Furman drops its first game to Mercer since 2016

  Mercer snaps Furman’s 18-game winning streak

Fresh off a career-high matching 30-point performance last time out against VMI, Mercer's Jayln McCreary posted 28 points to lead the Bears to a 78-69 win over Furman in Southern Conference hoops action Wednesday night at Hawkins Arena. 

The win by the Bears snapped what had been an 18-game winning streak in the series by the Paladins, and sees the Bears improve to 11-13 overall and 4-7 in league action, while Furman falls to 6-5 in league play. It was Furman's third loss in its last four games, which comes on the heels of a season-best five-game winning streak, which culminated with a 78-68 win over league-leading Samford just two weeks ago at Timmons Arena. 

The Paladins also fell to 3-10 away from Timmons Arena in true road games this season, which includes a 2-4 mark away from the friendly confines in league play. 

McCreary finished his night by connecting on 13-of-21 shots from the field and was 2-for-3 at the charity stripe. He also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds. 

For head coach Greg Gary, it was his first win over Furman in this his fifth season as the head coach of the Bears, as he improved to 1-13 all-time against the Paladins. It was Mercer's first win over the Paladins since Stephen Croone and Devin Sibley suited up for the Paladins back in the 2015-16 season, as Mercer claimed a 69-65 win over Furman on Jan. 14, 2016, at Hawkins Arena. 

The Bears completely shut down the Paladins in the second half, and in particular, the final 4:18 of the contest, which saw the Paladins go scoreless. In fact, watching the game it seemed as if Furman turned the ball over more than shots aimed towards the basket during that timeframe, and it was a reminder of just how Furman basketball has been at times when it has got in a rut. When it's bad, it's really bad.

In the second half of Wednesday night's first of two meetings with Mercer, the Bears wanted it more. Furman looked less like a defending champion than it had in its previous loss. It looked like a team just there playing a game for no real reason at all. 

Defending champs normally have swagger...Defending champs act like they are defending something. Defending champs have to be hungrier than they were the year before. None of those attributes could have been said of the Paladins on Wednesday night in Macon, as they weren't discernible in any form...Even to the keenest of attentive eyes.

Playing its first road game in the final month of league play, it would have caught most who didn't know by surprise that Furman was the defending Southern Conference basketball champions. Mercer played the second half as the aggressor from start-to-finish, and looked more the part of defending champs by comparison. 

It comes as little surprise then, that the  Bears were easily able to overcome its halftime deficit of 40-34 and outscore the Paladins 44-29 in the second half en route to what was one of Mercer's best halves of basketball all season.

A 19-5 second half run by the Bears was a big key, which was super charged by supplemental scoring from Caleb Hunter, who scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half to supplement the work already being done in the paint by McCreary.

Both teams shot the ball pretty well in the opening 20 minutes of basketball, with Furman connecting at a 50% (13-of-26) clip, while Mercer connected on 47.1% (16-of-34), as the Paladins would carry a 40-34 lead into the halftime break. However, for the second-straight game and for just the third time this season, the Paladins could hold it together in the second half.

In terms of three-point shooting, the Paladins finished the night connecting on just 27.3% (6-of-22) from three-point land, while the Paladins continued their stellar shooting from the free throw line of late, connecting on 82.6% (19-of-23) from the charity stripe.  Following the 50% shooting effort in the opening half, the Paladins could only muster a 34.6% (9-for-26) in the second half. It led to a final shooting clip of 42.3% (22-of-52) from the field for the game. 

Mercer came out and blistered the nets at a 56.6% (17-of-30) clip in the second half and held the Paladins to just a 34.6% (22-of-52) shooting clip from the field, to outscore the Paladins by 15 points en route to what was seemingly a pretty easy victory. The Bears finished the night of totals of 51.6% (33-of-64) shooting from the field, while connecting on just 22.2% (2-of-9) from three-point land.  The Bears also connected on 66.7% (10-of-15) shots from the charity stripe. 

Like his 25-point performance in Macon last season, Marcus Foster would lead the way scoring-wise for the Paladins in the loss, finishing with 19 points and nine rebounds, as he just missed his sixth double-double in what was his seventh game back from injury. 

With his 19 point scoring effort, Foster now has 1,012 points in his Furman career, surpassing the 1,000-point milestone in the opening half of play. The Peach State product finished the night connecting on 6-of-15 shots from the field, which included going 1-for-5 from three-point range. 

The senior guard also finished the game connecting on 6-of-7 foul shots and was one of three Paladins in double figures in the loss. Foster is the 51st player in program history to cross the 1,000-point plateau in a career.

