Furman uses strong defense to slow down The Citadel

Furman sophomore forward Jalen Slawson returns to his old stomping grounds as Furman takes down arch-rival Bulldogs

Furman 78, The Citadel 54

The Particulars:

Furman held The Citadel to a season-low 54 points, getting a 78-54 win over the Bulldogs Saturday afternoon before 1,254 fans at McAlister Field House.

With the win, Furman improved its overall record to 17-5 and 7-2 in Southern Conference play, while the Bulldogs fell to 6-13 overall and 0-8 in SoCon play. It was The Citadel’s eighth-straight loss to open Southern Conference play. The win also tied Furman for second in the nation in true road wins with seven. It was Furman’s seventh win in its last eight meetings with The Citadel. 

The 54 points allowed were indicative of Furman’s improvement defensively over the past couple of outings, as the point total for the Paladins’ opponent was its lowest point total since a 67-51 loss to East Tennessee State four years ago (Feb. 18, 2016). The Citadel’s previous season low for total points in a game came in an 85-57 loss to Illinois back on Nov. 20.

Furman held The Citadel’s talented freshman guard Fletcher Abee scoreless in the second half after he torched the Paladins for 15 in the opening half, and held The Citadel’s leading scorer Kaiden Rice to just one point after he came in averaging 14.3. 

As a team, Furman had a season-high 13 steals and forced 21 Citadel turnovers, while holding the Bulldogs well below the 10.5 three-pointers they were averaging coming into Saturday’s rivalry showdown, as The Citadel was held to just 4-of-25 shooting from long range. 

As a team, Furman held the Bulldogs to just 36.2% (17-of-47) shooting from the field, which was well below the 44.2% clip the Bulldogs had been shooting coming into the contest. 

Meanwhile, Furman shot it at a 42.9% clip (27-of-63) for the game, which included a 35.7% (10-of-28) shooting performance from long range. The Paladins held advantages in points off turnovers (13-12), points in the paint (30-22), second-chance points (4-3) and fast break points (15-8). The Citadel held advantages in assists (12-10), total rebounds (34-33) and bench scoring (16-12). Furman finished the game with 13 turnovers. 

Clay Mounce led three Paladin players in double figures with 22 points, six rebounds, two steals and a pair of assists, while senior guard Jordan Lyons chipped in with 17 points and Alex Hunter chipped in with 10 rounding out the trio in double figures. 

Mounce posted his 22 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field, including going 4-of-8 from three-point range. He also finished connecting on 4-of-8 from the charity stripe. 

Lyons finished the afternoon connecting on 5-of-8 from the field, including 3-of-5 from three-point range. Lyons continues to get closer to the program’s all-time three-point field goals after Saturday’s performance against The Citadel, and now has 269 career triples. 

Eric Webb holds the Furman record with 273-career triples from 2003-07. With five more three-pointers, Lyons will be the school’s all-time record holder and would rank in the top 10 in the Southern Conference for three-pointers made dating back to 1986. In addition to his scoring total, Lyons also posted a 4-for-5 performance at the foul stripe, and added six rebounds, three steals and an assist. 

The Citadel had two players finish the day in double figures, with freshman guard Fletcher Abee leading the way with 15 points, while senior guard Kaelon Harris rounded out the Bulldogs in double figures. Abee finished connecting on 6-of-16 shots from the field, including 3-of-12 from three-point range. Abee also added a steal and a rebound to his total worksheet on the day. 

Turning Point: 

The opening half of play featured 11 lead changes, however, Furman took its largest lead of the game to the half, powered by a flurry from Jordan Lyons, whose two three pointers, and a pair of free throws by Mounce on a three-shot foul helped the Paladins to a seven-point halftime lead, 37-30. 

In the opening moments of the second half, the Paladins scored the first six points of the half to take its lead to double digits on a pair of buckets by Noah Gurley and a layup by Alex Hunter, prompting a Citadel timeout just 93 seconds into the second frame, as Furman had a 43-30 lead. 

All told, the run, which spanned two halves, was 22-1 after the game had been tied, 29-29, with 2:15 remaining in the opening half. However, when it was all said and done, Furman’s lead had ballooned 21 points, at 51-30, following a Jordan Lyons three-pointer with 16:27 left in the contest. Furman would lead by as many as 28 points in the second half before settling for the 24-point win. 

The key to the run was the play of Lyons in the waning moments of the opening half, however, as he only took three shots in the first half, but sparked the run that would ultimately prove to be the pivotal point in the entire game. His three-pointer with 2:01 remaining in the half gave Furman a 32-29, which it would never relinquish the rest of the way. His defensive rebound on one end and subsequent three-pointer on the other end 41 seconds later might as well have been a dagger to The Citadel’s upset hopes. 

Quotable: 

Furman head coach Bob Richey on defending Abee in the second half after scoring 15 in the opening half:

“We just tried to get to what we wanted to do originally on him (Fletcher Abee) and that’s making sure…and not to get super technical here…you still have make sure getting too technical here, but you still have weak side responsibility when you are guarding a shooter like that and early we were so tight on him on the weak side that we didn’t have backside support and then on the strong side we were too loose…and so strong side being tight and making sure we’re connected and not giving him free looks, but on the weak side you still have weak side help and he was getting some back cuts on us and I mean it wasn’t just the threes…he cut us twice and then he got three threes and I thought we did a much better job on him after that.”

“This is nothing against Alex [Hunter] or that he was doing a bad job on him [Fletcher Abee] but the ownership that I saw Jordan Lyons take to ask for the matchup and then to come into halftime and make sure he was still getting the same matchup in the second half…he just continues to impress me as a leader and his response this week and the way he has led has been phenomenal and I thought he was one of our better defenders today and they couldn’t screen him in the second half and they kept trying to run some different screen action for him and Jordan [Lyons] did a phenomenal job on the defensive end of the floor today.”

What’s Next:

Furman will begin its second round of Southern Conference games on Wednesday night when it hosts VMI at Timmons Arena in a tip-time set for 7 p.m. The Paladins started the year with an 89-73 win at Cameron Hall over the Keydets, powered by a 40-point effort from Furman senior guard Jordan Lyons, who went 11-of-15 from the field and 10-for-12 from three-point range. 

The Citadel returns to the floor on Wednesday night facing another Palmetto State rival, when it hosts Wofford at McAlister Field House in a matchup set for 7 p.m. The Bulldogs dropped a 73-71 decision to the Terriers back on Jan. 11 in Spartanburg. 

Stay tuned for my takeaways on this weekend’s action around the league coming up Monday, and later this week, I will have a special article on the point guards in the SoCon for mid-major madness later in the week.