Things came full circle for the Terriers, who were the last team to defeat Furman inside its home court facility, as the Terriers captured what was a 72-64 win over the Paladins back on Feb. 23, 2019.
Murphy finished the night leading Wofford by scoring 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field, and 4-for-7 from three-point range. He also dished out a team-high six assists, had four rebounds and recorded a pair of steals.
With the win, Wofford improves to 12-6 overall and 9-3 in Southern Conference play, while Furman fell to 11-6 and 5-3 in SoCon play. The Terriers have now claimed four of the last five meetings against the Paladins, including winning two out of three last season.
Furman will be back on its home floor Monday evening when it faces UNC Greensboro in a 5 p.m. contest Monday night. The Paladins will turn around on Wednesday night and make the trip to Greensboro to face UNCG in a key league road contest. Monday night’s contest will be before a national television audience on ESPNU.
Furman would build as much as a nine-point lead in the second half when a Clay Mounce three-pointer gave the Paladins a 49-40 lead with just over 10 minutes remaining. Mounce’s fourth three of the night gave the Paladins a 54-47 lead, however, Murphy answered with five-straight on a three off a screen from the left elbow, and then followed that with a steal and a layup to make it a 54-52 game with just under seven minutes left.
Another three off a Safford steal gave the Terriers a 55-54 lead. After Mounce made it 56-55 with a jumper in the lane, Murphy made it 10-straight for the Terriers, giving Wofford a 58-56 lead following another trey. A Larson layup and a Godwin slam off an alley-oop gave the Terriers a 62-56 lead with 3:24 remaining.
It would be a lead the Terriers wouldn’t relinquish, extending their lead to nine, at 67-58, with 1:39 remaining following a triple by Hollowell. Hunter cut the Furman deficit to six following a triple by Hunter, however, another dunk from Godwin off a pass from Murphy increased that lead back to eight, at 69-61. The Terriers would hit their free throws down the stretch, despite a pair of threes from Noah Gurley and Alex Hunter, as Wofford would go on to the eight-point, 75-67, win.
Wofford sliced the Furman lead to four, at 44-40, with a Morgan Safford floating one-hander in the lane, however, the Paladins would respond with five-straight points on a three-pointer by Colin Kenney and a layup by Clay Mounce to take the Paladins to their largest lead to that point of the night, at 49-40, with 10:42 left. Following the Wofford timeout, however, the Terriers would score five-straight on a layup by BJ Mack and a three-from the corner by Tray Hollowell, cutting the Paladin lead to 49-45 with 9:24 remaining.
With just under 16 minutes remaining in the contest, a three-pointer from the left elbow by Hunter increased Furman’s lead to 38-32, prompting a Jay McAuley timeout.
In the opening half of play, Furman forced an early Wofford timeout by running out to a 15-7 lead following a layup by Mounce with 15:51 remaining in the half to force an early Wofford timeout. However, the Terriers would storm back to take their first lead, 23-22, on a three-pointer by Austin Pattterson with 7:03 remaining in the opening frame. That completed a 16-7 run by the Terriers.
From that point, however, in what turned into a defensive slugfest to close out the opening half of play, the Paladins were able to take a 32-27 lead into the half, with a 10-4 run over the final seven minutes of the frame.
The Paladins finished the contest shooting 40.6% (26-of-64) from the field, while Wofford finished the contest connecting on 49.1% (28-of-57) from the field, which included shooting 54.8% (17-of-31) in the second half. Wofford held advantages in points in the paint (32-26), second-chance points (14-0), bench scoring (20-13) and fast-break points (4-2), while both teams were tied with 16 points off turnovers. The Paladins held a narrow 36-35 advantage on the boards, but Wofford had a 13-9 edge on the offensive glass. Both teams turned the ball over 15 times, while Wofford held a 19-15 advantage in total assists.
In addition to Murphy’s stellar night for the Terriers, he was joined in double figures by senior guard Tray Hollowell and Sam Godwin, as both scored 11 points for the Terriers. It was Godwin’s seventh game in double figures for the Terriers during his freshman campaign. For Murphy, it was the 15th double-figure scoring effort of the season, and it was his eighth game of 20 or more points this season.
Mounce ended up leading three Paladins in double figures, posting 20 points on 8-of-20 shooting from the field, which included going 4-of-15 from three-point range. The senior from Elkin, N.C., also added 10 rebounds, three steals and an assist in the losing cause. With his 20 points and 10 boards, Mounce was able to notch his third double-double of the season, including his second in league play.
He was joined in double figures by Hunter (15 pts, 6 asts) and Gurley (12 pts, 11 rebs). Furman’s leading scorer Mike Bothwell, who came into the contest averaging 18.0 PPG, was held to just two points. Gurley’s 12 points and 11 boards marked his first double-double of the season.
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