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| Jordan Lyons posted his second-career 40-point game in Furman's win at VMI to open 2020 |
Jordan Lyons goes for 40 on the first day of 2020
Furman 89, VMI 73
LEXINGTON, VA--Few ever witness 40-point games in person, much less accomplish the feat twice in a career as a player. On New Year’s Day 2020, Jordan Lyons gave the sparse crowd in attendance at Cameron Hall a rare treat. Fitting since the new year adds up to be 40 and the 11 shots made from the field matched the 1/1 date to boot.
“Credit to Jordan Lyons. I’ve been around the game a lot and you see guys get hot. He was as hot as I’ve seen. He had it going. When a guy gets that hot, you just can’t let him shoot and I think we did that better in the last six minutes. Lyons really played within himself and didn’t force another three on top of the 10 he had. Just a very good player who had it going today but unfortunate for us,” VMI head coach Dan Earl said.
Lyons became the first Furman player since Darrell Floyd (1952-56) to record two or more 40-point games in a career, as Furman won its fifth-straight with a 89-73 Southern Conference win over VMI.
Furman improved to 12-3 overall and 2-0 in SoCon play, while VMI dropped to 5-10 overall and 0-2 in league play. The win by the Paladins also marked the ninth-straight in the series by Furman over VMI in the series.
LEXINGTON, VA--Few ever witness 40-point games in person, much less accomplish the feat twice in a career as a player. On New Year’s Day 2020, Jordan Lyons gave the sparse crowd in attendance at Cameron Hall a rare treat. Fitting since the new year adds up to be 40 and the 11 shots made from the field matched the 1/1 date to boot.
“Credit to Jordan Lyons. I’ve been around the game a lot and you see guys get hot. He was as hot as I’ve seen. He had it going. When a guy gets that hot, you just can’t let him shoot and I think we did that better in the last six minutes. Lyons really played within himself and didn’t force another three on top of the 10 he had. Just a very good player who had it going today but unfortunate for us,” VMI head coach Dan Earl said.
Lyons became the first Furman player since Darrell Floyd (1952-56) to record two or more 40-point games in a career, as Furman won its fifth-straight with a 89-73 Southern Conference win over VMI.
Furman improved to 12-3 overall and 2-0 in SoCon play, while VMI dropped to 5-10 overall and 0-2 in league play. The win by the Paladins also marked the ninth-straight in the series by Furman over VMI in the series.
Last season, Lyons scored 54 points and tied an NCAA Division I record with 15 three-pointers in a 107-67 win by Furman over North Greenville. His two performances of 40 or more points in a game matches former Paladin center Nield Gordon, who also achieved the feat twice in a career from 1950-53.
Lyons’ performance over the past four games has been part of a hot shooting streak for the native of Peachtree City, GA, as over the past four games he has knocked down 19 of his last 33 shots from deep, or 57.5%.
Prior to his four-game tear--three of which he has scored 20 or more points and led the Paladins in scoring--Lyons was experiencing some shooting woes, hitting on just 2-of-21 from three-point range during a three-game stretch. Lyons got doing what most great players do all so often--pressing too much. Lyons attributes patience, self-reflection and playing within the offense as reasons for his recent shooting and scoring success.
“As a player and a person in general you constantly have to do self-assessments and how you’re doing in life and what you are doing well and what you can improve on and I do a lot of self-reflecting in life and in this game and I feel like in the first half of the non-conference, there was a lot of times where I was out there just pressing and just a lot of times where I was out there just trying to get my shot going and it ended up getting into my mental a little bit and I really just had to sit down and re-evaluate things and realize that this [basketball] is something you have done your whole life and just try and put everything you have into trying to win the game and just try and be the best teammate that I can be for this program and let the game come to me,“ Jordan Lyons said.
The senior guard scored his 40 points on just 15 shots, connecting on 11-of-15 from the field, including scorching the nets for 10-of-12 from three-point range. He also was also 10-for-12 from the charity stripe to equal his 40 points. He also dished out a career-high four assists.
Lyons’ 10 treys tied a Cameron Hall record by an opponent, as it matcheds former Marshall guard Shawn Moore’s 10 triples established back on Jan. 16, 1995.
The performance by Lyons marked the first time a Paladin player has scored 40 or more points against a Division I opponent since former star guard Stephen Croone posted a 40-point effort vs Liberty back on Dec. 13, 2013. Lyons is the fourth Paladin to record multiple 40-point games in a career and first to do so in 64 years.
