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| Furman junior forward Ben VanderWal (Photo courtesy of Furman Athletics) |
NASHVILLE, TENN--Furman has won a lot of memorable basketball games since the start of the 2015-16 season, however, it was win No. 200 in that time frame that will rank right up there with the best of them, as the Paladins used their 16th triple of the night with 2.3 seconds remaining, which was a part of a 21-point debut from preseason All-SoCon selection PJay Smith Jr. in a thrilling 76-74 triumph over perennial mid-major power Belmont Friday night at the Curb Events Center.
The win sees the Paladins improve to 2-0 on the season, while Belmont drops to 1-1. The Paladins claimed three of the four meetings between the two each of the past four years. Belmont claimed a 95-89 win over the Paladins back in the 2021-22 season, however, the Paladins responded with three-straight wins over the past three seasons, which include an 89-74 win in 2022-23, a 99-76 win in 2023-24, and the most recent result being Furman's 76-74-win Friday night.
For the second time in the past three years, the Paladins were without head coach Bob Richey, who missed the game due the birth of his fourth child and second in the past three years. Jax Berner Richey was born on Jan. 3, 2022, and the Paladins would be on the wrong end of a 76-67 loss at VMI under former top assistant Jeremy Growe.
Coach Richey stayed in Greenville to be with his wife Jessica and await the birth of his second daughter, as Francie Elizabeth Richey was given quite the Birthday present by Smith on a game-winning three, which similar to the game-winning triple by JP Pegues against Virginia in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
Associate head coach Chad Warner, who counts 13 years and 228 wins of head coaching experience at both Shorter and Flagler before joining the Furman coaching staff as an assistant prior to the 2022-23 season, would effectively lead the Paladins to the huge road win against its first real competition of the 2024-25 season. Warner used substitution patterns wisely, as he effectively led the Paladins by playing 11 players, with nearly all having contributed a key play in the contest at some point.
Smith missed the first game of the season against Columbia International due to a broken finger but showed little signs of that in his first game of his final season in a Furman uniform. The Volunteer State native grew up about 15 minutes away from the Belmont campus in La Vergne, Tenn., and finished the night with a team-high 21 points and ended up connecting on 7-of-14 shots from the field, including going 5-for-8 from three-point land. The senior guard also added five rebounds, five assists, two steals and one block in what was a complete opening performance to 2024-25.
He was one of three Paladins in double figures in the win, as he would be joined by both Nick Anderson (17 pts) and Garrett Hien (15 pts) were both impressive shooting the basketball as well and were both instrumental to the Paladins' cause in Friday night's road win.
Fifteen of Anderson's 17 points came in the opening half of play, as he connected on five of Furman's 11 first-half triples and finished the contest knocking down 6-for-9 shots from the field and was 5-for-7 from three-point land. Hien also did a majority of his damage from downtown, connecting on 3-for-6 from three-point range. All told, Hien finished the night going 6-for-11 from the field and added six rebounds.
In his second game as a Paladin, Eddrin Bronson finished just outside the double figures scoring column, finishing the evening with eight points and one assist.
Though he didn't score, sophomore center Cooper Bowser was especially important to the Furman cause, adding a team-high 10 rebounds, four blocks and two steals.
Furman finished the game connecting on 47.5% (28-of-59) from the field and shot 45.7% (16-of-35) from long range and connected on 80% (4-for-5) from the charity stripe.
After scoring 16 points against Furman as a member of the Liberty Flames last season in what was an 88-74 win over the Paladins, Brody Peebles proved to be a thorn in the side of the Paladins once again this season as a member of the Belmont Bruins. Peebles scored a game-high 26 points on 12-of-18 shooting from the field.
Former Paladin Carter Whitt logged his first action as a Belmont Bruin Friday night and turned in a good performance in what was his first game of his final season of college basketball. The graduate transfer finished the game with 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the field, including a 2-for-3 effort from three-point land. Whitt also added two rebounds and two assists in the losing effort.
The Bruins finished the contest connecting on a solid 54.2% (32-of-59) from the field but shot only 31.3% (5-of-16) from three-point range.
