Catamounts use a 30-9 second half run to overturn a nine-point deficit and run away from Paladins on Senior Night at the Ramsey Center
 |
| Furman's JP Pegues dribbles in the paint guarded by WCU senior point guard Vonterius Woolbright |
CULLOWHEE, N.C.--Vonterius Woolbright recorded his fourth triple-double of the season, and Western Carolina connected on its final six shots from the field, as the Catamounts used a 30-9 run to overcome a nine-point second half deficit to down Furman, 85-77, in Southern Conference action before a rowdy crowd of 3,159 fans on Senior Night at the Liston B. Ramsey Center.
The Catamount victory helped Western Carolina avenge what was a 65-62 loss to the Paladins earlier this season in Greenville at Timmons Arena on a three-pointer by JP Pegues with .8 seconds remaining back on Jan. 20. It was also WCU's second-straight win at the Liston B. Ramsey Center over the Paladins, having also handed Furman a 79-67 setback on New Year's Eve of 2022 before a much more humble gathering of Catamount fans, but no less energetic.
With the win, the Catamounts improved to 21-9 overall and 10-7 in Southern Conference play, while Furman fell to 16-14 overall and 10-7 in league play. With a win on the road Saturday evening at Chattanooga, the Catamounts can tie their NCAA Division I record for wins, as a win over the Mocs Saturday in the Scenic City would be the 22nd of the season, which would also tie the 2009-10 Catamounts.
That 2009-10 edition of the Catamount men's basketball team won 22 games, posting a 22-12 mark after losing in the opening round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT) to former SoCon member Marshall (L, 88-90).
The Catamounts, who are in the midst of one their greatest in program history in a campaign which includes a pair of power five wins at Notre Dame and Vanderbilt, closed out the home slate with a 12-3 record at the Ramsey Center following the win over the Paladins. Western Carolina is one of four teams in the Southern Conference to have won 20 or more games this season.
The win also helped pull Western Carolina into a tie for fourth-place in the league standing with Furman with one game left to play in the 2023-24 regular-season.
The loss ensured Furman would finish out of the top three in the Southern Conference regular-season standings for the first time since finishing 10th in 2014-15.
It was a 2015 SoCon Tournament that would see the Paladins go on to make a run in March all the way to the SoCon Tournament championship game to take on top-seeded Wofford, where Furman dropped a 67-64 contest to the Terriers. However, that was the momentum Furman needed to fuel its men's basketball program forward, and it hasn't looked back since. Furman was the first ever double-digit seed to reach the SoCon title game.
When it arrives in Asheville on March 8 for the 2024 Southern Conference Tournament at the Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville, Furman could very likely be tasked with defending its 2023 title run against the very same team it was defeated by in the penultimate game of the 2023-24 regular-season.
Western Carolina (10-7), Wofford (9-8) and Furman (10-7) all remain battling for the 4-6 seeds for the upcoming tournament. There are scenarios that could see the Paladins facing either Western Carolina or Wofford in the opening round.
Woolbright scored 15 points, dished out 11 assists, and corralled 10 rebounds to notch his nation-leading fourth double-double of the 2023-24 season, as the leading candidate for SoCon Player of the Year dazzled in what could potentially be the final game of his career in a Catamount uniform on Senior Night.
In today's world of college athletics, Senior Night has become one of the more bizarre rites of passage in college athletics. There are no more guarantees--going or staying--or and much less an understanding of even how much eligibility remains.
In the modern climate of college athletics dominated by NIL and the transfer portal, we are witnessing such traditions disappear, and there is little time for the scroll of accomplishments to be read prior to tip-off for each of a team's seniors for fear that oftentimes it might be presumptuous, as final decisions aren't usually rendered nowadays until the transfer portal both opens and closes. The attachments almost seem relegated to a stats sheet alone and nothing more, but I digress...That's a story for another article and forum.
I had wished the tremendous accomplishments of Woolbright, as well as WCU's other seniors could be recognized before what was an electric crowd on hand for the final home game of the 2023-24 season, however, I fully understand why they were not.
The outstanding point-forward from Albany, GA., finished his night connecting on 6-of-9 shots from the field, which included a 3-for-6 effort at the charity stripe. His 11 total assists equaled Furman's entire team total for the night, while his 10 boards helped the Catamounts own what was a slight, 35-33, edge on the backboards. He was one of five Catamounts in double figures in the contest.
