman made 5-of-7 at the foul line over the final 51 seconds to preserve the win.

"You have to withstand adversity. We're up two (when Smith fouls out) and at that point, it's about the team. That's what it's always been with this group," Richey said. "I think in this new day (of college athletics), you're going to have a lot of people wearing the same jersey but very few teams. I think our group has bought into being a team."

In addition to his game-high 23 points, Smith finished with eight rebounds, four steals and three assists. Hien had 10 points and seven rebounds, while Nick Anderson scored nine on three threes. VanderWal had seven points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots, while Charles Johnston and House also finished with seven points.

After being held to two points on 1-of-5 shooting and no rebounds in the first half, Lee finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists to lead Princeton.

Following a well-deserved week-long break from basketball, Furman returns to action at The Well on Saturday when it hosts South Carolina State (5-6) at noon.

Road weary Paladins find spark, rally past FGCU

Ben VanderWal had 10 points and energized Furman as it rallied for a 76-73
win at Florida Gulf Coast Wednesday. Photo courtesy of Furman

The last leg of a 12-day, four-game road trip that took the Furman basketball team across the country came in Fort Myers, Fla. Wednesday at Florida Gulf Coast. For much of the first half and into the second, the Paladins looked a little tired. The defensive intensity that powered Furman to a 7-0 start before suffering its first loss the previous time out at No. 1-ranked Kansas was lacking.

The Paladins trailed by 10 points with 9:40 remaining when Furman coach Bob Richey tried to up that intensity by switching to a full-court press. The deficit grew to 13 just seven seconds later, but the press turned out to be the spark the Paladins needed. Furman went on a 20-4 run over the next eight minutes and held on for a stunning 76-73 victory.

"You've got to find a way to win games like this and our guys just kept hanging in there. Even when the score was close, we just weren't playing well. We had only eight deflections by halftime," Richey said on the Furman Radio Network's postgame show. "It just felt like we were stuck in the mud. I called timeout with 10 minutes to go and started pressing because we didn't have any answers in terms of getting our guys to fly around and play our style of basketball.

"Of course, they bang a three in the corner right at the start of it. The staff asked me if we should stay in it and I said, 'yeah, it's our only shot.' Then all of sudden we got some turnovers and sped the tempo up. ... We did what we had to do to get our fourth road win, which matches our road win total from all of last year."

While the Paladins (8-1) may have been a step slow in the first half, it was still a back-and-forth battle for much it. Tyrese Hughey's putback with 3:37 left gave Furman a 32-31 lead, but the Eagles (3-6) responded with a 13-1 run to close out the half. For the second consecutive game, Furman's opponent made a buzzer-beating shot to put the Paladins in an 11-point halftime hole. Zavian McLean nailed a three-pointer as time expired to stake the Eagles to a 44-33 lead at the break.

Furman's deficit ranged from four to 13 throughout the second half until the rally. FGCU beat the Paladins' first press when Rory Stewart hit a 3-pointer to push the lead to 65-52 with 9:33 remaining. The Eagles made only three shots and had five turnovers the rest of the way.

A key sequence in the wild comeback came on a 7-0 scoring flurry in a span of 24 seconds. After Charles Johnston hit a layup with 5:19 remaining, PJay Smith had a layup 11 seconds later. On FGCU's next possession, Nick Anderson went "Michael Jordan against Karl Malone in the title-clinching sequence of the 1998 NBA Finals" with a steal from behind. That led to a 3-pointer by Smith that cut the lead to 67-66 with 4:55 left.

On Furman's next trip, Johnston hit a pair of free throws to give the Paladins their first lead since Hughey's putback late in the first half. Garrett Hien's turnaround jumper in the paint with 2:50 left gave Furman a 70-69 lead that it never relinquished.

Anderson hit two free throws with 19 seconds left and Smith added a pair with 3.6 seconds left to push the lead to 76-73. Furman held on as Jevin Muniz, who hit a buzzer-beating game-winning shot in the Eagles' 80-78 win at Florida Atlantic in their last game, saw his 35-foot three at the buzzer come up short.

Smith finished with a team-high 18 points to lead the Paladins. Anderson had 10 points, four assists, two steals and one turnover, while Ben VanderWal had 10 points, three assists and three huge blocked shots. VanderWal is the 11th different Paladin to score in double figures in a game this season. Hien finished with eight points and seven rebounds, while Johnston also scored eight.

"I thought Chuck (Johnston) had a great game. He really came on strong for us. Garrett played like an absolute winner. He competed all night long. Ben VanderWal was a complete stud. He made all the winning plays," Richey said. "Our team, when we finally start flying you could feel the energy shift. PJay and Nick show up and hit some big shots and big free throws down the stretch."

Furman returns to action Saturday at noon when it hosts Princeton in a matchup of elite mid-major programs at The Well.

Second-half surge helps Kansas roll over Paladins

The national anthem is played prior to Furman's 86-51
loss to Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse Saturday.

