In a season of weirdness, the media’s SoCon preseason favorite and tournament No. 3 seed Furman saw its season come to a weird end with a 91-90 overtime loss to No. 6 VMI in the final Southern Conference quarterfinal Saturday night at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center.
The Keydets were led by a stellar night from junior forward
Jake Stephens, who led five Keydets in double figures with 25 points, nine
rebounds and three blocks, as VMI moved on to the Southern Conference semifinals
for the first time since 2003.
The Keydets haven’t gone dancing since 1977. Furman’s drought
continues at least one more season, dating back to 1980.
Furman ends its 2020-21 season with a 16-9 overall, while
VMI improved to 13-11 and will meet No. 7 Mercer in the second semifinal game
on Sunday evening, slated to tip at approximately 7:30 p.m.
The Paladins held a 71-56 lead over the Keydets following a
Noah Gurley jumper in the lane, which accounted for two of his game-high and
career-high 30 points in the contest, and it seemed as if Furman was coasting
into a semifinal date with Mercer on Sunday night.
However, VMI, which had seen two games with Furman, which
were canceled due to positive tests within the Keydets program and claimed the
lone meeting between the two during the regular-season, with a 74-73 win in
Lexington back in early January to hand Furman its first SoCon loss of the
pandemic-shortened season, would also hand Furman its final loss of the campaign
in an even more heartbreaking fashion.
Following Gurley’s bucket, which had matched the Paladins its largest lead of the night at 15
points, the Keydets would close out the game on a 24-9 run to force overtime,
with the game tied, 80-80. A Jake Stephens three-pointer with 33 seconds
remaining, which tied the contest, 80-80.
Following a Gurley miss in the paint, the Keydets had a
chance to win it at the buzzer, but senior guard Greg Parham, who was a first-team
all-conference selection, scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half and in
overtime to lead the Keydets to the memorable come-from-behind win.
In overtime, VMI’s Myles Lewis and Furman’s Mike Bothwell
traded baskets, tying the game, 82-82, and then back-to-back buckets from
Lewis, including one of a steal and breakaway layup gave VMI an 86-82 lead with
2:43 left.
Following a Jaylon
Pugh missed jumper, the Keydets extended their lead back to six, at 88-82,
following a Parham short jumper in the paint with 1:46 left.
The Paladins answered with an Alex Hunter three-pointer,
cutting the VMI lead to 88-85 with 1:34 left. On VMI’s ensuing possession,
Gurley picked up his first foul of the night, sending Parham to the line for a
1-and-1 with 1:10 left. Parham calmly made both free throws, extending VMI’s
lead back to five, at 90-85.
With just under a minute remaining, Clay Mounce connected on
a three from the right elbow, bringing the Paladins back to within a bucket, at
90-88.
Parham missed a shot on the other end, however, the ball wedged
in-between the rim and glass, forcing a jump ball with 31 seconds remaining, and
the alternating possession arrow gave the ball back to the Keydets following
the dead ball rebound.
After Parham missed another shot in the paint, Lewis came up
with a huge offensive rebound but also missed, and Jalen Slawson cleared the
rebound for the Paladins and with nine seconds left, Furman called a 30-second
timeout to set up a play.
Following the timeout, Bothwell dribbled strong to the
basket, but stumbled as he cut down the lane, losing control of the ball prior to
getting a comfortable shot in the air, and the ball went out of bounds to VMI,
as bodies tumbled to the floor with 3.3 seconds left, and Furman’s Mounce
picked up his fifth foul with 1.2 seconds remaining, sending Stephens to the
line. Stephens knocked down the second of two free throws to make it a 91-88
game.
On the ensuing inbounds pass, Pugh heaved a long pass to the
other end of the floor to Gurley, whose 17-foot jumper from just right of the
line was good as time expired, leaving the Paladins a point short, with a 91-90
loss. It was strangely similar to how Furman dropped its one-point decision to
UNC Greensboro in the 2010 SoCon Tournament to UNC Greensboro, which saw Amu
Saaka slam one home as time expired, as Furman dropped a one-point contest,
66-65, at Bojangles Arena in Charlotte.
Gurley’s career night comes in a flurry to end the season
for the redshirt junior forward, as he posted his fourth-straight game of 20 or
more points to close the season for the Paladins. The Fayetteville, GA., product
finished the night connecting on 11-of-21 from the field, including 3-of-6 from
three-point range and was a perfect 5-for-5 from the line.
Additionally, Gurley
added seven rebounds, seven steals and an assists to his career night as a
Paladin. It was Gurley’s fifth-straight game in double figures to close the
regular-season. Gurley’s seven assists in the loss were a career-high.
Over the final two games of the season, Gurley connected on
22-of-43 shots from the field (51.1%), including 7-of-14 from three-point range
(50%), averaging 29.5 PPG over the final two games.
In his final six games,
Gurley averaged 22.6 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 2.5 APG and shot a blistering 63.0%
(53-of-84) from the field, including 51.8% from three-point range (14-of-27).
Mounce finished out his stellar Furman career with 17 points,
six rebounds and three assists, while Hunter matched Mounce with 17, to go
along with four boards and three assists. Bothwell rounded out the Paladins in
double figures with 12 points, three rebounds, three steals and two assists.
Stephens and Parham were joined in double figures by Sean
Conway, who posted an impressive double-double, with 12 points, 12 rebounds,
and had a pair of assists and a pair of steals. All 12 of Conway’s points came
on a 4-of-7 performance from three-point land. Impressive freshman point guard
Trey Bonham added 14 points, while senior forward Myles Lewis added 13.
The Paladins finished the night connecting on 50.7%
(34-of-67) from the field, while shooting 44.4% (12-of-27) from three-point range
in the loss. The Paladins connected on 53.6% (15-of-28) from the field in the
opening half to take a 42-35 lead into the break.
The Keydets overcame that deficit by shooting 55.2% (16-of-29)
in the second half, while holding the Paladins to 46.9% (15-of-32) from the
field.
It was the 14th all-time meeting between the
Paladins and Keydets in the SoCon Tournament, with the Keydets tying the postseason
series, 7-7. The Paladins also to 52-62 all-time in SoCon action, and 14-21 in
Asheville.