Early in the second half, VMI cut the Paladin lead under double digits, at 47-38, following a Tyler Evee triple for the Keydets. Furnan responded with a quick 5-0 spurt, as Tre Clark answered with a strong dunk off a feed from Noah Gurley, and following a steal by junior point guard Alex Hunter, the Paladins got a triple from Lyons to increase their lead back to double digits, at 52-38, with 14:39 left. The Keydets would not get any closer the rest of the way.
Furman would increase its lead to as much as 23 points on a couple of occasions down the stretch, with the last coming just under five minutes left, as freshman center Ben Beeker received a feed from Hunter and layed it in off the glass to give the Paladins an 81-58 lead with 4:47 remaining. It would
Furman fell behind 4-0, however, scored the next 10 points, capped by an emphatic dunk off a steal from Jalen Slawson.
The Keydets would respond with a quick 9-0 spurt of its own to take a brief 13-10 lead following a Sean Conway three-pointer.
However, Furman would reel off a mini 21-5 thanks in large part to the play of Lyons, who connected on three three-pointers and three foul shots during the stretch to total 12 points during the stretch, as the Paladins assumed a 31-18 lead following a Lyons triple with 5:52 remaining in the first half.
After the Keydets cut Furman’s lead to eight, at 35-27, following a Greg Parham three-pointer, the Paladins would close the half strong, scoring five of the next seven points to take a double-digit, 40-29, lead to halftime locker room. Lyons scored 18 of his game-hgh 40 points in the opening half of play.
Furman finished the contest connecting on a scorching 57.1% (28-of-49) from the field, which included a 54.2% (13-of-24) shooting clip from three-point range.
The Paladins held VMI to 41.7% (25-of-60) shooting from the field for the game, and more importantly, just 27.6% (8-of-29) shooting from three-point land.
It was the second-lowest shooting percentage from long range this season for Dan Earl’s club, which came into the matchup with the Paladins leading the SoCon in three-pointers made and ranking second in three-point field goal percentage. The Keydets entered the New Year’s Day clash averaging 11.6 three-pointers made per game.
The Paladins also held advantages in points in the paint (28-26), and total rebounds (32-30), while VMI held statistical advantages points off turnovers (22-17), assists (15-12), bench scoring (38-6) and second-chance points (11-5). Furman turned the ball over an uncharacteristic 16 times, while forcing VMI into only 11 miscues.
“First of all really happy about how we played...I thought we executed for about 30 minutes of the game well and I didn’t think we started the game particularly well execution-wise and I didn’t think we necessarily closed the game great execution-wise, but in the meat of the game...in those middle 30 minutes...I thought we did a really good job,“ head coach Bob Richey said.
Richey pointed out Lyons’ leadership and shot improvement in practice since those early-season struggles, as it’s been more of a work in progress this season because of the defensive attention Lyons has received, which is the ultimate sign of respect from the opposition.
The onus was also on the Furman coaching staff to be creative in finding ways to get Lyons open looks against the defensive focus he has received seemingly each game so far in his final season as a Paladin.
“Jordan’s really been working and he’s really had a good focused break and he’s shooting the ball really well in practice and he’s been leading and today he played a complete game and he’s the first player to have a 40-point game vs a Division I opponent since Stephen [Croone] did it against Liberty back 2013, but to do it on 15 shots that’s incredible and so I am really proud of him, but also to do it with four assists and only two turnovers is really great,” Furman head coach Bob Richey said.
Overshadowed in the outstanding performance by Lyons was the performance that of the one by Furman’s Slawson, who ended the afternoon by posting his first-ever double-double, finishing with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
The sophomore from Summervile, S.C., connected on 4-of-5 shots from the field and 5-of-6 from the free throw line. Slawson also dished out a pair of assists, recorded one steal and added a blocked shot.
The Bucs were in a war on New Year’s day in the friendly confines of Freedom Hall, ending defending SoCon champion Wofford’s streak of 18-straight regular-season league wins with a gutsy, 49-48, win over the Terriers.
ETSU was the preseason pick to win the Southern Conference, and already have one of the SoCon's most impressive non-conference wins over power five and SEC member LSU, 74-63, just before Christmas.
“Now that we got the win against a really well-coached VMI team, we can focus on the big one and focus on ETSU...That’s who the league picked as No. 1 so it’s a big game for us and we get to go back to Timmons [Arena]...I have no doubt that my guys will be stoked up to play that game and it’s a championship caliber game,” Lyons said.
“Coach [Steve] Forbes is an unbelievable coach...they have some very very very good players and traditionally in the past we’ve had a lot of really good games with the Buccaneers and now we can put all of our attention on it because it’s the next game on the schedule,” he added.
