Samford and Furman gave us a SoCon Classic

 Wednesday's SoCon action was lit

Lit is probably a cringe word to use for a man in his early 40s, however, it was indeed an appropriate way to describe the action that transpired in round 15 of Southern Conference action in 2024.  

There have been simply some outstanding Southern Conference basketball midweek battles this season, and for some reason, it's the midweek games that seemingly have been the ones that have provided some heart-stopping finishes.

The game of the night took place between the SoCon's top team and one that will head to Asheville in a couple of weeks as the defending Southern Conference champion. Samford and Furman looked the part of a pair of teams that could very well be in line to represent the SoCon in the NCAA Tournament as the league's tournament champion in a couple of weeks.

Jermaine Marshall helped the Bulldogs take a step closer to a Southern Conference regular-season title for a second-straight season, scoring four of Samford's final seven points, as he helped the Bulldogs overcome a five-point deficit with 45 seconds remaining to help the Bulldogs to a 74-72 win over Furman, snapping what is a four-game skid in the series against the Paladins.

The Bulldogs can now see the light of the end of the tunnel for the top overall seed and outright Southern Conference title, which is good news for Samford fans that pay close attention to SoCon Basketball over the years, as many will be aware that the last six Southern Conference champions were also the top seed heading into the tournament.

For Samford, should it go on to clinch the No. 1 seed Saturday against East Tennessee State, the Bulldogs would head into a tournament as the No. 1 overall seed in a conference tournament for the first time since 1999, when the Bulldogs were members of the Trans America Athletic Conference (TAAC), which is a conference that morphed into the Atlantic Sun. 

Marshall finished with 15 and was one of four Bulldogs in double figures in the game. His effort overshadowed the one turned in by Furman's JP Pegues, who scored 33 points in the loss, including Furman's final 22 points of the game, as well as tallying a total of 28 in the second half alone. 

The junior from Nashville finished the night connecting on 9-of-15 shots from the field, which included a 6-for-11 performance from three-point range and was a perfect 9-for-9 from the charity stripe. Pegues scored 28 of his game-high 33 points in the second half, including 22 over the final 6:56 of game action. All told, Pegues accounted for 28 of Furman's 46 second-half points in the loss.

In addition to what the junior did as a scorer, he also added six rebounds, two assists, a steal and had only two turnovers against Samford's relentless pressure. The performance by Pegues marked the 10th time this season in which he has scored 20 or more points in a game, and his effort in the loss eclipsed his previous career-high of 29 points, which he established in the loss to Belmont earlier this season. 

Pegues became the third Paladin to score 30 or more points in a game this season, and the fourth occurrence of that particular feat. His 33-point effort was a season-high for a Paladin player, and he joins Marcus Foster (2) and Alex Williams (1) who have also recorded 30-point scoring efforts this season. The last time Furman played in Homewood, which was in the regular-season finale last season, Mike Bothwell went for 35 points in the Paladins' 14-point road win to clinch the No. 1 seed in Asheville. 

While the game was epic in Homewood, there was another tough two teams squaring off against each other in Greensboro, as the winner between UNC Greensboro and Western Carolina would notch a hard-fought, 71-65, win over Western Carolina, as the Spartans were able to garner the season sweep of the Catamounts.

One of the interesting stat lines that came out of this game was the two teams teams almost go no production from their respective benches in the contest, with the two teams combining for eight points off of the respective benches. 

Four Spartans ended up finding their way into double figures, with UNCG's dynamic scoring quartet of Mikeal Brown-Jones, Keyshawn Langley, Donovan Atwell, and Kobe Langley all finished in double figures in the win for UNCG. That aforementioned quartet of players accounted for a combined 53 of the team's 71 points in the contest. Brown-Jones and Keyshaun Langley finished with 19 points apiece, while Donovan Atwell added 15 and Kobe Langley finished with 15.

The Spartans bench went a combined 3-of-8 from the field for a combined six points, with Joryam Saizanou (4 pts) and Tim Caesar (2 pts) accounted for all of the bench points in the game for the Spartans. 

Keyshaun Langley finished going 7-for-11 from the field, which included connecting on four crucial three-pointers for the Spartans in the contest, with two of threes coming on consecutive possessions late in the contest to give UNCG a six-point lead it would never surrender en route to the 71-65 win. 

