Furman knocks off Presbyterian in final Division I test of non-conference play

Furman rebounded from its heartbreaking double-overtime loss at Tulane last week, the Paladins returned to action in a big way five days later, downing in-state rival Presbyterian, 76-61, in the Paladins’ final game before Christmas.

With the win, the Paladins improved to 6-6 overall, while the Blue Hose dropped their second-straight contest to fall to 7-6. The Paladins remained perfect at Timmons Arena this season, improving to 5-0 on the home floor and picked their 102nd win inside the friendly confines since the beginning of the 2015-16 season. 

Furman was led by JP Pegues for a second-straight game, as he posted 21 points, while Garrett Hien finished with his first-career double-double, finishing with 19 points and 11 rebounds, and also finished the game by dishing out a team-high five assists. 

Fresh off a career-high 29-point effort in the 117-110 loss at Tulane, the junior guard from the Music City posted his seventh 20-plus performance in 11 games this season, including his fourth-straight 20-point scoring effort. Pegues finished the night connecting on 8-of-12 shots from the field, which included a 2-for-5 effort from long-range. Pegues, who continues to be Furman's most efficient foul shooter, finished a perfect 3-for-3 in the contest. 

Hien had one of his best offensive nights of the season and as a Paladin, with a performance ranking right up there with his effort in Furman's 69-50 win over South Carolina last season, as he finished the contest by connecting on 8-of-12 from the field, including 1-of-1 from beyond the arch and finished 2-for-5 from the charity stripe. 

After finishing the previous two games by connecting on a combined 35-of-91 from three-point land, which converts to an impressive 38.4% clip, however, in the win over Presbyterian, the three-ball would not be significant factor in Furman's sixth win of the season. In fact, the Paladins finished the contest connecting on just 18.5% from long range, connecting on just 5-of-20 attempts from three-point land, which included an 0-for-7 performance in the opening half of play.

All told, Furman would finish the contest by connecting at 45.0% (27-of-60) clip from the field and held the visitors from Clinton to just 39.7% (25-of-63) from the field, including just 19.0% (4-for-21) from three-point land, in the win. The Paladins also connected on 68.0% (17-of-25) from the charity stripe, while the Blue Hose finished just 58.3% (7-of-12).

Furman did a stellar job on the defensive end of the floor, however, as the 'Dins held the Blue Hose to just 61 points, which is a season-low for the Paladins on that end of the floor. 

The Blue Hose were led in scoring by a pair of players in double figures, with Marquis Barnett leading PC with 14 points, while Jonah Pierce finished with 11.

The Paladins finished holding advantages in points in the paint (42-40), points from turnovers (13-5), total rebounds (41-37), and second chance points (10-9). The Blue Hose ended the night holding advantages bench scoring (30-15), fast break points (9-5) and total assists (14-11).

How It Happened:

The Paladins didn't have things working from the perimeter in its final game before Christmas, however, that was okay because they had things going well inside the paint, posting 42 points in the paint, while locking down Presbyterian en route to the 15-point, 76-61, win over the Blue Hose in a game that offered further evidence of Furman's improvement against a much improved     Big South program.

The Paladins would begin to assume control of the game near the end of the opening half, using an 11-4 run over 5:42 of the half, which included scoring the final seven points of the frame to take a 37-26 lead into the halftime locker room. '

Following a Marquis Barnett made layup in the paint to cut Furman's lead to four, at 26-22, the Paladins would get a layup from Cooper Bowser and then a pair of free throws by JP Pegues to increase the lead to eight (30-22) with 3:37 left in the half.

Presbyterian would cut the Furman lead back to six when Trevon Reddish-Rhone converted a layup in the paint on PC's ensuing possession. Then after Furman committed one of its eight turnovers in the game, the Blue Hose would cut the Paladin lead to four when Reddish-Rhone converted a second-straight layup in the paint with 2:29 left in the half, making it a 30-26 game.

Furman, however, would score the final seven points of the half, and Garrett Hien's baby jumper off the glass in the lane extended the Paladin lead back to six, at 32-26. 

On PC's next possession, the Paladins came up with a big defensive play, as Carter Whitt blocked a Jonah Pierce jumper and after Pierce came up with the rebound, he missed a second shot in the paint and the board was corralled by Hien, and on the other end, Hien used a nice up-and-under move to lose the Blue Hose defender, converting the easy two off the glass to increase     Furman's lead to eight, at 34-26, with 1:22 remaining in the first half. 

