Furman survives late surge by Mercer

 Recap: Furman 83, Mercer 80

Clay Mounce and Noah Gurley combined for 50 points, as Furman picked up its second Southern Conference win to begin the 2020-21 season, with an 83-80  win over Mercer Saturday afternoon at Timmons Arena.

Mounce finished with a game-high 27 points, going 10-of-17 from the field and 5-of-9 from three-point land, and went 2-for-3 from the free throw line posted six rebounds, two blocks and two steals.

Gurley had one of his most complete games of the 2020-21 season, posting 7-of-15 shots from the field and 2-of-6 from three-point range to go with eight rebounds, two steals, and a block. 

The win marked Furman’s 18th-in-a-row at Timmons Arena, as the Paladins improve to 69-11 at home since the start of the 2015-16 season. The Paladins improved to 9-3 overall and 2-0 in the SoCon. The Bears dropped to 7-3 overall and 0-2 in Southern Conference play.

The Paladins, who built as much as a 76-60 lead with just under six minutes, however, the Bears would make a run and actually had a chance to tie the game as the buzzer sounded.  

But from there, the Bears, who were playing without point guard Neftali Alvarez for the second-straight game, but the Bears used a combineation of Kemar Robertson and Leon Ayers III throughout the contest, managing to claw their way back into the contest on both occassions.

 Felipe Haase had a 40-foot three-pointer at the buzzer hit the side of the rim, as the Paladins escaped with a second league win. It was Furman’s 11th-straight win over Mercer.  

Mercer used a 10-2 run to close the game to 78-70, a Mike Bothwell layup increased Furman’s lead back to 10, at 80-70, with 1:19 remaining. After Ross Cummings converted a three-point play on the next possession, and then a James Glisson III block and dunk on the other end, things got real interesting with the difference just five points, at 80-75, with just 51 seconds to play. 

Furman would end up making 3-of-4 free throws on its next two possessions, extending the lead to 83-77 after a pair of Mounce makes with 29 seconds to play. With the ball back, Haase drew a foul, enciting contact. He made the first, but missed the second, however, Glisson III rebounded the ball and recorded the put-back to get the Bears to within three with 14.2 seconds to play. Bothwell was fouled immediately after the Furman inbounds pass with seven seconds remaining.

Bothwell then missed the front end of the one-and-one, and was rebounded by the Bears. The ball eventually found its way to Haase at the right wing, however, his long-range attempt to tie the game as the buzzer sounded was no-good as time expired, and Furman was able to hold on for a second-straight close victory in league play. 

 Bothwell was the third Paladin in double figures in the contest, as he finished with 15 points, which included 7-of-10 from the field and 1-of-2 from beyond the three-point arch. Additionally, Bothwell also added five rebounds, five assists, and six steals in another well-rounded effort.

Mercer ended the contest by connecting on an impressive 55.6% (30-of-54) from the field, and finished the contest 7-for-18 from three-point land. 

Mercer finished the contest with four players in double figures, led by All-SoCon guard Ross Cummings, who posted 22 points, finishing by going 6-of-14 from the field, including 4-for-11 from beyond the arc. 

Additionally, Cummings added four rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block. 

Also finishing in double figures for the Bears in the loss were Maciej Bender (14 pts), Glisson III (13 pts), and Haase (11 pts). Bender also led the Bears with eight rebounds. 

The Paladins finished the contest by connecting on 53.4% (31-of-58) from the field, including shooting 41.7% (10-for-24) from three-point range. 

Furman finished the contest by connecting on points off turnovers (24-16) and fast-break points (10-4), while Mercer claimed advantages in bench scoring (19-4), second-chance points (8-4), assists (19-17), points in the paint (42-34) and total rebounds (36-24). 

Furman’s game on Wednesday night at Western Carolina has been postponed due to COVID-19. The Paladins will next be action on Saturday when the Paladins host VMI on Saturday at Timmons Arena, as the Paladins go in search of their 70th win at Timmons Arena since the start of the 2015-16 season. 

Quotables:

"Overall, I'm happy but not real satisfied with the finish. We just had a lot of details start to unravelI... It just got a little frantic there. Fortunately, we closed it out. There are times when that stuff can cost you a game. We've got to continue to work for a 40-minute performance and I know we'll get there."--Furman head coach Bob Richey

"We knew it wasn't going to be easy. I think we thought there for a second that it was going to get easy, but a team that well coached and with that much age isn't just going to quit. I thought up until the last five or six minutes, we played pretty well. Noah Gurley was phenomenal and Clay Mounce was incredible." -Furman head coach Bob Richey