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| Furman didn't suffer its first loss until final non-conference game of the season
Tidbits from Furman's First Loss:
Full Recap: LSU 75, Furman 57
BATON ROUGE,LA--No. 24 Furman suffered its first loss of the season when it invaded SEC country, as preseason No. 23 LSU posted a 75-57 win over the Paladins in a Friday night pre-Christmas clash at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Furman dropped to 12-1 overall and remain 1-0 in the Southern Conference. LSU improved to 9-3 overall.
The Paladins were held to season lows in points (57) and shooting percentage (38.5%). The Tigers shot 55.4% for the night, connecting on 31-of-56 field goals in the contest.
The Tigers were led by tremendous performances from Tremont Waters and Skylar Mays combined for 36 of the Tigers’ 75 points in the contest, while Furman guards Andrew Brown, Alex Hunter (15 pts), Jordan Lyons (13 pts) and Alex Hunter (12 pts) posted all but 17 of the Paladins’ points in the contest.
Waters finished the night connecting on 7-of-18 shots from the field, incliuding 2-of-8 from three-point range and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the line.
Senior forward Matt Rafferty, who started the season with 12-straight double-figure scoring performances and six double-doubles, was held below double figures for the first time this season. He finished with nine points, four rebounds, two assists and three steals. Furman managed a season-low eight helpers.
The story of the night was LSU’s dominance in the paint, out-scoring Furman, 50-22, in points in the paint, and 16-7 in second-chance points. The TIgers were a plus-18 on the boards (40-22), and finished with 12 offensive rebounds. The LSU bench also out-scored the Paladin bench, 32-8.
Furman and LSU played both played sloppy in the opening moments of the game. LSU jumped out to as much as a five-point lead early in the contest, holding advantages of 10-5 and 13-8. Furman led the contest early 5-4 until a 6-0 run by LSU.
Throughout the half the LSU lead fluctuated between five and seven points, and the Tigers took a 2 -17 lead. LSU’s lead would grow to seven after stuff by Marlon Taylor on a pass from Waters, as the Tigers extended their lead to 24-17, with 6:45 left in the opening half.
The Paladins closed the gap to four at the break, with a Matt Rafferty layup as time expired, as Furman trailed 31-27. The Paladin bigs were saddled with foul trouble in the opening half . Gurley, Mounce and Raffery picked up two fouls in the opening half. Furman shot only 35.7% (10-for-28) in the opening half, but stayed in the game by netting 13 points on 14 LSU turnovers. The Tigers shot 54.2% (13-for-24) in the opening half.
Less than a minute into the second half, Mounce picked up his third foul, and Mays countered with a three to briefly give LSU its largest lead at 36-27, but Brown answered with a three of his own. However, following Mounce’s fourth foul and a steal and alley-oop to Mays, LSU extended its lead to double digits (40-30) for the first time in the game, prompting a Bob Richey timeout at the 17:50 mark.
Like Mounce, Rafferty picked up his third foul early in the second half, and Bigby-Williams extended LSU’s lead to 13 on a driving layup, however, Lyons’ driving layup gave him a chance for a three-point play the old fashioned way after Bigby-Williams picked up his second foul on the other end. Lyons knocked down the free throw, and the Paladins trailed 43-33 with 15:42 left.
Moments later, a Gurley triple cut the LSU lead back to seven, at 45-38, prompting a Will Wade timeout with 13:51 left. Furman would eventually slice the LSU lead to five, at 49-44,. with 12:24 left following a Brown triple. A pair of dunks, with the last one by Taylor in traffic, put the lead back to nine for the Tigers.
Moments later the LSU lead would swell back to 13 after a Darius Bay rebound and layup gave the Tigers a 61-48 lead, but the Paladins continured to hang around on a Clark layup in the lane on the other end. LSU held a 61-50 lead with 7:05 left.
With LSU leading 61-53, Mounce picked up his fifth foul and the Tigers converted 1-of-2 foul shots with 5:53 remaining. The Paladins trailed 62-53 when Rafferty picked up his foul moments later, putting LSU in the bonus for the remainder of the night.
Waters connected on both free throws to put the LSU lead back to 11 with five to play. The Paladins would get within double digits once more following a Rafferty layup with 4:05 remaining, but would never get any closer.
LSU sealed its ninth win of the season by taking its largest lead of the night on a Waters layup, setting the final score, at 75-57, with 1:12 remaining.
“They’ve got more stars then some of these recruits in the Big Dipper. You’ve got guys that are huge, so they did what they do. Unfortunately, we don’t have high major size. We got 3 rebounds total at the 4 spot tonight, and they were able to capitalize,” Furman head coach Bob Richey said.