LAWRENCE, Kan. - Furman entered Saturday's game at Kansas ranked seventh in the country in field goal percentage defense (35.4) and ninth in scoring defense (58 points per game allowed). Five of the Paladins' first seven opponents were held below 37 percent shooting and three failed to get to 50 points.

The No. 1-ranked Jayhawks were a bird of an entirely different feather. Kansas shot 60.9 percent from the floor, including 64.5 percent in the second half, to hand Furman its first loss, 86-51, before 15,300 at historic Allen Fieldhouse. After none of the Paladins' previous three opponents made more than 17 field goals in a game, the Jayhawks (7-0) made 20-of-31 - in the second half alone.

Furman has been particularly strong guarding the perimeter this season and that really didn't change Saturday. Kansas made no three-pointers in the first half and finished 4-of-17 from three. The Jayhawks didn't need much from the outside since they made an astounding 35-of-47 two-pointers and enjoyed a 62-14 advantage on points in the paint. Meanwhile, Furman was held to 29.8 percent shooting, including 26.9 percent (7-of-26) in the second half.

"They're currently the No. 1 team in the country for a reason. I think their size definitely bothered us. Their physicality on the perimeter definitely bothered us. But I also thought we got a lot of looks. ... I'll be interested in watching film to see how many open ones we missed. I thought we had some quality possessions where we missed," Furman coach Bob Richey said. "The worst thing we did today was get back. Our transition defense was really poor. We've been fairly good in transition defense a lot of the year, but we haven't been playing Kansas.

"I thought there were some positives. We're going to learn a lot from this game. I'm sure we won't see another team like this unless we make the Final Four."

In addition to being a battle of two of the remaining 19 undefeated Division I teams entering Saturday, it was also a matchup of two of the top 20 winningest active coaches percentage-wise. Kansas coach Bill Self ranked third at 76.7 percent (816-248), while Richey ranked 18th at 69.7 percent (163-71). In the first half, their proficiency for pushing the right buttons was on display.

A soft Furman pass was easily intercepted by Kansas' K.J. Adams, who turned it into an layup on the other end. That pushed the Jayhawks lead to 10-5 with 16:36 left in the first half when Richey called timeout. Coming out of that timeout, PJay Smith knocked down a three-pointer. A few minutes later, Tom House drove for a layup to give Furman (7-1) its second lead of the game at 16-14.

The Jayhawks led 27-18 with eight minutes left in the half when the Paladins went on an 8-0 run over the next 97 seconds. Eddrin Bronson hit a pair of threes sandwiched around a Cooper Bowser layup as Furman cut the lead to one with 6:23 left when Self called timeout. After that break, the Paladins went 1-for-11 from the floor with two turnovers the rest of the half. The biggest blow came when Flory Bidunga's putback just before the halftime buzzer gave Kansas its first double-digit lead at 39-28.

"That was a big play. It's funny when you watch before half plays - whether you're up or down - how it just gives you some juice headed into the locker room," Richey said. "Now you're down 11 and you've got to have a really good start to the half and we didn't."

Nick Anderson opened the second half with a three-pointer for Furman and a minute later, a dunk by Bowser cut the lead to 41-33. But it was all Kansas after that. After a missed layup by Adams with 18:43 left, the Jayhawks' next missed shot came at the 9:49 mark. Ten consecutive made field goals helped Kansas stretch its lead to 25 and Furman never got the lead under 22 the rest of the way.

"You've got to keep it within 10 to keep some game pressure on them. Once it gets to 15-plus, everything kind of relaxes. Everybody loosens up and the crowd gets into it. On the other side, you tighten up. I thought we had a little bit of that today," Richey said. "In games like this, the reality of it is that you need to play really well and hope they play C or less. They were A-plus today. They were really good."

After scoring 10 points off the bench to help Furman secure a victory over Seattle in Las Vegas last Tuesday, Bronson scored a career-high 14 Saturday to lead the Paladins. While it was by no means the outcome Furman was seeking, Bronson believes there are things to build on off of the experience.

"Playing in Allen Fieldhouse is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. For me personally, my teammates put a lot of faith and trust in me so I'm glad I was able to go out there, play hard and knock down some shots," Bronson said. "There were a lot of details we can go over tonight that will help us be ready when we play teams in our conference."

Garrett Hien was Bronson's only teammate in double figures with 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Smith, Furman's leading scorer, was held to six points on 2-of-10 shooting but he did have five assists and no turnovers.

"Eddrin's a freshman. He's going to make some mistakes, but he's very talented. It's taken him awhile to get his body and endurance back from injury, but you could see that talent tonight. ... For the rest of his life, he's going to be able to say 'I went to Kansas and led Furman in scoring.' He's got a bright future." Richey said. "Garrett was a bright spot tonight as well. ... I thought he played with some good aggression tonight and we're going to need him to continue to do that."

