East Tennessee State holds off Furman in battle for first place in the SoCon Standings

ETSU junior wing Bo Hodges

East Tennessee State 75, Furman 66

In what was one of the most anticipated mid-major basketball games of the season, Furman and East Tennessee State looked every bit the part of what their respective records would indicate, and at the end of the night, it was the preseason SoCon favorite that avenged an early-conference setback. 

With first place up for grabs in the Southern Conference, East Tennessee State got 52 points from its backcourt to hold off Furman, 75-66, in a key Southern Conference tilt Wednesday nightie front of a record crowd of 6,177 fans on hand at Freedom Hall.

With the win, ETSU improved to 24-4 overall and 13-2 in the SoCon play, while Furman fell to 22-6 and 12-3 in league play. The Bucs and Paladins have now split the regular-season meetings , with Furman having claimed a 65-56 win in Greenville in early January. The Bucs improved to 66-11 inside the friendly confines of Freedom Hall since the start of the 2015-16 season. The win by the Bucs was their sixth-straight win, while Furman’s seven-game winning streak was halted.

Furman played without Tre Clark, its best defensive performer and a player largely helping Furman gut out a home win over Chattanooga last Saturday, as he went down in the opening half of play with an apparent upper body injury and did not return. Furman, which held a 15-14 advantage on the boards at the half, were out-rebounded 27-9 in the second half. Clark had a team-high nine rebounds, as Furman out-rebounded Chattanooga, 36-35, last time out.  Furman out-rebounded ETSU, 41-28, in the meeting earlier this season, with Clark ripping down seven boards.

For the game the Bucs shot the ball at a 48.1% (26-of-54) clip of their shots from the field,  including a 32.0% (8-of-25) clip from three-point range, while the Paladins finished the night shooting the ball at a 42.3% (22-of-52) clip from the field, while connecting on just 27.3% (6-of-22) from three-point range. ETSU shot the ball at a 75.0% (15-of-20) clip from the charity stripe, while Furman finished the night connecting on a 76.2% (16-of-21) mark from the line. 

The Bucs finished the night holding advantages in points in the paint (34-22), second-chance points (13-7), fast-break points (11-7), assists (11-8), rebounding (41-24) and bench scoring (22-12). Furman held a 16-7 edge in points off turnovers. The Paladins committed just 10 turnovers, while forcing ETSU into 16 miscues

ETSU had four players finish the night in double figures—all guards—as Isaiah Tisdale led the way with 15 points, connecting on 5-of-9 from the field and 2-for-5 from three-point range. Additionally, Tisdale added a team-leading eight rebounds, four assists, and a steal.

Tisdale was joined in double figures by Bo Hodges (14 pts), Patrick Good (13 pts), and Tray Boyd (10 pts) in what was one of the stronger performances of the season by the Bucs backcourt. 

Hodges showed why he is one of the leading candidates for the Southern Conference Player of the Year accolade, scoring his 14 points on 5-of-11 shots from the field and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe. He finished with 12 points in the first meeting between the two this season, but struggled from the line, connecting on just 2-of-7 foul shots. In addition to his 14 points on Wednesday night, Hodges added seven rebounds and a block.

Furman got a game-high 18 points from Jordan Lyons before he fouled out of a game for the first time in his Paladin career with 4:52 remaining in the contest. The senior from Peachtree City, GA, scored his 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field, including a 3-for-5 performance from beyond the arc. Lyons also finished with four rebounds, an assist and a steal.

Lyons was joined in double figures Noah Gurley (14 pts), Clay Mounce (12 pts) and Mike Bothwell (11 pts). Mounce led the Paladins on the boards, grabbing six caroms, and also led the Paladins in assists, dishing out three of the team’s eight helpers.

The Turning Point:

Following the first media timeout of the second half, ETSU held a 41-39 lead and proceeded to embark on a 12-6 run that would create a little separation between the two SoCon heavyweights. Isaiah Tisdale keyed the stretch for the Bucs, as he scored eight of the 12 points during the run. Fittingly, the Bucs run started with a Tisdale three and ended with a Tisdale jumper in the lane with 11:54 left.

Furman would fall behind by nine just under four minutes later, as Patrick Good’s three from the top of the key gave the Bucs a 59-50 lead with 8:01 remaining. Furman would not go away, however, with a 9-4 run culminating in a three-pointer by Alex Hunter with 5:27 left to trim ETSU’s lead to four, at 63-59.  

Shortly thereafter, Jordan Lyons would pick up his fifth personal foul when he went up against Joe Hugley, as Hugley finished off the glass. It was the first time in Lyons’ standout career he has fouled out. Hugley converted the three-point play the old-fashioned way to give the Bucs a seven-point lead, at 66-59.

