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| Noah Gurley scores a team-high 20 points as Furman closes out regular season with a win |
Furman Heads into the SoCon Tournament with Momentum
Furman 82, The Citadel 58
The Particulars:
On a day when Furman’s winningest player was honored—Jordan Lyons—it matched its most wins in a season (25) and posted its most Southern Conference wins (15) in the history of the program, downing arch-rival The Citadel, 82-58, before an announced sellout crowd inside the friendly confines of Timmons Arena.
The Paladins finished the season a perfect 12-0 at Timmons Arena, which marks the first time in school history the Paladins have finished undefeated in the facility. The Paladins also improved to 63-11 at Timmons Arena since the start of the 2015-16 season. The Paladins are now 50-14 over the past two seasons.
With the win, Furman improved to 25-6 overall and 15-3 in league play and will be the No. 2 seed in next Saturday’s Southern Conference Tournament and will face the winner of No. 7 Wofford/No. 10 The Citadel matchup Saturday evening in the SoCon’s second quarterfinal matchup at approximately 6 p.m. The Citadel finishes the regular-season with a 6-25 and have now lost a school-record 18-straight games. The Citadel will open play in the 2020 General Shale Southern Conference Tournament at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center against No. 7 seed Wofford on Friday night at 6 p.m. in an opening round matchup. Furman heads to Asheville as winner’s of 10 of its last 11 games.
The Paladins placed four players in double figures, led by Noah Gurley’s 20 points, while The Citadel had only one player in double digits scoring-wise, as senior Kaelon Harris paced the Bulldogs with a game-high 24 points.
Furman finished the night shooting 45.5% (30-of-66) from the field, including going 10-for-31 from three-point range in the second half. The Citadel finished the night connecting on 45.1% (23-of-51) from the field, but shot just 26.3% (5-of-19) from three-point range.
The Paladins turned the Bulldogs over 20 times, which included 13 steals, posting a 22-12 advantage in points off turnovers. Furman finished the contest with just nine turnovers.
Furman also held advantages in points in the paint (40-34), second-chance points (12-9), total rebounds (36-34), total assists (20-13), and fast-break points (16-4). The Citadel edged Furman in bench scoring, 29-22. Furman finished the day connecting on 75.0% (12-of-16) from the charity stripe, while the Bulldogs were 58.3% (7-for-12) from the line.
Gurley scored his team-high 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field, including 2-for-2 from three-point range and was 4-for-6 from the charity stripe. Gurley added three assists, three rebounds, two blocks and a steal to his overall totals.
The redshirt sophomore from Fayetteville, GA, was joined in double figures by Clay Mounce (17 pts), Mike Bothwell (13 pts), and Alex Hunter (12 pts). For Bothwell, it was his third-straight start and his 13th double-figure scoring performance in his last 15 games.
Mounce came off the bench for the second-straight game, posting his 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field and 3-for-5 from the free throw line. Mounce also added six rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block.
Hunter’s 12 points came on 4-of-11 shooting from three-point range, and the junior point guard led the Paladins with six assists and had only one turnover. The Raleigh, N.C., native also added five rebounds and had a pair of steals. Sophomore forward Jalen Slawson paced the Paladins on the glass, grabbing eight rebounds to go with his six points.
Lyons, who played in his final home game in front of the Furman faithful, learned prior to tip-off that his jersey will be displayed at the Naismith College Basketball Hall-of-Fame in Springfield, MA, for his NCAA record-tying 15 three-pointers vs. North Greenville last season. He finished out his senior day with nine points, two assists, two steals and two rebounds, improving to 96-36 in his record-setting Paladin career. His 286-career three-pointers are also a school record.
The Citadel’s Harris scored his 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field and 2-for-3 from three-point range. The senior from Atlanta, GA, was also 4-for-7 from the line, and added seven rebounds and a steal to his overall totals to finish out his evening.
The Turning Point:
A Kaelon Harris layup gave The Citadel a 14-13 lead with 11:27 remaining in the opening half, however, after somewhat of a slow start, the Bulldogs used a 16-7 run to close the half, beginning with a Jaylon Pugh three-pointer and ending with a triple by Alex Hunter with just 1:04 remaining in the opening half, as the Paladins took a 29-21 lead into the halftime locker room, despite shooting just 35.3% (12-of-34) from the field in the first half.
Furman would pick up right where it left off in the first half, using an 11-1 run to start the second half, which included a pair of triples from Mike Bothwell and another one from Noah Gurley to account for nine of those 11 points to open the frame, as the Paladin lead ballooned to 18 points, at 48-22, with 17:38 to play.
All told, Furman out-scored the Bulldogs 27-8 from the 11:27 mark of the first half until the 17:38 mark of the second half to take complete command of the game. The Paladins led by as much as 29 points in the second half when Jordan Lyons scored on a layup to give Furman an 80-51 lead with 2:22 remaining.
Link to Press Conference:
(Bob Richey and Jordan Lyons)
(Noah Gurley)
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