Woolbright's efforts on senior night overshadowed another absolute burner from JP Pegues, who established a new career-high with 35 points, as he became the 52nd player in Furman hoops history to eclipse the 1,000-point plateau this season, reaching the milestone early in the second half following three-point play the old-fashioned way.
Pegues now has 1,011 points in his Furman career, as the reigning SoCon Player of the Week notched his second 30-point effort in the past three games, including his fourth-straight game with 20 or more points. He becomes the second Paladin to eclipse the 1,000-point plateau this season, with Marcus Foster also doing so a couple of weeks back in a road loss to Mercer.
All told, it was Pegues' 13th performance of 20 or more points this season, which ranks second in the SoCon to only Woolbright in performances of 20 or more points this season.
Pegues connected on 10-of-22 shots from the field, which included going 6-for-13 from three-point range, as well as finishing a perfect 9-for-9 from the charity stripe. Pegues also finished by dishing out five of the team's 11 total assists in the contest.
The junior point guard from Nashville also added four rebounds, a pair of steals, a block, while turning the ball over only twice in 34 minutes of action. He was one of two Paladins in double figures. Pegues' 35-point effort marks the fifth time a Paladin has finished with 30 or more points in a game this season, with he and senior Marcus Foster accounting for four of the five.
Foster became the first Paladin to do that in back-to-back games since Karim Souchu during the 2002-03 season, when in November the redshirt senior guard went for 30 in consecutive games at the Myrtle Beach Invitational in games against Coastal Carolina and Liberty, respectively. He ended up setting a three-game tournament record with a combined 78 points.
Pegues' 30-point efforts have have come in two out of the past three games (scored 33 points in a 74-72 loss at Samford). All told, of the 18 thirty-point efforts turned out by SoCon players this season, the Paladins account for five of those registered by three players (Marcus Foster 2, JP Pegues 2 and Alex Williams 1). Furman sports just a 2-3 record in those games, including a 1-3 record against NCAA Division I competition.
Like the Samford game, which saw the talented guard with a quiver full of late-game daggers seemingly at the ready at his disposal, he did most of his damage in the second half. Against Samford, Pegues poured in 28 of his game-high 33 points in the latter 20 minutes. In the loss at Western Carolina Wednesday night, Pegues posted 24 of his game-high 35 in the second stanza.
Meanwhile, for the Catamounts, while Woolbright's triple-double was the headliner of the night, he didn't wind up being the team's leading scorer. That distinction belonged to Russell Jones, Jr., who finished the contest with 20 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field, which included a 4-for-8 effort from three-point range and he also finished 6-for-8 from the charity stripe. Jones Jr. also added three rebounds and an assist to the cause.
DJ Campbell, who came off the bench due to it being senior night, as he made way for Kamar Robertson, finished with 12 points, one rebound, a steal, and an assist, while Bernard Pelote added 11 points, six boards, blocked two shots and had an assist of the Catamount pine. Tre Jackson, who was a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe, rounded out the Catamounts in double figures, as he posted 10.
Aside from Pegues, the only other Paladin in double figures in the loss was Ben VanderWal, who added 10 points, six rebounds and a pair of steals. It was the third time in the past five games VanderWal has found his way into double figures, as he continues to blossom into a reliable scoring threat as his sophomore season winds down.
Marcus Foster, who came into the contest as Furman's leading scorer, was held in check for much of the night by a stellar defensive effort from Woolbright, as the senior guard from Atlanta finished with only five points. It marked only the third time this season in which Foster has failed to reach double figures, which includes a five point effort last week in a 74-72 heartbreaking loss to league champion Samford on the road.
Foster was held to three points in a 70-69, non-conference loss at Princeton, which was also the same game that Foster would be sidelined for nine games with a lower body injury. The Paladins are now 0-3 when Foster fails to reach double figures.
The Catamounts finished the contest by connecting on 54.5% (30-of-55) of its shots from the field, which included a blistering 60.0% (18-of-30) effort in the second half alone, and that included a 54.5% (6-for-11) effort from three-point range.
Western Carolina also shot a solid 73.9% (17-of-23) from the charity stripe. The Catamounts shot it at a 42.1% (8-of-19) from long-range for the game, which is one of the better long-range efforts by an opponent against the Paladin perimeter defense in league play this season. Furman came in leading the SoCon in three-point field goal percentage in league games, holding foes to just 32.1% from long-range.