ETSU’s lead would grow to double-digits for the first time all night on a pair of Bo Hodges foul shots with 1:17 left. Furman answered with a Clay Mounce three to get it back to seven, however, a Hodges jumper in the lane and block of a Mounce layup attempt on the other end on what one of the more athletic plays of a night filled with those on both ends, helping secure the nine point win for the Bucs. 

Quotable:

Furman head coach Bob Richey on the atmosphere and importance of the game:

"It was a heck of an environment to get the chance to play in and obviously not the outcome we wanted, but we will learn from this. We’ve got three games left. This wasn't a destination game. It was a high-level college basketball game where both teams played as hard as they possibly could.”

Bob Richey on the status of Tre Clark:

“Tre [Clark] took two hits to the head and player safety is always first. As much as we need him on the court, his health is first. Our trainer made the decision to hold him out and I fully supported that."

ETSU head coach Steve Forbes on the environment and getting the hard-fought win 

“Furman is a really really good basketball team. Bob [Richey] has done an outstanding job with that group. I mean it’s not like you can just stop one guy and their  guards do  a great job of making you think as defensively and also when attacking them offensively because they are really gapped on defense…I mean Lyons is a great player, but then you throw in [Clay] Mounce, [Noah] Gurley, [Alex] and [Mike] Bothwell it makes them [Furman] really tough to guard. I mean Lyons had 16 at the half and we were able to hold him to two in the second half and he got in a little foul trouble so that also of course limited his time on the court.  I am really proud of Pat [Good] and how Isaiah [Tisdale] played tonight when they had to step up they did and made big shots. Bo [Hodges] was outstanding as well and this was a team win for us and it took a collective effort to win this game because we couldn’t put them [Furman] because every time we would get a six or seven point lead here they come again and it was that way all night so we had to really fight for this one. But this was a big-time atmosphere and like I’ve said, it’s why you sign up. You sign up to play these type of games. I felt like what this game was billed as coming in it lived up to the hype. This was a heavyweight fight and both teams knew that coming in and both were ready to play and the intensity was there throughout.”

Up Next:

Furman returns to the court Saturday at high noon to take on I-85 rival Wofford in downtown Greenville in its final Weekend at the Well game. The Paladins are 1-1 in the downtown facility so far this season, posting an 80-73 win over Winthrop back in December, while dropping an 86-73 contest to UNCG back in mid-January. Wofford handed Furman its worst loss of the season back on Jan. 17, handing the Paladins a 66-52 setback at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. 

ETSU will take to the SoCon road Saturday where they will look to stay atop the Southern Conference standings facing off against Samford in Homewood, AL. Tip-off for that contest is set for 3 p.m. EST at the Pete Hanna Center. 

News and Notes From Around the SoCon:

• With ETSU’s win and Furman’s loss, the Bucs now own sole possession of first-place in the Southern Conference. Furman falls into a second-place tie with UNC Greensboro following the Spartans’ 83-79 overtime win over Wofford Wednesday night at the Greensboro Coliseum. The win saw the Spartans improve to 22-6 overall and 12-3 in the SoCon. UNCG’s win snapped a four-game losing streak to the Terriers. 

• Wofford has now lost four-straight SoCon games, and itt marks the first time since the 2007-08 season that Wofford has lost four-straight league games. That season, the Terriers lost consecutive league games to Elon (L, 67-70 OT),  Appalachian State (L, 55-83), Georgia Southern (66-77),  Furman (61-67), Chattanooga (L, 76-82), and Western Carolina (L, 57-62).

• Wofford’s Nathan Hoover has been struggling shooting the basketball during the four-game losing skid for the Terriers, connecting on just 39.7% (29-of-73) from the field and just 28.0% (12-of-43) from three-point range. 

• UNCG senior center James Dickey noticed his second-straight double-double and 19th of his career, with 14 points and 11 rebounds to help lead the Spartans to the overtime win. The Spartans held the lead for just 26 seconds in the second half.

• VMI pulled the upset of the night, downing Western Carolina, 74-71, at the Liston B. Ramsey Center, creating a logjam at the middle of the Southern Conference standings, resulting from Wofford’s loss and wins by Chattanooga and Mercer. All four teams now have identical 8-7 conference records with three games left.  Mercer has a sweep is the only team yet to be swept by any of the other three. Chattanooga owns a sweep over Wofford. Western Carolina owns sweeps over Chattanooga and Wofford and split with Mercer. Mercer and Chattanooga play Saturday.

• Travis Evee led VMI with 25 points, and center Jake Stephens posted 13 points, eight boards and four blocks to lead the Keydets to the upset win.

• Mercer recorded an astounding 32 assists in a 40-point beatdown of Samford, as the Bulldogs recorded a 106-66 win at Hawkins Arena Wednesday night.