SoCon Basketball 2018-19: Furman Opens With Big Win

Furman Senior forward Matt Rafferty scores career-high 24 points in 2018-19 season opener

GREENVILLE, S.C.--Junior guard Jordan Lyons and senior forward Matt Rafferty opened the 2018-19 campaign registering career-high point totals, as Furman cruised to a 102-48 win over Bob Jones in the season opener Tuesday night at Timmons Arena.

The 102 points scored by the Paladins in the win marked the sixth time under the direction of head coach Bob Richey, who is now in his second season at the helm, have found their way into triple digits on the scoreboard.

Rafferty posted 24 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field and 6-for-9 from the charity stripe, while Lyons connected on 8-of-15 shots from the field, including going 7-for-13 from three-point range. 

Lyons, a native of Peachtree City, GA, was only one three-point field goal shy of tying the school-record set by three different Paladins, with the last being Eric Webb, who did it in 2005 in a big Paladin win over Virginia Intermont. Rafferty added eight boards, five assists, a block and a steal to his career offensive night. Lyons added three helpers to his career-best point total. 

Furman, which had to replace virtually its entire starting backcourt from a year ago, showed uncanny poise for a young backcourt, recording 21 assists to only three turnovers. 

"Coach Richey puts a big emphasis on it and it's something we work really hard to do. We led the league last season in turnover percentage," Rafferty said.

"Going off what Raff said taking care of the basketball is one of the things we value the most as a team offensively and we have a lot of versatility offensively and we are a very unselfish team, and if you look at it we had 21 assists tonight and only three turnovers and I think that just shows how unselfish of a group we are," Lyons added.

The road will certainly get tougher than it was in the season opener for the Paladins, as Furman braces to face 2018 Final Four participant Loyola-Chicago Friday night in the Windy City, however, it was a clinic on how to share the basketball by the Paladins in the 2018-19 season opener.

Furman wouldn't break the basketball open until midway through the opening half of play. With the Paladins holding an 18-14 following a Blake Morgan jumper for the Bruins at the 11:45 mark of the opening half, and the score would remain that way until the second media timeout of the half.

Following the brief respite, the Paladins would break the game open using a 33-15 run to close the opening 20 minutes of basketball and take a 51-29 lead into the halftime locker room. 

The second half saw Richey able to get some of his younger players minutes, as the lead balooned to as large as 54 with a little less than 90 seconds remaining, and 10 of 11 players that logged minutes in the game found their way into the final box score. All told, Furman had four players finish with double-figure scoring performances. 

Sophomore forward Clay Mounce posted 12 points on a perfect 5-for-5 shooting from the field, including connecting on his one attempt from beyond the arc. The Elkin, N.C., native also added seven boards and dished out two assists. 

True freshman guard Mike Bothwell, who logged 21 minutes of floor action, finished with 11 points, two steals and an assist in his first collegiate action. Bothwell's demeanor, which was unflappable for most of the night and enthusiastic, seemed to carry over to the rest of the team. 

"You know as we always talk about we always want good people in our program and when we started recruiting Mike that was the first thing you heard about him and what an unbelievable individual he is and what we started noticing about him once we started to getting to know him is how magnetic his personality was and just how poised he is and he reminded us a lot of Daniel Fowler when we recruited Daniel and he kind of plays with that same type presence and things don't seem to phase him and he doesn't really get bothered and he's a joy to be around," said Richey.

Another young, redshirt sophomore that had a solid game in 24 minutes of floor action was wing guard Tre Clark. The Palmetto, FL, native finished with nine points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field and 1-for-3 three from the line. He had a pair of emphatic dunks, with one coming off a missed shot and the other being a two-handed stuff, which was contested. 

Bob Jones had two players finish with double-figure scoring efforts, with guard Jayson Barnhart leading the way with 13 points, while forward Quintaye Burroughs chipped in with 11.  Guard Jon Allen led the Bruins on the backboards, bringing down a team-high seven caroms. 

The Paladins finished the night connecting on 55.9% (38-of-68) from the field, while holding the Bruins to 42.6% (20-of-47) from the field. Furman was 13-for-34 from three-point land (38.2%) from the field in the game, while Bob Jones went 3-for-11 (27.3%) from long range. 

Furman also held advantages in rebounds (37-20), points in the paint (53-20), bench scoring (30-13), fast break points (16-0), points off turnovers (29-0), second-chance points (12-6) and assists (21-8). Both teams struggled from the charity stripe, with Furman connecting on 61.9% (13-for-21), while the Bruins went just 55.6% (5-for-9) from the stripe. 

Finally, it was a special night for senior guard Andrew Brown, who had a tumultuous off-season, which included a surgery scare that landed him ICU from routine hernia surgery, and a bone fracture in his foot in August. Brown finished the contest with six points on 2-of-7 shooting from the field, including 1-for-6 from three-point land, as he is now finally back to 100%. The senior from Travelers Rest also added three boards and three assists. 

"It felt really good to be back out there. You kinda take this stuff for granted to go out there and play basketball and I can't take it for granted anymore and it was a lot of fun to get out there and have fun with these guys and the rest of the team. It was just fun and enjoyed every second of it," Brown said.

Furman returns to the floor Friday night when it faces 2018 Final Four participant Loyola-Chicago (1-0). Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. EST at Gentile Arena. 

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