Furman Celebrates Senior Night with Rout of The Citadel

Furman's Four Seniors Honored Prior To Tip-Off

GREENVILLE, S.C.--Furman had much cause for celebration in its final home game of the 2025-26 season in the newly renovated Timmons Arena. Among the many reasons to be happy included four seniors (Thomas Tillman, Ben Vander Wal, Charles Johnston and Tom House) that have given their all to the program, as well as a beautiful newly renovated arena packed to its 2,500 capacity, and ultimately, the 21-point win meant the Paladins would avoid the opening day chaos by having to play on the first day in Asheville at the 2026 Southern Conference Tournament at the Harrah's Cherokee Center.

The Paladins even one went one further with their reasons for a postgame party, as head coach Bob Richey collected his 200th win, and Furman avenged a system-shocking loss from a month ago, downing The Citadel, 72-51, to close out the 2025-26 home slate. 

With the win, Furman improves to 19-11 overall and 10-7 in Southern Conference play, while The Citadel dropped its fifth-straight game to fall to 9-21 overall and 6-11 in league action. 

The Paladins can now rest assured that no matter what happens in Saturday's regular-season finale at red hot Western Carolina (13-15, 9-8 SoCon) team Saturday afternoon at the Liston B. Ramsey Center, they can finish no worse than sixth in the SoCon standings.  Tip-off for that game is set for 5:30 p.m. Saturday evening. 

The Citadel, who is now assured of a Friday evening game in Asheville, N.C., will be at Wofford (19-11, 11-6 SoCon) to close out the regular-season, with tip-off for that contest 2 p.m. EST at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. In combination with Western Carolina's 78-74 win over Mercer Wednesday night, the Wofford Terriers clinched the No. 2 seed for the upcoming Southern Conference Tournament by getting a 72-69 win over regular-season champion East Tennessee State.  

With its win over The Citadel, the lowest the Paladins can now possibly finish in the standings is sixth no matter Saturday evening's result in Cullowhee, as the tiebreaker process would favor Furman in any such scenario that would place it below sixth in the standings, thanks in large part to a sweep of Samford. 

The Paladins would be led by Cooper Bowser's 14 points and four rebounds, while Charles Johnston contributed his 11th double-double of the season, with 13 points and 13 rebounds in leading the Paladins to the win. The third Paladin in double figures in the contest was Tom House, who finished with 11 points on Senior Night at Timmons Arena.

Bowser finished the game going 4-for-6 from the field and 6-of-10 from the charity stripe to account for his 14 points for the game, and it was the sixth time in his past seven appearances since returning from a lower body injury that the junior from Woodbridge, VA., has found his way into double figures. 

Charles Johnston was one of four seniors to play his final game in front of the home crowd, and he certainly didn't disappoint, as he finished the night by scoring his 13 points on a 5-for-10 shooting performance and was a perfect 3-for-3 from the charity stripe. His 13-rebound effort led the Paladins on the glass, which ended up blitzing the Bulldogs 50-20 in the game, ending the night on the glass with a +30 on the glass, which is unheard of against a conference foe. 

All told, the Paladin trio of scholarship seniors combined to score 30 of Furman's 72 points in the win. Veteran point-forward Ben Vander Wal suited up for the 129th time for the Paladins and notched his 89th win over four seasons in a Furman uniform. 

For Vander Wal, that includes being a part of that magical 2022-23 season that saw the Paladins win a school-record 28 games, which extended into the NCAA Tournament with that memorable 68-67 opening-round win over Virginia in Orlando. He finished his final home appearance at the newly renovated Timmons Arena with six points, seven rebounds, one steal and one block in 32:41 of floor time.

Both freshman point guard Alex Wilkins and redshirt sophomore wing guard Asa Thomas finished just outside of double figures in scoring with eight points apiece, with Wilkins contributing a team-high five assists.

The Citadel got a game-high 25 points from Braxton Williams, with 17 of those coming in the first half and all 25 coming within the first 24 minutes of the game. He was held scoreless over the final 15, thanks to a stellar defensive performance from Furman's Eddrin Bronson. Williams finished the night connecting on 9-of-21 shots from the field, which included a 6-of-15 effort from three-point range. He also finished 1-of-1 from the charity stripe. 

Sola Adebisi was solid on both ends for the Bulldogs once again against the Paladins, finishing with eight points, three spectacular blocks, three assists, two rebounds and one steal.

The Paladins finished the night connecting on 42.9% (24-of-56) from the field, which included a 21.7% (5-for-23) effort from three-point range, while finishing a solid 76% (19-of-25) from the charity stripe.

The Bulldogs finished the evening connecting at a 38.9% (21-of-54) clip from the field and connecting a 25.0% (7-of-28) rate from the three-point range. The Bulldogs shot just 25.0% (2-of-8) from the free throw line.

The Paladins held advantages in total rebounds (50-20), free throw attempts (25-8), free throw scoring (19-2), points in the paint (36-26), second-chance points (19-6), and bench scoring (34-9). The Bulldogs finished with advantages in points from turnovers (10-8) and fast-break points (9-4). Both teams ended the contest with 13 assists.