The Paladins finished the contest connecting on just 41.0% (25-of-61) from the field, which included just a 31.4% (11-of-35) effort from three-point range. Furman finished a strong 80% (16-of-20) from the charity stripe.
The Catamounts finished the game holding advantages in points from turnovers (12-9), total rebounds (35-33), total assists (15-11), points in the paint (36-20), bench scoring (33-13), and fast-break points (11-3). The Paladins held a 10-9 edge in second-chance points.
How It Happened:
Western Carolina and Furman showed why they were two teams trending in the right direction defensively since the start of league play last month, as both guarded well throughout the opening 20 minutes of play, especially from the perimeter, and it was the dedication on that end of the floor that allowed them to get back into the basketball game, despite shooting just 35.7% from the floor in the opening half.
That defensive intensity, particularly over the final nine minutes of the opening frame, allowed the Paladins to head to to the locker room holding a narrow 32-30 lead. Furman used a 21-7 run over the final 8:28 to overturn what was an 11-point deficit (23-12) and all the momentum.
JP Pegues scored 14 first-half points, as the Catamounts were able to hold Alex Williams and Marcus Foster, who are two of Furman’s three top scorers, scoreless, as the sharp-shooting duo finished the opening half of play.
For the second-straight season in a game in Cullowhee between the two purple-clad rivals, the Paladins would build as much as a nine-point second half lead only to see the Catamounts sharply change the game's overall trajectory in seemingly an instant with a couple of made shots in succession, and that was more than enough to give the rowdy crowd of just over 3,000 fans the juice it needed to completely reverse the trend of basketball game, as the decibel level rose inside the Ramsey Center after every positive Catamount outcome. The Catamount men's basketball team fed off that energy and never looked back.
In Furman's 79-67 loss at the Ramsey Center on Dec. 31, 2022, the Paladins held a 50-41 second half lead with 16 minutes remaining following a Garrett Hien top of the key three on that occasion.
Fast-forward to Feb. 28, 2024, and the Paladins would hold a nine-point, and It would be a Marcus Foster three-pointer with 11:52 remaining that would stake the Paladins to a seemingly comfortable 57-48 advantage in Cullowhee this time around. However, just like last season, the Catamounts would ultimately catch fire and never look back.
A 30-9 run by Western Carolina helped the Catamounts turn that nine-point deficit (57-48) with just under 12 minutes left into its largest lead of the night of 12 points, at 78-66, following a DJ Campbell triple with time winding down on the shot clock with 2:09 remaining. WCU made its final six shots of the game as a part of that 60% shooting effort in the second half, which saw the Catamounts post 55 points in the second half alone.
"I thought we were half-a-second late on a lot of plays tonight and I am not sure what that was and I thought we had two good days of practice and we just didn't appear fresh," Furman head coach Bob Richey said of his team's performance Wednesday night.
"In the second half and we're up nine at one point... really similar to the game up here last year where we were up nine and they made a run and kind of hit us and we didn't respond back real well but I didn't think tonight was all bad.. it just wasn't consistent enough in an environment like this on the road versus a team like that," Richey added.
Furman will return to action Saturday afternoon for its regular-season finale against Mercer (14-16, 7-10 SoCon), which will also be the end of an era of sorts for Timmons Arena, which will host its final game in its current form. The Arena which opened on Dec. 30, 1997, with Furman's narrow 72-69 win against non-Division I foe Northeastern Illinois, will now receive a 49 million dollar face lift before returning new and improved in the fall of 2025, will host its final game in its current state on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. EST. The Paladins have posted a gaudy 109-18 record against all competition over the past nine seasons, including a 63-9 mark against SoCon opposition.
Western Carolina, meanwhile, heads on the road for its regular-season finale, as it will head to the Scenic City of Chattanooga, TN, to take on the Chattanooga Mocs (20-10, 12-5 SoCon), who are fresh off of an 84-75 win Wednesday night over Mercer, with tip-off for that matchup slated for 2 p.m. EST. The Mocs won the first meeting between the two this season, handing WCU one of its three home court losses by dispatching the Catamounts, 91-85, at the Ramsey Center back on Jan 31.
No comments:
Post a Comment