Furman Garners First Win in Johnson City Since 2005

Furman Claims 22nd Victory With Win at East Tennessee State; Clinches No. 3 seed

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn.--For the first time since 2005, Furman was able to claim a victory in Johnson City, as the Paladins closed the season with a sixth-straight win, defeating East Tennessee State, 79-76, in the Southern Conference regular-season finale Sunday afternoon in front of 5,908 fans at Freedom Hall.

Since the start of the 2015-16 season, Furman has won
64 games, which is tied for most in school history in
a three-year span.

With the win, the Paladins complete the regular-season with a 22-9 overall record and a 13-5 Southern Conference record and will be the No. 3 seed in Asheville at next week's Southern Conference Tournament. ETSU, which dropped its third-straight to close the season, fell to 23-8 overall and 14-4 in league action.

Furman will face No. 6 seed Western Carolina (13-18, 8-10 SoCon) next Saturday at approximately 8:30 p.m. at the US Cellular Center. ETSU will be the No.2 seed in Asheville and will face the winner of Friday night's No. 7 vs No.10 matchup between Samford (10-21, 6-12 SoCon) and Chattanooga (9-22, 3-15). The Bucs will face the Samford/Chattanooga winner Saturday at 6 p.m.

Devin Sibley, a senior guard from Knoxville, Tenn, led five Paladins in double figures, posting 17 points on 5-of-12 shooting from the field, which included going 2-for-4 from three-point range. It was Sibley’s four-point play with 1:26 play proved to be the tide-turning play in the contest, and following Sibley’s made free throw, untied a 71-71 game, and gave the Paladins a 75-71 lead following the senior’s fifth made free throw of the day. In all, Sibley finished went 5-for-7 from the charity stripe. Additionally, Sibley provided six rebounds, one assist and a steal.

Joining Sibley in double figures for the Paladins were: Matt Rafferty (14 pts, 6 rebs), Daniel Fowler (12 pts, 5 ast, 2 stls, 3 rebs, 1 blk), John Davis III (12 pts) and Andrew Brown (11 pts, 4 rebs, 2 ast). Fowler finished 6-for-6 from the free throw line, and was part of an afternoon which saw the Paladins post one of their best shooting performances of the season from the charity stripe, connecting on 21-of-28 (75.0%) free throws in the win.

ETSU had an excellent look at a potential game-tying three-pointer as the buzzer sounded. After John Davis III knocked down his first free throw to give Furman a 79-76 lead with 5.0 seconds left, he missed the second one off the front of the rim, and it was rebounded by the Bucs’ Desonta Bradford who raced left and just before crossing the timeline, flung an over-the-head pass cross-court to Devontavius Payne at the right elbow, and Payne’s three-pointer at the buzzer rolled off the left side, as the Paladins held on for their 22nd win of the season.

Leading up to that point, ETSU threw several haymakers at the Paladins, but head coach Bob Richey’s club staggered, but always managed to get back to its proverbial feet. One of the haymakers from the Bucs came following a Mladen Armus layup with 4:15 remaining, as the Bucs matched what was their biggest lead of the night at five, 69-64. Armus’ layup capped a 17-4 run by the Bucs, which turned a 60-52 deficit into a five-point lead.

The Paladins’ response to that big run came on what was arguably their most important possession of the afternoon, with the raucous crowd inside Freedom Hall rising to its collective feet. Brown’s triple from straight-a-way with four minutes left cut the Bucs’ lead to two, at 69-67. Following Brown’s three, Rafferty came up with a big steal on the ensuing ETSU possession, and the 6-7 junior from Hinsdale, Ill., would receive a pass from Fowler at the left elbow and swished a three to give the Paladins a 70-69 lead with 3:18 left.

The Bucs would miss a three-pointer on its next possession, as Davis brought down the rebound off Bo Hodges missed triple attempt and he passed in transition to Sibley, who was fouled by Payne going to the basket. On the two-shot foul, Sibley made the first and missed the second, leaving Furman’s lead, 71-69, with 2:28 remaining.

After Jalan McCloud rebounded the Sibley miss on his second free throw opportunity, the Bucs’ Hodges was fouled by Brown, and he converted 1-of-2 at the stripe on the double-bonus, cutting ETSU’s deficit to one, 71-70, with 2:13 left.

The Bucs then forced a steal on Furman’s next possession, with McCloud coming up with the basketball and Davis would in turn foul McCloud. In continuing with the recent theme, McCloud connected on 1-of-2 shots from the line, tying the game, 71-71, with 1:43 remaining.