After Jamahri Harvey missed a three on the other end, Hien grabbed the rebound and was immediately fouled, putting him at the free throw line in the 1-and-1 bonus. Hien missed the front end of the 1-and-1, but Davis Molnar got the rebound and converted a layup underneath and was also fouled with 33 seconds remaining in the frame. After completing the three-point play the old fashioned way, he gave the Paladins a 37-26 lead heading to the half. 

The Paladins would pick up in the second half right where they left off in the first half, using a 10-3 run out of the gate in the opening 3:10 of the second half to assume a 17-point, 47-30, lead on a three-pointer by JP Pegues. Another Pegues triple from the top of the key with 13:39 left would grow Furman's lead to 20, at 54-34, and the Paladins would lead by their largest margin of the second half of 22 points on three different occasions with the final 22-point margin coming following a Hien layup, which made it a 72-50 game with 3:29 remaining.

PC would out-score the Paladins 11-4 over the remainder of the game to account for the final 15-point margin.'

Furman returns to the floor in 10 days, as the Paladins welcome former assistant Jimmie Williams and the Anderson University Trojans into Timmons Arena for Furman's final game of what has been a magical 2023 calendar year. Tip-off for that Dec. 30 contest is set for 7 p.m. EST.

Postgame:

Players: Garrett Hien and JP Pegues

Head Coach Bob Richey

Inside Furman Basketball (Dec. 18)

Furman drops a heartbreaking, double-overtime contest at Tulane

 Tulane 117, Furman 110 (2OT)

Tulane out-scored Furman, 18-11, in the second overtime, and Kevin Cross notched a triple-double, with 25 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists, as the Green Wave were able to outlast a valiant effort by the Paladins, who overcame a 12-point halftime to take a late lead before the hometown team forced overtime from the charity stripe and eventually downed its SoCon visitor, 117-110, in double overtime at Devlin Fieldhouse.

The win sees the Green Wave improve to 7-2 overall, while the Paladins fall below .500, at 5-6. 

Jaylen Forbes led the Green Wave with 26 points, while Sion James chipped in with 21 to account for the three Green Wave players with 20 or more points in the contest. Rounding out the Tulane players in double figures in the win were Collin Holloway (18 pts), Tre Williams (14 pts) and Kolby King (13 pts), as the Green Wave saw all five of its starters finish in double figures in the win. Holloway had 10 rebounds to go along with his 18 points to notch a double-double.

Forbes, who led the way for Tulane, did most of his damage from long range, as seven of his eight made field goals came from long range, as he went 7-for-14 from beyond the arc in the contest. He finished the night by going 8-of-19 from the field and 3-for-6 from the charity stripe.

Cross did a majority of his scoring damage from the charity stripe, going 12-for-16 from the line. Additionally, he went 6-for-9 from the field and was 1-for-1 from long-range.

The Paladins got a game and career-high 29 points from JP Pegues, while Alex Williams and PJ Smith Jr. added 23 points apiece in the road loss. Garrett Hien rounded out the Paladin players in double figures with 10 points before fouling out with 10 points. Davis Molnar just missed scoring in double figures, as he finished with nine points. 

In addition to Pegues’ 29 points, he also grabbed six rebounds and dished out six assists. He finished the night 8-for-20 from the field, including going 7-for-15 from long range and was 6-for-6 from the charity stripe. His seven triples in the loss also represented a career-high for the junior guard. 

Williams finished his night connecting on 6-of-12 shots from the field and went 4-for-10 from deep and went 7-for-7 from the charity stripe.

The Green Wave were powered by a scorching shooting touch for most of the night, as the Green Wave finished the contest by shooting a season-best 54.5% from long range (12-of-23), while also finishing the game by connecting on a blistering 55.9% () from the field. It was the seventh time in nine games that the Green Wave have finished a game shooting 50% or better from the field, while it also marked the fourth time the Paladins have yielded 50% or better shooting from the field, including the second time in three games. The Paladins are 0-4 in those games.

The Paladins, meanwhile, finished the contest by shooting a solid 48.1% (37-of-77) from the field and connected on a season-high 18 three-pointers (18-of-42) to finish the contest shooting a blistering 42.9% from long-range.

The Paladins, however, couldn’t overcome a season-high 22 turnovers, which led directly to 22 Green Wave points. The Paladins have 164 turnovers through their first 11 games this season, which is almost halfway to the 397 miscues the Paladins committed in a total of 36 games last season.