Meanwhile, Catamount guards Vonterius Woolbright and Russell Jones Jr. combined to score 44 points with those two netting 22 points apiece. For Woolbright, who is the leading candidate for Southern Conference Player of the Year, posted his 18th game of the season with 20 more points in game this season. He only just missed a double-double for just the eighth time this season, finishing with eight rebounds. 

Russell Jones Jr. scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half, and Tre Jackson and DJ Campbell finished just out of double figures, posting nine points apiece. All told, the Spartans starting backcourt quartet combined for 62 of the team's 65 points. College of Charleston transfer center Charles Lampten had one point, while Bernard Pelote accounted for the lone two bench points following his 2-of-2 performance from the charity stripe in 19 min off the bench. The Catamounts bench was a combined 0-for-11 from the field In the contest. 

For UNCG head coach Mike Jones, he helped the Spartans to 20 wins for the second time in his three seasons since taking over the head coaching post. The 20-win campaign marked the seventh time in the past eight seasons the Spartans have registered 20 or more wins, and along with Samford, are the lone two teams in the SoCon to have won 20 or more games in the league this season. 

The Spartans have 197 overall wins since the start of the 2015-16 season, which is one of ahead of Furman's 196 overall triumphs over that same span. UNCG also has a league standard 114 SoCon wins over that span, which is two ahead of 112 SoCon wins over the past nine seasons.

While UNCG gained the season sweep of Western Carolina, Mercer (13-15, 6-9 SoCon) helped avenge a loss to The Citadel earlier in league play with an 87-78 home win over The Citadel. Earlier this season, the Bears blew what was an 18-point lead to get what was a 68-66 win. 

Mercer is trending in the right direction down the stretch, and though the Bears appeared headed for the No. 8 seed, are a team that remains one that teams might want to avoid if possible in Asheville. Mercer could climb to seventh in the league standings, but despite being tied for seventh in the league standings at 6-9 with ETSU, the Bears would be the No. 8 seed in the tournament due to the fact that ETSU garnered the season sweep.  

Mercer's win over the Bulldogs marked the Bears second-straight win for Mercer and head into a crurcial matchup with UNCG--a team the Bears beat on the road, 70-64, last month--as the Bears will celebrate Senior Day at Hawkins Arena.

ETSU and Chattanooga picked up wins over VMI (4-24, 1-14 SoCon) and Wofford (15-13, 8-7 SoCon), respectively, to round out Wednesday night's SoCon action. 

The Bucs picked up an 82-69 win over the visiting Keydets, marking the second time ETSU has reached 80 points in a Southern Conference win this season, while Chattanooga used a second-half run to distance itself from the Terriers and pick up an 81-65 win, despite playing without dynamic scoring guard Trey Bonham. The Mocs got a game-high 29 points from Honor Huff to secure the win over the Terriers.

Wofford had grabbed a 54-52 lead in the game with 12:23 left, however, a 15-5 run, which included a double-technical foul from the Terriers helped push the advantage to 12 (69-57) and the Mocs never looked back en route to the big win. 

ETSU led by 22 points at the half (52-30) and coasted to what was an 82-69 win over the Keydets, bolstered by a 21-point effort from Ebby Asamoah, who knocked down four threes in the win. Jaden Seymour added 16 points in 36 minutes of action, while Quimari Peterson and Jadyn Parker rounded out the Bucs in double figures with 13 and 11 points, respectively. 

Samford's key to winning it all in Asheville

It's tough to know what to expect as we head down the stretch, however, Samford remains the team to beat in what has been another wild Southern Conference season, and though the Bulldogs have been way out in front of the league standings to-date, many expect the Bulldogs to have the toughest challenge that any of the past six previous No. 1 seeds that have won the tournament have had before cutting down the nets in Asheville. 

The Bulldogs have had some injuries hit at exactly the wrong time to both Achor Achor and AJ Staton-McCray, however, the good news is Samford has its best player--Jermaine Marshall--starting to get his groove back after returning from injury. His 15 points against Furman were evidence of just that, and his play on both ends of the floor helped will the Bulldogs to a 13 SoCon win this past Wednesday. 

Samford is also proving it can play well defending the perimeter, however, the main concern for the Bulldogs is defending the post and particularly the paint without Achor Achor, who is injured, or when he is in foul trouble. If Samford doesn't find an answer to that equation, it could make life difficult in Asheville.

There's still time to get healthy and improve that one weakness though heading towards the conference tournament in a couple of weeks, as the Bulldogs host ETSU Saturday before closing the season with games at Wofford next Wednesday (Feb. 28) and at The Citadel on Mar. 2.