Adams, who's better known for being one of the best defensive players in the country, scored a career-high 22 points to lead Kansas. Adams, who was averaging 8.5 points per game entering Saturday, made 10-of-12 field goals and had six rebounds, three assists, one block, one steal, one turnover and no fouls.

Furman will wrap up this long four-game road trip at Florida Gulf Coast Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Eagles (3-5) enter Wednesday's game coming off a pair of close victories against Sunshine State rivals. Florida Gulf Coast defeated Florida International, 60-59, on Sunday, Nov. 24, and had a buzzer-beating, 80-78 win at at Florida Atlantic on Saturday.

"We're going to try to rest up. I mean, we're exhausted. We've been on the road since Friday (Nov. 22). But this is part of it," Richey said Saturday. "We've already won three road games. I'm not sure how many road games we won last year, but it wasn't many more. So we've got another opportunity against a good team. They've had a hard schedule. I'm sure it will be a big-time atmosphere and we've got to be ready to play."

Old friends happy to see Furman vs. Kansas again

Wayne Simien (23) and Nick Sanders, right, celebrate with Leavenworth High teammates after
winning the Kansas Class 6A state championship in 2000. Photo courtesy of Nick Sanders

As of Saturday morning, there were 19 Division I men's college basketball teams still undefeated this season. By Saturday night, that number will go down by at least one after Furman plays at Kansas at 6 p.m. on ESPN+. The Paladins (7-0) get to test their mettle against the No. 1-ranked Jayhawks (6-0) in what will be their stiffest quiz all season.

It will be so much more than that for Furman though. It's an opportunity to slay a college basketball blue blood in one of the most hallowed grounds in all of sports in Allen Fieldhouse. The Paladins will undoubtedly "pay heed" when entering the Phog as the iconic banner warns, but they will undoubtedly be excited to shoot their shot.

"It's going to be an incredible challenge. ... It's going to take our best and we know that. We've gone into some venues before and had some wins and had some losses. But with the wins over Villanova, Virginia Louisville, they're not going to take us lightly," Furman coach Bob Richey said on the Furman Radio Network postgame show Tuesday. "Coach (Bill) Self has done this long enough that he's going to have them ready to play. We're going to have to get to Kansas City and really put a great game plan together."

After leaving Las Vegas with a gritty win over Seattle late Tuesday night, the Paladins spent Thanksgiving together in Kansas City and visited the Basketball Hall of Fame Friday before practicing at Kansas.

On Saturday, Furman will be tasked with trying to drop Self's home record against non-conference opponents to 156-7. Self is the winningest coach in school history and only the eighth for a program that began 126 years ago. Of the other seven, the only one with a losing record is the first, Dr. James Naismith. All he did was invent basketball and his original rules for the sport are on display in an attached portion of Allen Fieldhouse.

This game will also become a special memory for two old friends who were in attendance the only other time Furman faced Kansas - 31 years ago. It's a story some may have never heard if not for another tradition at Kansas - Senior Night speeches. After the last home game of the season, each Kansas senior speaks to the home crowd about their experience of being a Jayhawk.

On March 2, 2005, Kansas All-American Wayne Simien wrapped up his home career with 25 points and 20 rebounds in a 72-65 win over rival Kansas State. He still had enough left in the tank to deliver a 20-minute speech following the game. The Kansas native started with a story about the first time he saw a game at Allen Fieldhouse. He mentioned that he and his best friend saw Kansas defeat Furman that day and oddly enough, he ended up at Kansas while his friend ended up at Furman.

That lifelong friend Simien spoke of is former Furman big man Nick Sanders.

"I had a lot of people to thank, but I had to start from the beginning," Simien said this week when recalling the speech. "He's been a friend my whole life."

Simien and Sanders grew up together in Leavenworth, Kansas, about 35 miles northeast of the University of Kansas in Lawrence. While Simien lives in Kansas and Sanders in Charleston, the two routinely keep in touch these days.

"Wayne and I went to school together from kindergarten to 12th grade. We played middle school, high school and AAU basketball together. So we were together a lot," Sanders said. "Leavenworth is about 40 minutes or so from Lawrence, so we're kind of in the shadow of that. Lots of people who saw us play on Friday nights would then go see KU basketball on Saturdays."

Sanders admits he has no real recollection of that first Furman-Kansas game, which is kind of understandable. He and Simien were 10 years old at the time and a Jacque Vaughn-led Jayhawks team rolled to a 101-60 victory on Dec. 20, 1993.

"No one in my family followed college sports at all, so when I got an invitation from a coach or a friend I would go because it was the Jayhawks," Sanders said. "I really had no other appreciation for who they were playing."

Wayne Simien and Nick Sanders following a 13-and-under
AAU Tournament. Photo courtesy of Nick Sanders

Longtime Furman fans will recall Sanders as a tall, blond forward, who left everything he had on the court every night. There's basketball players who play hard and then there's "midwestern hard." It's a different level that's seems kind of innate for those born in the heartland of America. Sanders and Simien had it. Matt Rafferty had it. Ben VanderWal has it.

