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| Furman senior guard PJay Smith Jr. |
BIRMINGHAM, AL.--PJay Smith Jr. scored a career-high 32 points, and Furman connected on 21 of its final 22 free throws, as the Paladins went on the road to claim an 80-72 win over defending Southern Conference champion Samford at the Pete Hanna Center in a midweek SoCon tilt.
The Bulldogs did have a 28-game homecourt winning streak back in January until East Tennessee State snapped it with a 65-60 win in the facility back on Jan. 18 and then suffered a second home loss to Chattanooga on Feb. 12, as the Mocs came into the Pete Hanna Center and handed the Bulldogs an 82-68 setback. Furman became the second team to sweep the Bulldogs this season, joining ETSU in that distinction. In addition, the Bucs also claimed what was a 66-59 win over the Bulldogs back on Feb.8.
With the win, Furman clinched its seventh 20-win season in the past nine seasons, improving to 20-8 overall and 8-7 in league action. More importantly, Furman moved into sole possession of sixth place in the Southern Conference standings with the win over the Bulldogs, which is now a full game ahead of VMI (13-15, 7-8), which fell at home, 82-43, against Wofford (15-13, 9-6 SoCon) earlier in the evening. The Paladins and Keydets will do battle next at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
The loss sees Samford fall to 20-8 on the season, which includes 10-5 in Southern Conference play. The Bulldogs, who have won or shared each of the past two SoCon regular-season titles by going a combined 30-6 in regular-season games each of the past two campaigns. The loss puts a serious dent in Samford's hopes to win at least a share of its third-straight regular-season SoCon title.
After garnering the league's overall top seed last season, the Bulldogs went on to cut down the nets in Asheville, posting wins over Mercer, Furman and East Tennessee State to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 24 years. The win marked Furman's fifth win in the last seven meetings with the Bulldogs.
PJay Smith Jr.'s matched his career-high of 32 points, which saw him connect on 7-of-12 shots from the field and was 6-for-9 from three-point range, while also knocking down an impressive 12-of-13 free throw attempts in the win. The 32-point effort marks the individual season high for a Furman player, marking the second time a Paladin has gone for 30 or more in Southern Conference play, matching Nick Anderson, who was the first do it when he posted a Furman career-high of 30 points in the Paladins' overtime win over Western Carolina back on Feb. 8.
In addition to his 32 points, Smith also added four assists, four steals and two rebounds. His 32-point effort against the Bulldogs matched his career-high of 32 points, which he established during his time at Lee University, when the senior guard from LaVergne, TN., went for 32 points in a 101-90 win over Auburn University-Montgomery back on Feb. 4, 2023.
Joining Smith in double figures for the Paladins in the win was Cooper Bowser, who like his first game against the Bulldogs this season, which saw him score a career-high 21 points, added 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field and 4-for-6 from the charity stripe. Bowser also added six rebounds, a steal, a block and an assist. In two games now this season against Samford, Bowser is 14-of-16 from the field and 9-of-13 from the charity stripe.
Nick Anderson, who scored 24 points in the first matchup with the Bulldogs earlier this season, added 13 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field, including 3-of-8 from three-point range and a 2-for-2 effort at the line. Additionally, Anderson also added six rebounds and an assist.
Tom House added seven points and four rebounds off the bench, as he continued his strong play of late, connecting on 3-for-6 from the field and 1-of-3 from three-point range. Eddrin Bronson added six off the bench, doing most of his damage from the line, going 4-of-4 on free throws down the stretch.
Samford was led in the contest by Jaden Brownell, who after scoring just seven in the initial matchup with Furman this season, posted 25 this time around, going an impressive 10-of-16 from the field and 5-of-9 from three-point range. He also added five rebounds, two steals and two blocks in the win.
Joining Brownell in double figures for the Bulldogs were both Josh Holloway and Trey Fort, who added 14 points apiece. Holloway added four assists and a steal to his line, while Fort added four boards, an assist and a steal to his statistical output.
For the game, Furman connected on 43.4% (23-of-53), which included a 42.3% (11-of-26) from three-point land. The Paladins by far put forth their most impressive performance of the season at the charity stripe knocking down 85.2% (23-of-27) from the stripe, including 90.9% (20-of-22) in the second half alone.
Samford finished the game connecting on 38.3% (26-of-67) from the field, which included a 34.2% (11-of-32) effort from three-point land. The Bulldogs finished the game 81.8% (9-of-11) from the free throw line.