Furman finished the contest with advantage in total rebounds (34-27), assists (18-14), second-chance points (13-7), bench points (23-14), fast-break scoring (6-4), and points off turnovers (14-10). As you might expect for a team that ended the night by connecting on 16 triples, the Paladins were outpaced 54-18 in the points in the paint category by the Bruins. The Paladins turned the ball over 16 times, while the Bruins committed 10 miscues.
How It Happened:
Furman led for most of the night, and for a second-straight game to start the 2024-25 season, the Paladins got off to an outstanding start shooting the basketball, connecting on 11-of-21 first-half three-pointers (52.4%) to take what was a 42-34 lead to the halftime locker room.
In the season opener against Columbia International, the Paladins were also excellent from long-range, heading into the locker room with a 58-15 lead over the visiting Rams as a result of a 12-of-17 shooting performance from long range.
The first two games of the 2024-25 season have seen Furman shoot lights out from downtown in the two opening halves of games against Belmont and Columbia International. In the first two first halves of 2024-25, the Paladins are shooting 60.5% (23-of-38) from long range in 2024-25. By contrast, the Paladins have combined to connect on only six second-half three-pointers, connecting on 6-for-19 (31.8%) in the two second halves to start the 2024-25 season.
Midway through the second half, however, the Bruins would erase Furman's lead and take their first lead of the night on a Brigham Rogers dunk off a nice backdoor cut, as he was fed a beautiful pass by Tyler Lundblade, giving Belmont a 56-55 lead with 10:13 remaining.
The Bruins would grow their lead to as much as six on two occasions over the next five minutes, with a Carter Whitt tear-drop running one-handed jumper giving Belmont its initial six-point edge (67-61) with 5:48 left, and a Sam Orme layup with 4:57 left giving the Bruins their final six-point lead of the evening, at 69-63.
Two of Furman's most important buckets of the night came on its next two possessions, with Eddrin Bronson registering Furman's lone dunk of the night and first off his career on a nice drive off the baseline after being fed a good pass by Tom House with 4:41 remaining.
Following an Aidan Noyes miss and a House rebound, the Florida State transfer would record his second-straight important assist, finding Davis Molnar in the paint, who converted a baby hook in the paint and was fouled in the process by Belmont's Drew Scharnowski. Molnar finished off the three-point play the old-fashioned way to trim Belmont's lead to a single point, at 69-68, with 4:07 remaining.
House continued his strong stretch, and following a Brody Peebles missed three and rebound by Cooper Bowser, House took a pass from PJay Smith Jr. and knocked down a left elbow three to help Furman regain the lead, at 71-69, completing what had been an 8-0 run with exactly four minutes remaining.
Peebles would then score five-straight for Belmont to help put the Bruins back into the lead when he converted a three-point play the old-fashioned way following Bowser's fourth foul of the night. Bowser blocked a key shot by Belmont's Jonathan Pierre with two minutes left, but eventually Peebles would increase on a short jumper with 50 seconds left, giving the Bruins a 74-71 lead.
After a 30-second timeout, Warner drew up a nice play for a PJay Smith Jr. layup to get the Paladins within a point, at 74-73, with 22 seconds remaining. After Bowser committed his fifth foul on Belmont's Isaiah Walker, it put the Bruins in the bonus and sent Walker to the line for a one-and-one with 15 seconds remaining. Walker missed the front end and the ball was rebounded by Garrett Hien. Belmont had a foul to give, and Walker would foul Hien with seven seconds left.
The Paladins inbounded the ball just in front of their bench and a beautifully-designed ball-action off the inbounds play would lead to Smith's game-winning triple from straightaway.
The ball was inbounded by Smith to Nick Anderson and following an excellent screen from House at the nail, despite being well-guarded by Belmont's Jonathan Pierre, House's screen created just enough room for Smith to get off his shot and the career 40% three-point shooter would connect on what proved to be the game-winning triple to give the Paladins a 76-74 lead with 2.3 seconds left.
The Paladins played good defense on Belmont's long inbounds pass, as the Paladin bench erupted in celebration when the final buzzer sounded in reaction to the huge early road win. Win No. 200 for the Paladins over the past nine seasons was definitely a memorable one.
Furman improved to 200-98 since the start of the 2015-16 season and will return home Monday night with a key test against Jacksonville (1-1) in the SoCon-ASUN challenge, with tip-off set for 7 p.m. EST at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Check back to SoConHoopsreport.com for a full preview of that clash on Monday.
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