That hard-working, connected playing style has been utilized to perfection by coaches like Richey, Self and Niko Medved when he began Furman's transformation into a top mid-major program. Sanders said Medved was actually the first college coach he ever spoke with. That happened well before Medved was a Furman assistant on the Larry Davis-coached teams that Sanders played on though.

"When he was at Macalester in St. Paul, Minnesota my freshman year of high school, he came to recruit a guy who was a senior. He ended up signing that kid, but saw me play," Sanders said. "That summer, he got hired by Coach (Larry) Davis at Furman and they started recruiting me basically right away."

As his high school career went along, Sanders and Simien were part of a national championship AAU team when they were 16. That led to a bunch of calls from different places, but Sanders said that Furman had "the right mix of everything," and had been recruiting him the longest. While he may not have remembered the first time he saw the Paladins play, he vividly recalls his first trip to campus.

"(Medved) said 'Just come to campus, man. Just come to campus. I'm from the Midwest too. I promise you won't regret it.' " Sanders said. "I'll never forget coming around the off ramp on 25 into the front gate of Furman and seeing the trees, manicured hedges and fountains. That was it. They didn't have to do anything else. I was done. I was like, 'give me the national letter of intent.' "

That love of Furman never wavered once his playing and coaching days concluded.

"I've been uniquely blessed and positioned to sort of a seat to the last 20 years of basketball at Furman. I played for Larry Davis, coached with Jeff Jackson, was recruited by Niko and then been really close with Bob since about 2007," Sanders said. "To see how this program has been built and continues to grow ... for those of us who sort of live and die by Furman basketball, this has been an incredible ride." 

Simien worked his way to an All-American career at Kansas that provided him an opportunity to later become part of an NBA championship team with the Miami Heat, while Sanders worked to have a productive career at Furman and also a brief professional career. After playing overseas for a time, Sanders returned to Greenville to work as an assistant on Jackson's staff.

Sanders is the Associate Dean of Students and Career Services at the Charleston School of Law. His coaching days now consist of leading his son's seventh grade team. He coaches them like he was coached.

"We talk about every day in practice, we talk about the most fun way to play is by competing as hard as you possibly can on every single possession," Sanders said. "I truly believe that. The proof is in the pudding.

"I try not to bore my kids with too many old stories, but I've tried to communicate with them is that I made it my mission to squeeze every ounce of performance out of whatever ability I had. That required me to play harder than most, but that got me a long way. It got me a free education, a college playing career and an opportunity to play overseas."

Simien said that type of work ethic has been something he's admired about Sanders his entire life. He said he's seen it on the basketball court and off.

"As a basketball player and a friend and now as a husband and father, it's been really impressive to see the sustained success he's had in life," Simien said. "He's able to impart that into other people around him now, whether its the players he coached at Furman, the students he gets to teach now or his young sons that are growing up probably wanting to be Paladins as well."

Nick Sanders during his Furman days.
 Photo courtesy of Furman

While he can't recall the first meeting between the Paladins and Jayhawks, Sanders has dreamed of this second meeting since he was at Furman. With every "Legends Weekend" that sees former Paladins return to mingle with the current team, Sanders has asked Richey about getting Kansas on the schedule. Sanders has also asked Simien about it in recent years as Simien now works as the Associated AD of Engagement and Outreach at Kansas. 

"I've always felt a personal connection to these two programs. We played in Kansas City when I was in college, so that was fun to get home. We played in Iowa and Saint Louis, but we never played Kansas. That would've been a dream," Sanders said. "I never played there. Never shot a basket at Allen Fieldhouse, but the idea of Furman playing the Jayhawks was always a bucket lister for me."

"It's going to be a dream come true for me to take my boys there, show them the original rules of basketball, see Wayne's jersey in the rafters and hang out with the Furman team a little bit. It's going to be a fun trip."

In addition to his administrative duties at Kansas, Simien has also worked as a color commentator on some basketball broadcasts. He will be on the call for Saturday's game and is looking forward to seeing the Paladins in person again.

"I've been a huge Furman fan ever since Nick went there and I'm a huge Bob Richey fan. So much so that I went out of my way at a Final Four to go sit in a coaching seminar he was giving," Simien said. "I'm sure he had opportunities to take a bigger job, but it's been really cool to see him stay in his home state and keep building that environment.

"When you get a leader that's really passionate about being a caretaker steward of a program that they've been entrusted with more so than just making a name for themselves to try to get the next job, that can really create a special environment that a lot of people want to be a part of."

While Simien's broadcast duties won't allow he and Sanders to sit together Saturday like they did 31 years ago and their rooting interests will be quite different from when they were kids, they're both excited to be among the 15,000 who will be in attendance.

