Furman 72, The Citadel 63
Junior forward and reigning Southern Conference Player of the Week Noah Gurley posted 21 points, nine rebounds, a career-high five blocks, two assists and a steal, as Furman was able to overcome an early 10-point deficit early in the second half, as the Paladins knocked off The Citadel, 72-63, on Senior Night at Timmons Arena.
The Paladins’ win over the Bulldogs, coupled with UNC Greensboro’s loss on Senior Night to Western Carolina (81-80) sets up what is almost a de facto Southern Conference men’s basketball regular-season championship game Saturday night at Wofford’s Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium.
Wednesday night’s win over the Bulldogs marked Furman’s sixth-straight triumph in the series, as well as its fourth-straight victory, and fifth in its last six games during the stretch run to the finish the regular-season.
The Paladins will enter the regular-season finale with a 16-7 overall record, including a 10-4 mark in the Southern Conference regular-season, while the Terriers will enter the SoCon regular-season finale with a 14-8 overall record and an 11-5 SoCon record.
With the title to be decided on percentage points, all Furman needs to do is win Saturday evening to capture the outright SoCon title and the No. 1 overall seed for the upcoming Southern Conference Tournament in Asheville.
The Citadel will now be idle until the Harrah’s Cherokee Southern Conference Tournament presented by General Shale in Asheville, N.C., next week, as the Bulldogs will head into the tournament as the No. 8 seed, with a 12-11 overall record and a 5-11 mark in Southern Conference play.
Gurley was able to finish the night as one of three players in double figures for the Furman, which improved to 74-12 on irs home floor since the start of the 2015-16 season and closed out the 2020-21 regular-season with an 11-1 overall mark inside the friendly confines of Timmons Arena, as the Fayetteville, GA., product finished with 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field, which included going 2-of-8 from three-point range.
For Gurley, it marked his fourth-straight double-figure scoring performance of the season, and his fourth game with 20 or points this season.
The game got off to a slow start offensively for both teams, with Furman holding just a 6-3 lead at the first media timeout, however, eight-straight points off the media timeout allowed the Bulldogs to suddenly take an 11-6 lead before Jaylon Pugh answered with a layup for the Paladins cut it back to a three-point Paladin deficit, at 11-8, heading into the second media timeout.
A three-point play the old-fashioned way by Clay Mounce would tie te game, 11-11, with 11:30 left, and less than 20 secons later, a steal and a jam by Mounce would be part of a 10-2 Furman response, as it had a 15-13 lead with 10 minutes to play in the half.
Following a three-pointer by Brent Davis with 5:52 remaining, the Bulldogs matched their largest lead of the half, at 26-21, however, back-to-back layups by Mounce and Gurley brought the Paladins back to within a point, however, Derek Webster Jr.’s jumper on the ensuing possession helped the Bulldogs regain a 28-25 lead with 3:50 remaining in the opening half.
Back-to-back layups by Gurley and Mounce helped the Paladins regain a 29-28 lead with a little less than three minutes in the half. The Bulldogs answered back, as a Stephen Clark jumper in the lane helped the Bulldogsn to a brieft 30-29 lead before the Paladins answered with a layup from Mounce with 1:05 remaining in the half to take a 31-30 lead.
But Clark, who was closely guarded by Furman’s Gurley in the paint, knocked down a jump hook from about eight feet out, giving the Bulldogs a 32-31 lead with 34 seconds remaining in the half. That would remain the margin at the half.
The Citadel would come out strong to start the second half, using an 11-2 run out of the halftime break to take a 43-33 lead, forcing a Furman timeout. Moments later, the Paladins would get a layup from Gurley and a three-pointer Colin Kenney to trim the lead back to seven, at 45-38, moments later, however, a Kaiden Rice layup high off the glass helped the Bulldogs head to the first media timeout of the second half, with a nine-point, 47-38, lead.
However, Furman’s Mike Bothwell would score a pair of quick layups, to ignite a 14-2 lead, eventually giving the Paladins take back the lead, as two more Bothwell buckets helped close the Furman run, and the Paladins took a 51-49 lead with 10:38 remaing to the roar of a sparse, but rowdy crowd. It was the first time this year you could a type of atmosphere in Timmons Arena, which helped propel the Paladins to the win down the stretch.
The Bulldogs, despite having already been locked into the No. 8 seed coming into the rivalry matchup, wouldn’t go away so easily, as the Bulldogs would briefly re-take the lead, 54-53, with 9:22 left following a Clark layup.
However, Furman was not going to finish a night on which it honored its lone senior Clay Mounce on a sour note, as freshman forward Jonny Lawrence knocked down a pair of triples, and Gurley added a third triple in the stretch, as the Paladins put together another quick spurt, with the 11-2 run capped by a Bothwell fade-a-away just to the left of the lane, giving the Paladins the lead for good, at 64-55, with 6:24 remaining.
The Bulldogs would make one more charge at the Paladins, using four-straight from Clark and Brown on a pair of short jump shots in the lane, trimming Furman’s lead to five, at 64-59, with 5:32 remaining.
Six-straight points by the Paladins, however, all but sealed The Citadel’s fate for good, and fittingly, it was an emphatic ending applied by Gurley on a alley-oop slam from Jalen Slawson, whicb gave the Paladins their largest lead of the night, at 70-59, with 2:44 remaining. A pair of Hunter free throws took the lead back to 11 before two Rice foul shots set the final margin at nine points.