Saturday’s game between the Paladins and Bucs is one of the best basketball matchups of the early-conference hoops season in any conference. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. inside what should be an electric Timmons Arena.
Lyons’ performance over the past four games has been part of a hot shooting streak for the native of Peachtree City, GA, as over the past four games he has knocked down 19 of his last 33 shots from deep, or 57.5%.
Prior to his four-game tear--three of which he has scored 20 or more points and led the Paladins in scoring--Lyons was experiencing some shooting woes, hitting on just 2-of-21 from three-point range during a three-game stretch. Lyons got doing what most great players do all so often--pressing too much. Lyons attributes patience, self-reflection and playing within the offense as reasons for his recent shooting and scoring success.
“As a player and a person in general you constantly have to do self-assessments and how you’re doing in life and what you are doing well and what you can improve on and I do a lot of self-reflecting in life and in this game and I feel like in the first half of the non-conference, there was a lot of times where I was out there just pressing and just a lot of times where I was out there just trying to get my shot going and it ended up getting into my mental a little bit and I really just had to sit down and re-evaluate things and realize that this [basketball] is something you have done your whole life and just try and put everything you have into trying to win the game and just try and be the best teammate that I can be for this program and let the game come to me,“ Jordan Lyons said.
The senior guard scored his 40 points on just 15 shots, connecting on 11-of-15 from the field, including scorching the nets for 10-of-12 from three-point range. He also was also 10-for-12 from the charity stripe to equal his 40 points. He also dished out a career-high four assists.
Lyons’ 10 treys tied a Cameron Hall record by an opponent, as it matcheds former Marshall guard Shawn Moore’s 10 triples established back on Jan. 16, 1995.
The performance by Lyons marked the first time a Paladin player has scored 40 or more points against a Division I opponent since former star guard Stephen Croone posted a 40-point effort vs Liberty back on Dec. 13, 2013. Lyons is the fourth Paladin to record multiple 40-point games in a career and first to do so in 64 years.
Early in the second half, VMI cut the Paladin lead under double digits, at 47-38, following a Tyler Evee triple for the Keydets. Furnan responded with a quick 5-0 spurt, as Tre Clark answered with a strong dunk off a feed from Noah Gurley, and following a steal by junior point guard Alex Hunter, the Paladins got a triple from Lyons to increase their lead back to double digits, at 52-38, with 14:39 left. The Keydets would not get any closer the rest of the way.
Furman would increase its lead to as much as 23 points on a couple of occasions down the stretch, with the last coming just under five minutes left, as freshman center Ben Beeker received a feed from Hunter and layed it in off the glass to give the Paladins an 81-58 lead with 4:47 remaining. It would
Furman fell behind 4-0, however, scored the next 10 points, capped by an emphatic dunk off a steal from Jalen Slawson.
The Keydets would respond with a quick 9-0 spurt of its own to take a brief 13-10 lead following a Sean Conway three-pointer.
However, Furman would reel off a mini 21-5 thanks in large part to the play of Lyons, who connected on three three-pointers and three foul shots during the stretch to total 12 points during the stretch, as the Paladins assumed a 31-18 lead following a Lyons triple with 5:52 remaining in the first half.
After the Keydets cut Furman’s lead to eight, at 35-27, following a Greg Parham three-pointer, the Paladins would close the half strong, scoring five of the next seven points to take a double-digit, 40-29, lead to halftime locker room. Lyons scored 18 of his game-hgh 40 points in the opening half of play.
Furman finished the contest connecting on a scorching 57.1% (28-of-49) from the field, which included a 54.2% (13-of-24) shooting clip from three-point range.
The Paladins held VMI to 41.7% (25-of-60) shooting from the field for the game, and more importantly, just 27.6% (8-of-29) shooting from three-point land.
It was the second-lowest shooting percentage from long range this season for Dan Earl’s club, which came into the matchup with the Paladins leading the SoCon in three-pointers made and ranking second in three-point field goal percentage. The Keydets entered the New Year’s Day clash averaging 11.6 three-pointers made per game.
The Paladins also held advantages in points in the paint (28-26), and total rebounds (32-30), while VMI held statistical advantages points off turnovers (22-17), assists (15-12), bench scoring (38-6) and second-chance points (11-5). Furman turned the ball over an uncharacteristic 16 times, while forcing VMI into only 11 miscues.
“First of all really happy about how we played...I thought we executed for about 30 minutes of the game well and I didn’t think we started the game particularly well execution-wise and I didn’t think we necessarily closed the game great execution-wise, but in the meat of the game...in those middle 30 minutes...I thought we did a really good job,“ head coach Bob Richey said.