Foster would finish the contest joined in double figures by Alex Williams, who finished with 15 points, while junior forward Tyrese Hughey chipped in with 10. 

On a night When Furman once again struggled to shoot the three, Alex Williams and Tyrese Hughey proved to be the most effective long-range options for the Paladins, as the duo connected on a combined 4-of-9 from three-point range in the game, however, the rest of the team finished just 2-for-13 from long range.

It was a particularly tough night for Furman junior guard JP Pegues, who finished the night with a season-low four points and took only five shots, finishing 2-of-5 from the field. The four points by Pegues was the lowest point total of the season, and was the lowest since the second game of the 2022-23 season, as Pegues scored just two points in an 89-74 home win over Belmont (11/11/2022). 

It was just the third time this season that junior point guard from Nashville has failed to find his way into double figures, with only UAB (6 pts) and VMI (8 pts) managing to hold the junior out of the double figures scoring category. 

Pegues added four rebounds, two assists, and had three of Furman's 14 turnovers in the contest. 

One of the few bright spots for the Paladins was Garrett Hien, who added eight points, two rebounds and two assists off the bench for the Paladins. 

All told, the Bears held advantages in total rebounds (35-32), points in the paint (48-32), second-chance points (11-2), points from turnovers (14-8) and bench points (22-17). The Paladins held the edge in total assists (12-8) and the two teams were tied in fast-break scoring (7-7).

The Paladins fell to 10-3 in games they have led at the half this season, including for the second-straight outing. Furman also held a lead against UNCG (51-47) last time out at Timmons Arena before eventually dropping what was an 89-87 contest before a national television audience this past Sunday. 

How It Happened:

Furman opened the game in solid fashion, shooting 50% (13-of-26) from the field and converted 11-of-13 shots from the charity stripe, as the Paladins went into the halftime locker room with a 40-34 lead and appeared to be on their way to fashioning a 19th-straight win over Mercer.

However, in the second half, the Bears came out red-hot shooting the basketball and took the game to Furman, as the Bears shot 56.7% in the second half, while holding the Paladins to just 34.6% and allowed the Bears to win the second half by 15 points, outscoring the Paladins 44-29 in the latter 20 minutes to get the streak-stopping win. 

The Bears used a 13-1 run early in the second half allowed Mercer to take a 52-51  lead following a three-pointer from Mercer talented freshman guard David Thomas, and that would be followed by a Jah Quinones jumper in the paint with 12:49 left, giving the Bears the 54-51 lead.

Furman would re-take the lead moments later, as Marcus Foster scored on back-to-back layups to take a 55-54 lead with just under 12 minutes remaining. It would turn out to be the final lead the Paladins would hold the remainder of the evening. 

The Bears would score the next six points to take control of the basketball game, as Jayln McCreary converted a running one-handed jump-shot in the lane, which was followed by a TJ Grant two-handed dunk off an assist from Robby Carmody, and then a David Thomas layup in the paint at the 9:25 mark gave the Bears a 60-55 lead. 

Foster would stop the bleeding momentarily, as he connected on one of Furman's three second half triples, getting the Paladins back to within two, at 60-58, with just over nine minutes left. A Robby Carmody three-point play the old-fashioned way on the other end took the Mercer lead immediately back to five, at 63-58, with 8:06 left, and a pair of free throws by Foster out of the under eight media timeout would get the Paladins to back to within one possession again, at 63-60 with 7:48 left.

Mercer would slowly gain control of the game from there, however, as the Paladins were never able to get within one possession the rest of the way. Furman cut it to four twice the rest of the way, with a Garrett Hien layup with 4:18 remaining being the last of those four-point deficits. Mercer would take as much as a 10-point lead with 26 seconds remaining on a pair of Jalen Cobb free throws, taking a 78-68 lead with 26 seconds remaining. Marcus Foster would score the final points of the evening, setting the final margin at nine.

Furman returns to action Saturday evening when it travels to Freedom Hall to take on suddenly hot East Tennessee State (13-11, 5-6 SoCon), who muzzled Wofford, 57-50, Wednesday evening to avenge what was a 75-73 loss to the Terriers just a couple of weeks ago at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. The Paladins claimed an 82-73 win over the Bucs earlier this season at Timmons Arena. Tip-off for that contest is slated for 6 p.m. EST and will be nationally televised on CBS Sports Network.

Mercer returns to action Saturday, as they will be in Cullowhee to take on Western Carolina (17-7, 6-5 SoCon) at the Liston B. Ramsey Center, with tip-off for that contest set for 7 p.m. EST. Mercer will look to avenge what was a 64-52 loss at Hawkins Arena earlier in SoCon play.