Furman opens Southern Conference play in-earnest, with a trip to East Tennessee State on Dec. 29. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. in Johnson City.
Around the SoCon:
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- East Tennessee State moved to the championship game of the Sun Bowl Classic in El Paso, TX following a dominating 76-53 win over Wyoming Friday night. In doing so, head coach Steve Forbes' Bucs accomplished a rare feat by holding the Cowboys to just one first-half field goal in the win. The Bucs became only the second NCAA Division I program in history since 1986 to hold a team to one field goal or less in the opening half of play. Wyoming shot just 3.8% from the field in the opening half, which was the lowest since Kansas State held Savannah State to 1-of-23 shooting from the field in the opening half of a game back on Jan. 7, 2008. The win, which was highlighted by a 12-point, 14-rebound effort from Jeromy Rodriguez, helped the Bucs move to 9-4 on the season and into the championship game vs. Norfolk State Saturday. Tip-off for that contest is set for 9 p.m. Also of note this week was the immediate eligibility of Oklahoma State seven-foot center Lucas N' Guessan. The Dutch-born player is now a full-go for SoCon play, and will give the Bucs one of the most-imposing front lines in the Southern Conference.
- UNC Greensboro closed out the non-conference portion of its slate this past week, gutting out a 63-58 home win over Big South favorite Radford. The win over Radford extended UNCG's school-record homecourt winning streak to 16 games. The 11-2 Spartans will now open Southern Conference play with a 3 p.m. game vs. the Bulldogs in Birmingham. It will mark the first Southern Conference game for both teams, and will mark the 23rd all-time meeting between the two, with the Spartans holding the narrow 12-10 all-time edge. It will mark a matchup between two of the SoCon's three teams to reach double-digit win totals so far, with Samford entering the matchup having posted an impressive 10-3 record in non-league action. UNCG guard Francis Alonso, who enters averaging 18.1 PPG and 2.2 RPG, continues to be the leader for the Spartans in his senior season, and will be asked to do even more until injured center and defensive enforcer James Dickey is able to return from injury later this season. Samford continues to be led by jet-quick point guard Josh Sharkey, who is averaging 15.1 PPG and a league-best six assists per outing. Samford dropped its final non-conference game on the road, with an 83-70 setback to No. 3 Tennessee.
- Wofford closed out non-conference play with a 98-87 loss to No. 17 Mississippi State last Tuesday night and will begin Southern Conference play in-earnest, traveling to Western Carolina to meet the Catamounts in a key Southern Conference game on Dec. 29 at the Ramsey Center. Tip-off for that contest is set for noon and will be televised on ESPN3. During non-conference play, sharp-shooting senior guard Fletcher Magee continued to establish himself as one of the best shooters in league history, and now heads into SoCon play with 401-career three-pointers to rank second in SoCon history. With 14 more triples this season, Magee will surpass Stephen Curry for the league's all-time three-point shooting mark for career makes. Wofford already has a SoCon win, having posted a 79-62 win over East Tennessee State back on Dec. 2. The Terriers have posted a 9-4 record, with three losses coming against ranked foes and all four to power five conference programs.
- The Citadel has won seven-straight games and posted by far its best non-conference slate, having played 10 so far. The Bulldogs took down Big South member Campbell, 82-76, earlier this week to collect their ninth win of the season. The Bulldogs will play one more non-conferene game on Dec. 29 against Longwood before beginning Southern Conference play on Jan. 3 against Wofford. The Bulldogs already have one SoCon win under their belts, with a 79-69 win over Mercer in Charleston back on Dec. 1. The Citadel is led by the SoCon's most prolific three-point shooter, Matt Frierson, who has knocked down a league-best 56 triples so far this season. All-SoCon center continues to be a big part of the Bulldogs' success, and earlier this week became the only player in program history to currently sit in the top 10 in program history in these 4 categories: points (10th, 1,354) rebounds (10th, 591) blocks (2nd, 163) free throws made (6th, 342).
- Mercer got some late-game heroics Friday night, with a three-pointer by freshman guard Luke Hamilton with 26 seconds remaining, as the Bears held off CAA member UNC Wilmington, 77-73, improving to 5-7. The Bears will have one more non-conference game remaining vs. Ivy League member Harvard before beginning SoCon play in earnest with a Jan. 3 trip to Timmons Arena to face Furman.
Power Rankings:
1. Furman 12-1, 1-0
1. UNCG 11-2, 0-0
3. Wofford 9-4, 1-0
4. ETSU 9-4, 0-1
5. The Citadel 9-2, 1-0
6. Samford 10-3, 0-0
7. Mercer 5-7, 0-1
8. Chattanooga 5-8, 1-0
9. VMI 5-7, 0-1
10. Western Carolina 3-10, 0-1
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