Furman improves to 5-1 with easy win over Columbia International

Furman forward Noah Gurley

GREENVILLE, S.C.--Furman placed four in double figures rebounding from its first loss of the season Tuesday night at Alabama with a resounding 90-45 win over Columbia International Friday night at Timmons Arena.

With the win, Furman improved to 5-1 overall and is now 54-11 at Timmons Arena since the start of the 2015-16 season, including 3-0 at home this season. Columbia International dropped to 4-4 this season. The Paladins have now won 21 of its last 24 non-conference regular-season games, and have won

Noah Gurley’s 16 points, four assists, three steals and a rebound to lead Furman, connecting on 6-of-7 from the field, including 1-of-1 from the three-point line and was 3-of-4 from the charity stripe.

Coming off his 33-point effort at Alabama on Tuesday night, senior guard Jordan Lyons added 14 points on 5-for-10 from the field, including 1-for-4 from three-point land and 3-for-3 from the line. The native of Peachtree City, GA, also added, two steals, an assist and a rebound.

Alex Hunter and Mike Bothwell finished out the Paladins in double figures, as each added 12 points apiece. Hunter, a junior from Raleigh, N.C., came into the night with no turnovers on the season to go with 18 assists, leading the nation in assist/turnover ration. He finished the night by committing his first three turnovers of the season, but also had three assists and now has 21 assists to just three turnovers this season.

Hunter finished connecting on 5-of-8 from the field and was 2-for-5 from three-point land in the contest and finished 2-for-5 from three-point land. He also contributed five rebounds and a steal.

Bothwell’s 12 points came off a 6-for-8 night shooting from the field to go with three assists and a steal. All 12 of Bothwell’s points came in the opening half of play.

The Paladins held a 22-18 lead following a Jalen Brinson jumper for the Rams with 11:35 to play in the first half. From that point, Furman commenced to go on a 33-5 run to close the half, taking a 55-23 lead into the halftime locker room.

The spurt heading to the locker room was highlighted by number of dunks, including a beautifully thrown, one-handed toss from Hunter, which was finished off emphatically 30-feet later by Tre Clark. Jalen Slawson also had a pair of tomahawk dunks off Rams turnovers.

The lopsided score at the half allowed Furman to rest its seven-man rotation for good portions of the second half, allowing some of its younger players get some much-needed and well-deserved floor action.

One of the noticeable contributors was Hendersonville, N.C., native and Hendersonville High School product Ben Beeker, who finished with two points, five rebounds, three assists and a steal in 18 minutes of floor time.

The Paladins put an emphasis on working on different aspects on both ends, including its transition offense and its 1-3-1 defense.

“One of the emphasis of the game tonight was our transition offense,” Mike Bothwell said. “We were trying to get a lot of rim touches and trying to get a lot of three flat is what we call it
so we can have penetration lanes and seals under the basket and we had a big focus on not turning the ball over from when we first started practicing for the season because our turnovers were kind of high when were practicing against each other as a team,” he added.

“A great effort from our guys especially on the defensive end tonight and I thought we had the right focus on that end of the floor to start the game and also to start the second half with the sizeable margin at halftime and I thought that was critical and that’s what we wanted to do. They presented some challeges for us gameplan-wise because they put a lot of shooters on the floor and the size of their big guy inside and their sub...you know a and basically play all small and go all guards in a lot of ways. We had to get into the game and figure out some ball screen coverages and clean some things,” head coach Bob Richey said.

After shooting just 30.9% vs. Alabama Tuesday night, Furman rebounded to connect on 64.4% from the field Friday night, which was its highest shooting percentage since shooting 64.4% vs Virginia Intermont on Dec. 29, 2004. The Paladins also recorded 21 assists to just nine turnovers, and owned substantial advantages in points in the paint (54-26), points off turnovers (27-7) and fast-break points (23-2). The Paladins limited the Rams to just 33.9% shooting from the field and turned the Rams over 19 times. Columbia International was led by Tajae Anderson’s 10 points.

Furman returns to action Tuesday night when it faces Elon at 7 p.m., at the Schar Center.