"Undefeated teams makes for an incredible matchup on a Saturday and it will be fun to give it a call," Simien said. "I'll have the headsets on, but being able to look up in the stands and see my friend Nick Sanders there will be pretty special for me."

Furman falls in season finale at Mercer

In his final collegiate game, Even DiMaggio had a career-high 18 tackles
in Furman's 49-23 loss at Mercer Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman

MACON, Ga. - A week after going on the road and spoiling East Tennessee State's hopes for an FCS playoff bid, Furman could not spoil Mercer's hopes for an opening round bye Saturday. The eighth-ranked Bears piled up more than 500 yards of offense to cruise to a 49-23 victory in the regular season finale at Five Star Stadium.

The loss brought an end to a long, tough year for the Paladins (3-8, 2-5 Southern Conference) as Clay Hendrix suffered his first losing record in a full season as a head coach. Meanwhile, the win gave Mercer (10-2, 7-1) its first outright SoCon championship and that opening round bye as the No. 7 seed in the playoffs.

This was a rare game this season in which Furman actually won the turnover battle, 4-3, as the Paladins' defense had an interception and three fumble recoveries. But when it comes to turnovers, what you do with them is all that really matters. The Bears had two touchdowns off their three forced turnovers, while Furman had just one touchdown off its four.

"I've never been part of a team that's maybe made as many mistakes as we've made and they've been catastrophic," Hendrix said. "That's a good team we played and congrats to them, but I'm not sure I've ever seen a team get as many bounces as they have (all season). That's what good teams do though."

That one score the Paladins got off a turnover opened the scoring. After Evan DiMaggio forced a fumble. freshman safety Max Eubanks pounced on it at the Mercer 42. Three plays later, running back Gavin Hall took a handoff and made a perfect throw to the end zone to a wide open Colton Hinton for a 30-yard score as Furman took a 7-0 lead.

As it seemingly did all day, Mercer had a swift, powerful response. The Bears drove 75 yards in two-and-a-half minutes to tie the game. Furman answered with a 14-play drive that took more than five-and-a-half minutes, but had to settle for a 22-yard field goal by Ian Williams to take a 10-7 lead.

Less than two minutes later, the Bears got a 46-yard touchdown pass from Whitt Newbauer to Adjatay Dabbs to take a lead it never gave up. The lead ballooned to 21-10 just 20 seconds later when disaster struck Furman. As freshman quarterback Trey Hedden was wrapped up in a sack, he inexplicably tossed the ball over his head with his back to the defense. Mercer safety Tommy Bliss plucked what was ruled a fumble out of mid-air and ran 35 yards for a touchdown.

As dreadful as some parts were in the first half, Furman was still somewhat within striking distance after another Williams' field goal cut the lead to 28-13 at the half.

The Paladins' defense forced a three-and-out to start the second half and a penalty on the punt return set Furman up at the Bears' 41-yard-line. As has been the case eight other times this season, the Paladins' opening drive of the second half lasted all of three plays and produced little to no yardage. This time it was three yards, but this three-and-out resulted in points when Williams matched his career-long with a 57-yard field goal.

Field goals from that long are pretty impressive, but they're still only worth three points unfortunately for Furman. While each team had the same number of scores, the Paladins trailed 28-16 after the long field goal.

"The margin of error is so thin for us. We get chances to score touchdowns, but we don't. ... The red zone has hurt us all year." Hendrix said. "We get the chance to get off the field (defensively), but we don't. ... I don't know how many times we've gotten a pass interference (penalty) and let them catch it, so we give them 40 (yards) rather than 15."

Mercer once again responded facing only one third down on its way to a 75-yard touchdown drive that ended on a 16-yard run by Dwayne McGee. One play later, the Bears got it right back when Hedden's pass was picked off by T.J. Moore. Three plays later on a third-and-four, Newbauer and Dabbs connected on a 31-yard touchdown. That pushed the lead to 42-16 and while there was still more than five minutes left in the third quarter, it sure felt like the game was over.

The teams traded fourth quarter scores. Ethan Harris hauled in the first touchdown of his career on a 47-yard pass from Hedden midway through the fourth to complete the scoring.

On the final play of the game, Furman backup quarterback Nehuel Garcia was sacked for a two-yard loss on third-and-one. It was a fitting end to a season in which the Paladins took far too many sacks and converted far too few short-yardage plays.

In 43 years as a player, assistant and head coach, this is just the seventh losing season that Hendrix has experienced. It's Furman's first losing season since also going 3-8 in 2016 and in 2012. The Paladins reached the second round of the playoffs the next year following each of those seasons. While there's plenty of things to fix, it's not unfathomable that this young team couldn't get right back to contending for a SoCon title and a playoff bid next fall.

"I think this group is going to stick together. They've learned and worked and I really thought we've been pretty close (to a turnaround)," Hendrix said. "When I was at Air Force, we went 2-10 one year and 10-3 the next. ... I don't think we're that far away."