How It Happened:

Furman and The Citadel got off to an especially hot start inside a packed Timmons Arena on Senior Night, as both teams had the three-ball working early and everything was working for The Citadel's Braxton Williams scored 11 of The Citadel's first 17 points, and the game would be tied, 17-17, at the second media timeout of the half.

The game would take a turn for the worse in shooting after the first media timeout, however, as the two teams would start out connecting on six of their first 10 long-range efforts, but after that hot start, the two teams would close the half over the final 12 minutes going a combined 1-of-20 from long-range.

Neither team could gain a foothold until late in the half, Furman put together a 7-2 run to take a five-point lead, 29-24, following a turnaround fade-a-way jumper by Ben Vander Wal with the shot-clock winding down. The mini-spurt started with a turnover by the Bulldogs and a steal by Asa Thomas, which would eventually be finished off by Vander Wal following a beautiful alley-oop feed from Alex Wilkins from just inside mid-court.

The Paladins maintained that five-point advantage until the two-minute mark of the opening half until Williams connected on a three and Sola Adebisi slammed it home with one hand with 1:10 left to tie it, 31-31. Tom House scored the final two points of the opening half on a pair of free throws with 25 seconds left, as the Paladins went to the locker room with a 33-31 lead.

The way the Bulldogs played in the first half of the game, it wouldn't be readily apparent that it was a team that had lost their previous four games by an average of 19.5 PPG.

The Bulldogs would be led in the opening half by Williams, who scored 17 of the Bulldogs' 31 points in the opening half, connecting on 6-of-13 shots from the field, including going 4-for-9 from three-point range.

Furman's three seniors that are on scholarship accounted for a combined 17 of the Paladins' 33 points in the opening half on a combined 7-of-16 shooting from the field. House's seven points paced the Paladins, while Charles Johnston added six and Vander Wal added four.

The Paladins started where the left off in the opening half and after scoring the final four points of the opening half, Furman then scored the first six of the second to take their largest lead of the game, at 39-31, following a putback layup from Johnston. 

That would prompt an Ed Conroy 30-second timeout at the 17:35 mark. Williams continued his scoring spree in the second half, scoring the Bulldogs’ first eight points of the second half to push his total to 25 with 16 minutes remaining. 

Then Furman put Eddrin Bronson on him and everything came to a screeching halt for Williams' Bulldogs legacy game, as Bronson put the clamps down on him defensively. After starting the half going 3-for-5 from the field (9-of-18 for the game at this point/6-for-12 from three-point range), including 2-of-2 from three-point range to post eight points and get the Bulldogs to within a single point, at 40-39, with 16 minutes remaining, Williams finished the game only able to get off three more shots, with Bronson in his pocket for the remainder of the game, as he was 0-for-3 from long-range over the final 15 minutes and went scoreless. 

Following a Cole Bowser three, Dante Kearse drove baseline for a layup and was fouled by Vander Wal, giving the Bulldogs a chance to slice Furman’s lead even more having already cut it to just two, at 43-41, heading into the first media timeout of the half with 15:07 remaining. 

Kearse missed the charity shot keeping the Furman lead at two. Vander Wal’s half-hook in the lane with the shot-clock winding down extended Furman's lead back to two possessions and then after Furman got a stop, the Paladins went up six following a Tom House offensive rebound and layup.

Marcos Gonzalez’s contested three with the shot-clock winding down got the Bulldogs to within five, at 49-44, by the second media timeout of the half, with 11:17 left. A Cooper Bowser dunk in traffic and two free throws the next trip down the floor extended the Paladins lead to 11, at 55-44, with 8:09 left and Furman would never allow The Citadel to get within single digits again the rest of the way.

If there was a defining moment in the contest for the trio of scholarship seniors, it came with just over five minutes remaining, as Ben Vander Wal blocked a Christian Moore shot and Tom House saved it into the Vander Wal, and the ball eventually found its way to House in the forecourt where he then drove off the right side and dished underhanded behind The Citadel's Logan Applegate to Charles Johnston who laid it in and was fouled to extend Furman’s lead to 13, at 60-47.  It would be a play that would end up putting a fitting early bow on a special night for four seniors, as well as for head coach Bob Richey, who won his 200th game in his ninth season at the helm.

The following trip down the floor saw the Paladins force a Bulldogs turnover on a backcourt violation, leading to a layup by Wilkins and extended Furman’s lead to 15, at 62-47, with 4:34 remaining. The Paladins then widened the lead to 21 by outscoring the Bulldogs 10-4 over the final four-and-a-half minutes.

All told, Furman would end up out-scoring the Bulldogs 31-12 over the final 15 minutes of the game en route to the 21-point, 72-51 win. 

Press Conference:

Seniors: Charles Johnston, Thomas Tillman, Tom House and Ben Vander Wal

Furman head coach Bob Richey