For the game, Tulane held overall advantages in points in the paint (46-34), points from turnovers (22-13), and total assists (22-19). 

Furman finished the game with advantages in total rebounds (47-36), fast-break points (19-16), second-chance points (12-8) and bench scoring (20-13). 

The Green Wave finished the night by attempting 19 more free throws than the Paladins, connecting on 29-of-44 from the charity stripe for a 65.9% shooting clip from the line. It allowed the Green Wave to out-score Furman, 29-18, from the free throw line over the duration of 50 minutes of basketball. 

Meanwhile, the Paladins went 18-of-25 from the charity stripe, finishing with a 72.0% shooting clip from the line. 

How It happened:

Defending Southern Conference champion Furman broke through to make the NCAA Tournament to win its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 43 years and win its first NCAA Tournament game in 49 years, while adding its first NBA Draft pick for the first time in 34 years, and now it seems as if the basketball gods are asking for a return on that success this season–at least through non-conference play.

So far the Paladins have played with a completely healthy roster to start a game in just one of their first 11 games this season, while having lost their leading scorer to a knee injury until sometime in mid-January. 

If Marcus Foster’s injury wasn’t enough, you could look no further than a 70-69 loss to Princeton for the basketball gods looking for their payment, as that game saw the Paladins yield a 16-4 run down the stretch to the Tigers, while turning it over on six of its final seven possessions to drop a heartbreaking 70-69 contest in a matchup between two Cinderella teams from the 2023 NCAA Tournament.

Then came last night. A game that Furman looked as if it was going to get blown out of Devlin Fieldhouse early in the second half. The Paladins trailed 60-44 with just under 13 minutes remaining, and the Paladins kept themselves in the game by seemingly responding each time the Green Wave seemingly wanted to push the lead further into double-digits, yet the Paladins were able to keep the margin between 10-14 points and never led it grow larger after that initial storm surge from the Green Wave in the second half.

Furman still trailed by 13 points (76-63) with just under eight minutes remaining, however, the Paladins did some of the best work of the season from beyond the arc from that point forward, knocking down five of their 18 total triples down the stretch to force overtime, with the final one by Pegues a bit controversial, as it appeared to have given the Paladins a walk-off 92-89 win before eight-tenths were somehow added back to the clock after a long review and no official explanation to the fans in attendance or ESPN+ broadcasters as to how that allotment of time was deemed to have been left following Pegues long three-point effort, which left his hands with a little over two seconds left. 

Even at that, the ball was inbounded, caught, a foul committed and a double-clutch three for the tie from about 35 feet in just .5 seconds, as Cross went to the line for three free throws with still three-tenths of a second left. It was an exceptional pass by the Green Wave, and the execution was nearly flawless except missing the shot, however, the timing of it controversially only took half-a-second. 

That being said, Cross didn’t miss, and the Paladins couldn’t even get a touch on the ball before the .3 had expired, sending the game to the first of two overtimes, tied 92-92.

Even with all that contrvoversy taking place at the end, however,  Furman should have learned from its past in such situations, looking no further than a 95-89 loss to Belmont in the 2021-22 season, which saw Furman leading by three and a foul was whistled on Mike Bothwell with a full seven seconds remaining and the Paladins up 78-75 on the Bruins. Luke Smith went to the line on that occasion, connecting on all three foul shots to eventually force overtime. 

In the first overtime session, the Paladins and Green Wave continued trading blows, and after Cross evened the score with 1:21 remaining, the Paladins missed a pair of threes by Carter Whitt and from JP Pegues, and the game would go to a second five minutes of extra basketball, tied 99-99.

In the second session of free basketball, Furman had answer to Tulane’s haymakers on three-straight possessions, with Pegues and Forbes seemingly trading three-point answers, but Forbes’ final triple would give the Green Wave the lead for good, at 110-108, with 2:24 left. The Green Wave didn’t stop there, finishing the game on a 10-2 spurt to claim the win.

Furman struggled in the opening half of play, turning the basketball over 12 times, which led to a 10-1 advantage in points off turnovers, and that would help lead to a 47-35 halftime lead for Tulane. 

It was Furman’s first double-overtime game since Dec. of 2018, when the Paladins were able to knock off Western Carolina (90-88) as part of a school-record 12-0 start since the 1952-53 season. 

The Paladins will hope the basketball gods will be more kind when they take the floor Tuesday night in their penultimate non-conference game against Presbyterian. Tip-off for that contest is set for 7 p.m. at Timmons Arena.