Furman ended the night connecting on an impressive 54.5% (30-of-55) from the field, which includerd a 63.0% (17-of-27) shooting percentage in the second half. It was the 13th time in 23 games the Paladins have finished a game shooting at a 50% or better clip this season, as well as accounting for their third-straight game in which they have matched or exceeded that 50% shooting threshold.
Meanwhile, though there were some lapses defensively in the paint against the Bulldogs, it was Furman’s dedicated effort locking down the perimeter against a team that ranked second in the SoCon in total three-pointers made, with 228 total made triples coming into the contest behind VMI, which had canned 256 in two more games, were held by the Paladins to just four made triples in the contest, matching a season-low for the Bulldogs, which the Bulldogs were also held to in the previous game vs. Mercer, and earlier this month against Western Carolina.
The Paladins finished the final home game of the season by connecting on 29.6% (8-of-27) from the field, while The Citadel’s 4-of-17 performance from long range computed to just a 23.5% clip. The Paladins held the Bulldogs to just 41.3% (26-of-63) from the field in the game.
The Paladins ended the contest holding advantages in total rebounds (37-30), total assists (16-14), points in the paint (44-38), fast-break points (2-0), and bench points (11-8). The Citadel posted slight edges in points off turnovers (13-7) and second-chance points (8-4).
Gurley was joined in double figures for the Paladins by Bothwell and Hunter, who added 14 points apiece in what was a solid, balanced scoring up and down the Paladin roster among the 11 players that saw action in the win.
Hunter, who announced yesterday he would be returning to Furman next year in the free year provided by the NCAA as a result of the pandemic, also added a team-high five assists and a rebound in what would’ve normally been his senior night.
Additionally, the senior from Raleigh connected on 5-of-6 from the field, which included 2-for-3 from three-point range. Hunter’s 199-career three-pointers now ties him for fifth in school history along with former Paladin sharp-shooter Anthony Thomas (1999-2002).
Bothwell posted his 14 points on a 7-for-11 shooting effort in the contest, while adding a block, a steal, and an assist.
Mounce played his final game in front of the home crowd, flirting with double figures in his final game at Timmons Arena, as he posted nine points, four rebounds, a team-high three steals, a block and an assist.
Lawerence also added nine points, coming off the Paladin bench to hit three three-pointers, connecting on 3-of-5 from the field and was 3-for-4 from three-point range.
The Citadel was paced by SoCon Player of the Year candidate Hayden Brown, who finished with 18 points, seven rebounds, dished out three steals and recorded one steal. Brown finished by connecting on 7-of-15 from the field, including 0-for-1 from three-point field.
Kaiden Rice, who came into the contest second in the contest to only Brown in the SoCon in scoring, added 16 points, five boards and a steal, while Srephen Clark rounded out the double-figure scorers for the Bulldogs with 14.
While The Citadel will await the Southern Conference Tournament as the No. 8 seed next Friday in Asheville. Furman has a date with Wofford Saturday night with a 7 p.m. tip-off slated at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium, which is also the Ingles Southern Conference game of the week.
Post-game Press Conference:
A Few Notes:--Furman is 74-12 at home since the start of the 2015-16 season.
--Over the past two seasons, Furman has won 23 of its past 24 games at Timmons Arena, with the only loss coming to Wofford back on Feb. 6, 75-67
--Furman suffered its largest margin of defeat to Wofford last season before a national television audience on ESPNU at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium, as the Paladins dropped a 66-52 contest. Furman would later be knocked out of the SoCon Tournament by those same Terriers, dropping a 77-68 contest to the No. 7 seeded Terriers. Wofford, which had been 5-0 in tournament title appearances, would go on to suffer its first loss in the tournament title game, with a 72-58 loss to 30-win ETSU.
--The Paladins will be playing for a sixth Southern Conference title on Saturday at Wofford, and with a win, would also clinch the No. 1 overall seed for the Southern Conference Tournament regardless of the result of the UNCG-ETSU outcome.
--Furman's regular-season Southern Conference titles have come in: 2016-17 (shared with ETSU and UNCG/No. 2 seed in tournament/Lost to Samford, 67-63, in quarterfinals); 1990-91 (shared with ETSU and Chattanooga and No. 1 overall seed on tiebreakers/Lost in tournament semifinals to App State, 88-82/qualified for NIT by winning regular-season title); 1979-80 (outright regular-season champion and No. 1 overall seed/won tournament); 1974-75 (outright regular season champion/ No. 1 overall seed in tournament/won tournament/*NCAA); 1973-74 (outright regular-season champion/No. 1 overall seed/won tournament/*NCAA)...Furman's lone NCAA Tournament appearance in which it did not win the regular-season came during the 1970-71 season, as the Paladins won the Southern Conference Tournament as the No. 5 seed.
| CofC's Andrew Goudelock and Furman's Jordan Miller |
--Furman hasn't won at Wofford since the 2010-11 season, knocking off the Terriers 73-68 on Jan. 24, 2011)...Wofford went on to claim its second-straight NCAA Tournament berth. In the final day of the 2010-11 regular-season, Wofford claimed a 79-65 win at Timmons Arena, clinching the No. 2 seed for the upcoming tournament behind College of Charleston in the SoCon's South Division, while knocking Furman out of a bye and into an opening day contest against Samford. Furman, who would go on to knock off one of the favorites Chattanooga on its home court at the Roundhouse, as the Paladins posted a 61-52 win to shock the Mocs before eventually bowing out with a loss to CofC.
--Furman reached the title games of the Southern Conference Tournament title game in 2002 and 2015, losing to Davidson and Wofford, respectively, and making it through from the play-in round of the tournament on each occasion. Wofford has claimed five tournament crowns over the past 11 years
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