Samford finished the game holding advantages in points in the paint (30-20), second-chance points (26-12), and points off turnovers (18-16). Furman finished with advantages in total rebounds (37-35), total assists (18-14), fast-break points (17-11) and bench points (16-9).
How It Happened:
Furman got off to a solid start, but found itself trailing 20-13 when Collin Holloway connected on a three with 12:40 left in the opening frame.
Furman commenced to then go on a 30-10 run to close the half, holding the Bulldogs without a field goal for over 11 minutes, building its lead to as much as 18 points (43-25) before settling for a 43-30 lead at the break after the Bulldogs scored the final five points of the half on a Trey Fort dunk and a three-pointer by Jaden Brownell.
In the second half, Furman built its lead to 21 points, at 51-30, scoring the first eight points of the second half, which was capped by a Ben VanderWal layup off a pass from PJay Smith Jr., making it a 51-30 game with 17:26 remaining.
As is pretty much customary, and something we've seen from Samford on multiple occasions this season, which included in just the previous game, when the Bulldogs were able to overcome a 16-point second-half deficit and post what a 76-68 win on the road was last time out against Wofford. In a home overtime win over North Dakota State (W, 103-98) earlier this season, the Bulldogs overcame a 14-point deficit in the final final three minutes to force overtime and eventually pull out a win in overtime.
So, when Furman ran out to a 21-point lead early in the second half, you knew the run from the Bulldogs was imminent, and it was not a matter of if, but when.
The Bulldogs almost immediately put together a 11-0 run after going down by 21, as a Brownell three-pointer and a free throw by Hamed Olayinka got the Bulldogs to within 10 with 12:50 left. A Cooper Bowser rebound and putback of his own shot put the Paladins back up 12 on the next possession, however, Samford struck back with five-straight on a three and layup from Brownell, getting the Bulldogs to within seven, at 53-46, with 10:20 left.
Smith and Brownell exchanged threes, and with the Paladins up seven, narrowly broke the pressure once again and Tom House found an open Nick Anderson in transition, who connected on a triple from the left wing to give the Paladins a 59-49 lead with 9:16 remaining. It would prove to be Furman's final points from the field for the Paladins until the last two minutes of the game.
Samford continued to chip away at the Paladin lead, and as it did, the Pete Hanna Center came to life with noise, and just as it had done in the final four minutes in Greenville, the Bulldogs pulled even with Furman after senior guard Rylan Jones scored on a layup with 3:44 remaining, tying the game, 64-64.
What ensued was three-straight turnovers, which included two by the Bulldogs, and four-straight made free throws from Bowser and Smith helped the Paladins back to a 68-64 lead with 2:30 remaining. Following a Fort missed three-pointer on the other end, Smith connected on a step-back jumper just inside the three-point line on the left wing to increase Furman's lead to 70-64 with 1:40 left.
A layup almost immediately on the other end by Holloway got the Bulldogs back to within four with 1:35 left. Two more Smith free throws after he was fouled by Lukas Walls in the lane allowed the Paladins to go back up by six, at 72-66, with 1:07 remaining.
Walls and Bronson exchanged trips to the free throw line, and Furman led 74-68 with 51 seconds remaining. However, Brownell rebounded a missed shot and converted a layup and then after Bronson turned it over in the corner under intense pressure by Samford, the Bulldogs got back to within a bucket, at 74-72, when Fort knocked down a short jumper with 29 seconds left.
It would prove, however, to be the final points of the night for Samford. Bronson, Anderson and Smith would go 6-for-6 from the line down the stretch, and a missed shot and a turnover ended any thoughts of a miracle finish for Samford, as the Paladins held on for the 80-72 win.
Furman will celebrate its Senior Day on Saturday when it hosts VMI (13-15, 7-8 SoCon) in a noon battle at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in a key league tilt. A win by the Paladins could all but lock up a bye in next month's Southern Conference Tournament. Samford also returns to action this Saturday when it hosts Western Carolina (8-18, 4-11 SoCon) in a 3 p.m. EST contest at the Pete Hanna Center.
Notes:
--Bob Richey improved to 8-3 all-time against Bucky McMillan.
--Furman now has won 20 games in seven of the past nine seasons.
--Furman's win Wednesday night was its 121st SoCon win (2nd in league) and 218th overall win (1st in SoCon) since the start of the 2015-16 season.
--Furman has now won six of the past eight meetings against Samford.
--The Paladins held a foe to less than 40% shooting from the field for the second-straight game.
--Furman improved to 7-1 in games played on a Wednesday night during regular-season SoCon play.
—Furman now has 14 twenty-win seasons, with six of those coming under current head coach Bob Richey.
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