Hedden completed 19-of-41 passes for 210 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Hinton posted a career-high nine receptions for 109 yards and one touchdown, while Harris finished with 86 yards on four catches. Hall led the ground game with 53 yards rushing on 11 carries.

In his final game as a Paladin, DiMaggio posted a career-high 18 tackles including 10 solo stops. He also had 2.5 tackles-for-loss, two forced fumbles, two pass breakups and two quarterback hurries.

"Evan's just a Furman man - smart, tough, great leader. He doesn't say a lot, but he may be the most respected guy on our team," Hendrix said. "He takes care of his business in everything. He wants to have a chance to play at the next level and it will be interesting to see how it all goes.

"We may have a way to keep him around in the winter while he's doing that (training). It'd be great for our young guys."

Five Paladins make All-SoCon team

DiMaggio was one of five Paladins who made the All-SoCon teams, while eight made the All-Freshman team. Joining DiMaggio on the first team was fellow senior defender Luke Clark, Williams at placekicker and Hinton at return specialist. Offensive lineman Luke Petit was the lone Furman player on the All-SoCon second team.

The eight freshman honored included Hedden, Hall, tight end Jackson Pryor, defensive tackle Caldwell Bussey, linebacker Ryan Earl, cornerback Jaylen Moson, safety Billy Lewis and long snapper Riley Smith.

DiMaggio led the SoCon with 120 tackles this season including 10.5 tackles-for-loss and two sacks. He finished with 285 tackles in his career. Clark, who missed two games due to an injury, had 45 tackles including 8.5 tackles-for-loss and three sacks. Clark ended up seventh on Furman's career sack chart with 15.

"My career has meant a lot, but it's more than just being a football player. You go practice every day with these guys and get super close to them," DiMaggio said. "I know they'll continue on and get things how we're supposed to be around here.

"I'm just thankful to be a Paladin."

Defense powers Paladins to pair of road victories

Nick Anderson had 12 points in Furman's 61-56 win over
Seattle in Las Vegas Tuesday. Photo courtesy of Furman

One thing mentioned by Furman coach Bob Richey prior to the Paladins' current road trip all over the country was that "defense travels." Halfway into the four-game trip, it most certainly has. After holding Charleston Southern to 31.5 percent shooting in a 67-46 win on Saturday, Furman held Seattle to 26.2 percent shooting in a 61-56 victory in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

That's the lowest shooting percentage by a Furman opponent since Piedmont International shot 24.6 percent in a 99-38 Furman win on Dec. 1, 2015. It's the lowest for a Division I opponent since Western Carolina made 25.8 percent of its shots in a 52-49 Furman win on Feb. 26, 2015. Seattle became the third team this season to shoot under 30 percent against the Paladins. Prior to this season, the last three times Furman held an opponent under 30 percent shooting was one time apiece in the 2021-22, 2020-21 and 2016-17 seasons.

Tuesday's win was part of the Terry's Chocolate Vegas Showdown and followed Kansas' thrilling 75-72 win over Duke on the same floor. Those results set up a matchup of unbeatens when the Paladins (7-0) play at the No. 1-ranked Jayhawks (6-0) Saturday at 6 p.m.

Here's a recap of the last two games:

Furman 61, Seattle 56

The Paladins pulled out a victory despite being dominated on the glass, 42-29. That included 22 offensive rebounds by Seattle (2-4). The flip side of that is that you have a miss a whole lot of shots to get that many offensive boards. The Redhawks took 21 more shots than Furman, but made five fewer as they went 16-of-61 from the floor. Meanwhile the Paladins made 21-of-40 (52.5 percent) field goals and had 18 assists.

While it wasn't the prettiest game, Furman will have to hope that whatever happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas when it comes to Cooper Bowser. The sophomore had a breakout performance with career highs in points (17) and rebounds (12) for the first double-double of his career. Bowser also had four assists, three blocked shots and a steal.

"Great teams have to win games like this. They (Seattle) made a very good effort to try to take PJay (Smith) and Nick (Anderson) out of the game. It really opened up the paint and put us in a position to be able to score at the rim a little bit easier once we were able to deal with their pressure," Richey said on the Furman Radio Network postgame show. "This is one of those games where you had every reason to lose - the time, the travel. It's two in the morning back home and they (Seattle) are still on West Coast time. I thought our group just handled the game well and we had guys step up.

"Obviously, that's the best game Cooper Bowser has played. He's got many more of those to come, but Ed's (Eddrin Bronson) somebody that we've really been intentionally giving minutes to knowing that his time is coming. You saw his ability to makes some plays tonight and I thought he was huge. Ben VanderWal made some big plays and big drives. And Nick and PJay still did what they had to do."

Furman was playing as far away from home as the program has since a two-game road trip to California in Niko Medved's first season as head coach 11 years ago. Long travel and a tip-off just before midnight eastern time may have factored into an uncharacteristically sloppy opening half for the Paladins. Furman took a 30-26 lead into halftime despite having 10 turnovers and allowing 10 offensive rebounds in the first half.