Richey pointed out Lyons’ leadership and shot improvement in practice since those early-season struggles, as it’s been more of a work in progress this season because of the defensive attention Lyons has received, which is the ultimate sign of respect from the opposition.
The onus was also on the Furman coaching staff to be creative in finding ways to get Lyons open looks against the defensive focus he has received seemingly each game so far in his final season as a Paladin.
“Jordan’s really been working and he’s really had a good focused break and he’s shooting the ball really well in practice and he’s been leading and today he played a complete game and he’s the first player to have a 40-point game vs a Division I opponent since Stephen [Croone] did it against Liberty back 2013, but to do it on 15 shots that’s incredible and so I am really proud of him, but also to do it with four assists and only two turnovers is really great,” Furman head coach Bob Richey said.
Overshadowed in the outstanding performance by Lyons was the performance that of the one by Furman’s Slawson, who ended the afternoon by posting his first-ever double-double, finishing with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
The sophomore from Summervile, S.C., connected on 4-of-5 shots from the field and 5-of-6 from the free throw line. Slawson also dished out a pair of assists, recorded one steal and added a blocked shot.
Clay Mounce added 13 points, collected five rebounds and had one steal. Gurley rounded out the Paladins in double figures adding 10 points, four rebounds and dished out a pair of assists to round out another solid performance for the redshirt sophomore.
Furman freshman center Ben Beeker accounted for four of six points off the Paladin bench, establishing a new career-high. It was the first game back for Beeker in a couple of weeks after sustaining a minor leg injury in practice last month, and he made the most of his opportunity by connecting on both of his shots from the field in his three-and-a-half minutes of floor time.
Adding more minutes, and in particular scoring, will be key for Bob Richey’s bench heading into a grueling SoCon slate if the Paladins hope to re-visit the glory of 1980, which marks the last time the Paladins appeared in an NCAA Tournament.
VMI placed a pair of players in double figures, with freshman guard Sean Conway leading the way with 15 points, which included an impressive 7-of-8 performance from the charity stripe. The only other Keydet player to record a double-digit scoring day was senior guard Garrett Gilkeson, who added 12 points and three assists.
Furman now sets its sights on a huge showdown with East Tennessee State set for Saturday at Timmons Arena between a pair of SoCon unbeatens. Like Furman, ETSU has also on a roll lately and will come to Greenville Saturday winner's of five-straight.
Furman freshman center Ben Beeker accounted for four of six points off the Paladin bench, establishing a new career-high. It was the first game back for Beeker in a couple of weeks after sustaining a minor leg injury in practice last month, and he made the most of his opportunity by connecting on both of his shots from the field in his three-and-a-half minutes of floor time.
Adding more minutes, and in particular scoring, will be key for Bob Richey’s bench heading into a grueling SoCon slate if the Paladins hope to re-visit the glory of 1980, which marks the last time the Paladins appeared in an NCAA Tournament.
VMI placed a pair of players in double figures, with freshman guard Sean Conway leading the way with 15 points, which included an impressive 7-of-8 performance from the charity stripe. The only other Keydet player to record a double-digit scoring day was senior guard Garrett Gilkeson, who added 12 points and three assists.
Furman now sets its sights on a huge showdown with East Tennessee State set for Saturday at Timmons Arena between a pair of SoCon unbeatens. Like Furman, ETSU has also on a roll lately and will come to Greenville Saturday winner's of five-straight.
The Bucs were in a war on New Year’s day in the friendly confines of Freedom Hall, ending defending SoCon champion Wofford’s streak of 18-straight regular-season league wins with a gutsy, 49-48, win over the Terriers.
ETSU was the preseason pick to win the Southern Conference, and already have one of the SoCon's most impressive non-conference wins over power five and SEC member LSU, 74-63, just before Christmas.
“Now that we got the win against a really well-coached VMI team, we can focus on the big one and focus on ETSU...That’s who the league picked as No. 1 so it’s a big game for us and we get to go back to Timmons [Arena]...I have no doubt that my guys will be stoked up to play that game and it’s a championship caliber game,” Lyons said.
“Coach [Steve] Forbes is an unbelievable coach...they have some very very very good players and traditionally in the past we’ve had a lot of really good games with the Buccaneers and now we can put all of our attention on it because it’s the next game on the schedule,” he added.
Saturday’s game between the Paladins and Bucs is one of the best basketball matchups of the early-conference hoops season in any conference. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. inside what should be an electric Timmons Arena.
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