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| Furman redshirt freshman forward Noah Gurley |
With the win, Furman improved to 13-2 overall and 2-1 in Southern Conference action, while Mercer dropped to 5-9 overall and 0-2 in Southern Confernce play.
"I'm really proud of Matt [Rafferty]. One thousand points, especially considering his injuries, it's incredible," Furman head coach Bob Richey said. "But what I told the team, that's (1,000 points) very minimal compared to everything that he's done for this program. I love the fact that he's scored 1,000 points, but the way that he's impacted this program, you can't even start to put words on it. You can't even come close."
In his team-leading scoring performance, Rafferty reached his 1,000th-point of his career on his second basket of the night. He became the 44th player in program history to reach the milestone, and now has 1,016 points in his career.
The senior from Hinsdale, Ill., finished with 19 points going 6-of-9 from the field and 7-for-8 from the charity stripe. Rafferty also dished out a pair of assists and had three steals. Rafferty is currently second in the SoCon with seven double-doubles, as he added 10 rebounds to the Paladin cause, and it was his 14th game in double figures in 15 to start the 2018-19 campaign.
Joining Rafferty in double digits in the contest were Noah Gurley and Jordan Lyons, who added 11 points apiece, while point guard Alex Hunter added 10 points. Additionally, sophomore forward Clay Mounce added six points and a team-high 11 rebounds.
The game was not a thing of beauty much of the night, with both teams looking sloppy at times, and Mercer struggled to get into any offensive rhythm the entire night, suffering just their second loss by double digits this season and finishing the night connecting on just 36.2% (21-for-58) for the game, and just 21.1% (4-for-19) shooting from three-point range.
After shooting the ball at below a 40% clip in the previous two outings, the Paladins rebounded to shoot 46.3% (25-of-54) from the field in the win.
Furman and Mercer would play a tight first half, with Furman leading from the outset, but had trouble creating much separation on the scoreboard from the Bears. It would be Gurley that would ignite the Paladins late in the half. Furman found itself tied with Mercer, 19-19, following a Cory Kilby triple with 5:29 remaining in the opening half.
However, the Paladins were able to close the half with a 19-7 run, with eight of those points coming from Gurley, while he also added an emphatic block on the defensive to help the Paladins take a 35-26 lead into the halftime locker room. Gurley paced the Paladins with nine first-half points.
In the second half, the Paladins would get a lift from Tre Clark off the bench. Clark drove the lane and posted an emphatic two-handed dunk over Mercer's Jaylen Stowe, helping ignite a 16-3 Furman run to increase the Paladin advantage to eight, at 42-34, with 13:56 left in the contest. The run concluded with a pair of Rafferty free throws, extending the Furman advantage to 19, at 56-37, with 6:54 left.
The Bears would not go away easily, however, slicing Furman's lead to just seven, following an Ethan Stair three-pointer from straight-a-way to make it a 65-58 game with 2:25 left. Stair's three-pointer was part of a 21-7 run to get the Bears back in the game late. A pair of Mounce free throws would increase Furman's lead back to double-digits moments later, as the Paladins scored the final six points of the contest to close out their 13th win of the season.
The Paladins completed the yeoman-like win having to grind out a win, which is something they have yet to had to do in any of the 12 other victories amassed this season.
On a night when the senior from Hinsdale, Ill reached a personal milestone, he talked about the adjustments Furman made collectively as a team in getting the hard-fought win over the Bears, including knowing that limiting Mercer sharp-shooting junior guard Ross Cummings, who came into the game leading the Bears in scoring average, at 14.8 PPG. The Paladins limited Cummings to 10 points on 3-for-8 from the field and just 1-for-5 from three-point land.
"It all started tonight on the defensive end. We got some stops and got out in transition a little bit, they got a few offensive rebounds that kind of kept them in the game in the first half. We got off to a bigger lead in the second half and tried to handle their pressure. A few things didn't go our way there, but we bounced back and ended the game strong. [Ross] Cummings is a great player and Alex Hunter and Tre Clark did a great job defending him," said senior forward Matt Rafferty.
"It took everyone out there. We had a few things to adjust that we knew would hurt them a little bit and one of them was shuttiung [Ross] Cummings down and he's one of the best players in the league," he added.
Following the two losses to LSU and East Tennessee State, the Paladins got back to the basics and started getting back to who they were as a basketball team, according to head coach Bob Richey.
"We asked some guys tonight to do some things for the betterment of the program. That was all to make sure we could get position on length and size where we wanted it," Richey said. "We had to get Noah out there a little bit more and get Clay at the three more. I thought the team handled that in a really mature way tonight and it was really good to see."
The Paladins went with Noah Gurley returning to the starting lineup Thursday night for the first time since the Charleston Southern game back on Dec. 11 at Timmons Arena. Senior guard Andrew Brown has started the past three games for the Paladins. Brown would now adjust to being Furman's top player coming in off the bench, and he will give the Paladins an immediate three-point threat coming off the bench.
Richey also made a point to show how the team has been building confidence through its first adversity of the season following a 12-0 start, as the team is still relatively young.
"It's just like anything in life, when you go through that adversity, you have to get back to who you are and I thought for the most part we did that tonight," Richey said. "[Mercer] is usually a slower tempo game and to get the margin to 19 and the way we did it systematically.It wasn't like we were on fire [offensively]. "I just felt that we were much more connected on defense tonight," the head coach added.
The Paladins finished out the win by holding advantages in points in the paint (28-24), fast-break points (17-8), total rebounds (37-36), assists (16-7), free throw percentage (64.7%-57.1%) and overall shooting percentage (46.3%-36.2%). Furman also out-scored the Bears 30-12 from beyond the arc, as the Paladins connected on 35.7% (10-of-28) from three-point range. The teams were deadlocked in both points off turnovers (16-16) and second-chance points (10-10), while the Bears held the advantage in bench points (20-14).
Mercer had three players in double figures, with Djordje Dimitrijevic and Stair tying for team-high honors with 15 points apiece, while the aforementioned Cummings added 10. Kilby led the Bears on the glass with six boards.
Mercer had three players in double figures, with Djordje Dimitrijevic and Stair tying for team-high honors with 15 points apiece, while the aforementioned Cummings added 10. Kilby led the Bears on the glass with six boards.
Furman returns to action Saturday evening, hosting The Citadel with a 4 p.m. tip-off against the Bulldogs at Timmons Arena. Mercer will be just up the road at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium at Wofford to face the Terriers. Tip-off for that contest is slated for 7 p.m.
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