The key for the Paladins Tuesday was how they closed out each half. Furman lead 20-19 with less than four minutes remaining in the first half when it went on a 10-4 run by attacking the basket. Bowser had eight of those points in the run with two layups and two dunks.

With 4:30 left in the second half, Seattle's Brayden Maldonado hit a three-pointer off an offensive rebound to cut Furman's lead to 53-51. From that point, Tyrese Hughey's presence helped the Paladins clean up the boards. The Redhawks went 0-for-7 from the floor the rest of the way and didn't get another offensive rebound until there were just 11 seconds left.

On the other end, Bronson hit a big three-pointer with 3:23 left to push the Furman lead to five. After an offensive rebound by Bowser, Hughey hit an acrobatic layup with 2:17 left. Finally with 1:31 remaining, Bowser's baseline jumper helped seal the win extending the lead to 60-51.

"Reese (Hughey) came in and gave us some big rebounds. I was really frustrated with our rebounding. We knew it was going to be a challenge, but I didn't anticipate them to beat us up on the glass that bad," Richey said. "That can cost you games down the road, but you know what? We did enough to find a way to win a game of this magnitude. That's a really quality opponent.

"I've looked at a lot of boxscores. I haven't seen many that say 26 percent (Seattle shooting) in a Division I game for a quality opponent. For us to hold them to that just shows you how bought in this team is to guarding. We're developing a real rim protector down there in Cooper Bowser as well. Playing bigger is really paying off."

Anderson had 12 points while Bronson scored 10 off the bench. Smith, Furman's leading scorer who was hounded by Seattle's defense all night, didn't force anything and finished with nine points on 3-of-6 shooting. He had four assists and one turnover.

Furman 67, Charleston Southern 46

The Paladins also had 18 assists Saturday to cruise to a win at the school where Richey began his coaching career as an assistant.

Furman led 11-8 with 13:48 left in the first half when back-to-back threes by Bronson and Davis Molnar - off assists from Smith - started a 17-5 run over the next eight minutes. Charles Johnston capped the run with a three-pointer to push the lead to 28-13 with 5:38 remaining. The Buccaneers never got the lead closer to 12 the rest of the way as the Paladins led by as many as 23 in the second half.

Anderson scored 14 points to lead Furman, while Smith had 13 points, five assists and a steal. Garrett Hien had 10 points, six rebounds, four assists and a steal. Bowser only missed scoring in double figures by going 1-of-6 from the foul line, but he finished with nine points, three assists, three blocks and two steals.

Undefeated Paladins begin long road stretch

PJay Smith has scored 29 points in each of Furman's
last two victories. Photo courtesy of Furman

From the Holy City to Sin City to The Phog to Dunk City, the Furman basketball team will have gone everywhere man over the next 12 days. The Paladins (5-0) open their four-game road trip with a homecoming of sorts for Coach Bob Richey when they play at Charleston Southern Saturday at 2 p.m.

Furman then flies to Las Vegas for the Terry's Chocolate Vegas Showdown where it will face Seattle on ESPNU at 11:30 p.m. Eastern time late Tuesday night. After spending Thanksgiving together on the road, the Paladins visit basketball's most hallowed ground of Allen Fieldhouse when they play at No. 1-ranked Kansas on Nov. 30. The road trip wraps up in Fort Myers, Fla., when Furman plays at Florida Gulf Coast on Dec. 4.

"I think it's a time where our team can continue to bond. This is a very tight team. You can see when we play how close they are, but now we're going to get on the road," Richey said following Furman's win over Oglethorpe Wednesday. "We will find out a lot about ourselves and we're going to play some good teams. Charleston Southern was beating LSU most of the game (Tuesday) before LSU made a good run there late."

Here's a recap of the past two games, along with other notes and more on Saturday's game at Charleston Southern:

Records fall as Furman rolls over Oglethorpe

Playing at historic Parker Gymnasium in downtown Greenville for the first time ever, Furman had absolutely no issues shooting in the small, 100-year-old high school arena. Oglethorpe is a Division III program whose mascot is the Stormy Petrals, a seabird mythically known to appear most often when a big storm is coming. On Wednesday, the Paladins rained down threes - and plenty of other shots - in a 124-48 win.

Just shy of seven minutes into the game, Furman was 10-of-15 from the floor with five offensive rebounds and no turnovers. That pretty much set the tone for the evening as the Paladins made 17-of-42 three-pointers and 32-of-43 twos. Furman matched a school record with 34 assists in its highest-scoring and most lopsided win since a 126-33 victory over Virginia Intermont on Dec. 29, 2004.

PJay Smith's electric season continued Wednesday as matched his Furman career-high with 29 points in just 14 minutes. Smith made his first seven shots - all three-pointers - before his only miss. He followed that miss with a made three next time down. Smith then had a steal and a layup before another three that forced an Oglethorpe timeout with 15:04 left in the game and the Paladins ahead 89-19. The timeout worked in that at least Smith's night was done.