That set the stage for Sibley’s heroics and the four-point play. Sibley received a pass on the left wing from Fowler, where he was fouled by ETSU’s Bradford on a three-pointer, nearly falling into the Furman bench as he watched the ball go through the hoop to the tune of the referee Karl Hess’ whistle. He stepped to the line and calmly stroked home the free throw to give the Paladins a 75-71 lead with 1:25 to play.

ETSU’s Bradford enticed Brown into his fifth foul of the game, and the senior from Humboldt, Tenn, knocked down 1-of-2 foul shots with 1:05 to play, getting the Bucs back to within a possession, at 75-72.

Furman’s Fowler would be fouled on the inbounds pass, and extended Furman’s lead to five (77-72) as he calmly stepped to the stripe to connect on both double-bonus shots to give the Paladins some breathing room with 1:01 remaining.

The Bucs raced quickly up the floor and Bradford’s layup with 52 seconds left, cut Furman’s lead back to three, at 77-74, and prompted a Steve Forbes timeout to try and set up a press. The Bucs opted to play defense, allowing the Paladins to run precious seconds off the clock, Fowler would miss his shot on the clear-out, but got his own rebound, tossed it to Brown in the right corner, who found Davis, wasting a few more precious seconds before the senior point guard was eventually fouled with 15 ticks remaining. Davis went 1-for-2 from the line, giving the Paladins the 78-74 lead.

Payne would take the ball quickly to the basket, and as he was falling backwards, his shot rolled around the rim and fell off as he was being fouled by Brown to nearly give the Bucs a chance for a three-point play the old-fashioned way. Payne stroked home both foul shots, getting the Bucs to within a bucket, 78-76, with 5.0 seconds remaining.

Following a timeout by ETSU head coach Steve Forbes, the Bucs opted to foul Davis instead waiting until the ball was inbounded to foul. Bucs had shown some struggles from the line for the Paladins down the stretch, and after making the first to give Furman a three-point lead (79-76), the senior from Beechwood, Oh., missed the second and the ball was rebounded by Bradford before he tossed a cross-court pass to Payne, who would get a great look at the buzzer from the right elbow, however, the ball rolled off the left side of the rim and the Paladins held off the Bucs for their first win in Johnson City since early in the Murry Bartow era.

The first half saw the Paladins take a 40-39 lead into the halftime locker room, despite shooting just 38.7% (12-for-31) from the field, but took the lead to the break as a result of going a perfect 12-for-12 from the line and getting 13 points off of ETSU turnovers. The Paladins would rebound in the second half to shoot 54.5% (12-of-22) from the field and connected on 66.7% (6-of-9) from three-point range. The Paladins finished the day connecting on 45.3% (24-of-53) from the field and 50% (10-for-20) from three-point range.

Meanwhile, the Bucs finished out their final regular season contest by connecting on 50.9% (29-of-57) from the field, and 33.3% (6-for-18) from three-point range. The Bucs shot just 63.2% from the charity stripe, knocking down 12-of-19 free throws.

ETSU owned a huge advantage in points in the paint (44-20) and a narrow edge in fast-break points (13-11), but Furman struck back by owning advantages in bench scoring (30-25), points off turnovers (17-12) and second chance points (10-6). The game featured eight ties and 13 lead changes.

Furman owned a 33-31 advantage on the backboards, and used 12 assists to manufacture 12 made field goals. ETSU also used 12 assists to manufacture 29 made buckets. Furman turned it over 15 times, while ETSU committed 14 miscues. The Bucs blocked 11 shots to just two blocks for the Paladins.

ETSU was led by Bradford on senior day, as he paced all scorers in the contest with 19 points and was one of four Bucs in double figures. Bradford scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half, and finished his final regular-season game in front of the home folks by connecting on 8-of-15 shots from the field and was 3-for-4 from the line. He also collected five rebounds, dished out a pair of assists, and recorded a steal and a block to round out his overall stat line.

Joining Bradford in double digits for the Bucs were David Burrell (15 pts, 6 rebs), McCloud (13 pts, 5 rebs, 3 ast, 2 stls) and Payne (13 pts, 3 rebs, 3 blks, 1 stl).

The win by the Paladins in Johnson City marked its first in the tri-cities since Furman claimed a 76-68 win over the Bucs at the mini-dome on Jan. 8, 2005. Interestingly enough, though the Paladins won the only regular-season meeting with the Bucs in 2004-05, ETSU knocked upstart Furman out of the Southern Conference Tournament, with an 87-84 opening round win over the Paladins at Chattanooga’s McKenzie Arena.

The Bucs’ three losses to close the season marked the first time in the Steve Forbes era that the Bucs have lost three-straight games. Both teams open Southern Conference Tournament play Saturday.