Smith went 10-for-11 from the floor, including 9-of-10 on threes. That 90 percent effort is a new school record on 10 or more three-point attempts. He also had four rebounds, two assists, two steals and no turnovers.

"It was a special night for PJay and I'm just really proud of him. Just moving from the two to the one this season. He's a better one that he is a two, but we just did it out of necessity last year," Richey said. "The ball he's playing is as good as any point guard we've ever had around here. He's leading. He's defending. Not only is he making shots, he's making critical shots.

"He's just playing to our values and he does it with a smile on his face. He doesn't complain. He doesn't make it about him. He's just about going to play to win."

Mason Smith had a career-high 20 points and six rebounds, while Cooper Bowser had 16 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals in less than 16 minutes of action. That made Bowser the 10th different Paladin to score in double figures this season. Nick Anderson had seven assists, while Eddrin Bronson had six to lead a total of 13 different Paladins with at least one. Anderson also had a team-high nine rebounds for Furman, which enjoyed a 64-21 rebounding edge. All 14 Paladins who played had at least one board.

Defense powers Furman past Tulane

Before crushing the seabirds on Wednesday, Furman conquered the sea on Friday, Nov. 15 when it knocked off the Tulane Green Wave. Oglethorpe did have a 1-0 lead 41 seconds into Wednesday's game which is more than can be said for Tulane, as the Paladins never trailed.

In a battle of unbeatens at The Well, the Paladins overcame their first shooting night of less than 45 percent by taking care of the ball while still moving it well in a 75-67 win. The Paladins shot 37.9 percent (22-of-58) from the floor, but had 19 assists and just seven turnovers. How well was everybody moving the ball? Nine Paladins played at least three minutes. All nine had at least one assist and no one had more than three.

Plenty of those passes became assists when the ball reached PJay Smith and Anderson. Smith scored 29 points (three shy of his collegiate career high), while Anderson scored 19. Smith made 6-of-11 three-pointers, while Anderson knocked down 5-of-10. Smith also had three assists, half of Furman's six steals and drew six fouls.

Team basketball has been the biggest factor in Furman's success this season. Defense is obviously a big part of that and Furman did a great job containing Tulane's leading scorers. Kalen Banks, who was averaging 19.3 points and 10.7 rebounds per game for the Green Wave, was held to six points on 2-of-4 shooting and three rebounds. Rowan Brumbaugh was averaging 13.3 points per game, but he finished with two points on 1-of-5 shooting. The Green Wave made 6-of-18 three-pointers for the game.

"They've (Tulane) been torching the nets from three," Richey said in that postgame press conference. "Our defense did a really good job of trying to get to those shooters."

The victory avenged a heartbreaking, controversial double-overtime loss at Tulane last season. The win was especially sweet for Davis Molnar, who was called for an absolute joke of a foul in the final second of regulation of that game. With Furman leading by three and 0.8 seconds left, officials ruled that a Green Wave player caught an inbounds pass, turned around to shoot and was fouled by Molnar on a three-point attempt all in some magical span of 0.5 seconds.

Molnar ended up playing a huge role in Furman's win this season as he had six points, a career-high 10 rebounds, two assists and no turnovers in 17 minutes off the bench. A key sequence came after Smith hit a three from an assist on Molnar on one end. On the other end, Molnar made a deflection from behind and Smith hit the floor, captured the loose ball and drew a foul.

"The game honors toughness. It always has and always will," Richey said. "This offseason was a culture reboot. We weren't that far off, but we had to get our culture back. Davis has been as much a part of that as anybody in our program. ... He's just stayed ingrained in the team and getting better and working hard. Tonight was his night."

Coming off that victory, the Paladins received two votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll on Monday. On Tuesday, Smith was named Southern Conference Player of the Week for the second consecutive week.

On to Charleston Southern

Playing in the cozy confines of Parker Gym could prepare the Paladins for Saturday's trip to Charleston Southern's "Buc Dome." After going 0-4 at the smallest arena in Division I (881 capacity), Furman finally won for the first time there on its last trip - a 91-47 victory on Nov. 12, 2019.

This is always an emotional game for Richey, who got his coaching career started as an assistant at Charleston Southern. Saturday's game will be no different.

"I recruited (Charleston Southern head coach) Saah Nimley. For he and I, it's going to be a cool moment. I was the primary recruiter on Saah the year before I came here (to Furman)," Richey said. "To see what he's been able to do, working his way from assistant to head coach down there, I couldn't be more proud of him.

"We're looking forward to taking the show on the road. Defense travels. Connection travels. System travels. You understand you're playing for one another and with one another. We've got to make sure we keep doing those things. I thought we did that in our one true road test (a win at Belmont) so far. We had a ton of adversity and that win continues to get better and better (based on what Belmont's done since)."