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| Furman wing guard Asa Thomas |
LEXINGTON, VA.--Furman got a season-high matching 25 points from Asa Thomas, and the Paladins held off rally from VMI midway through the second half, as the Keydets trimmed an 18-point Furman lead to seven with just under eight minutes left, but the Paladins found a way to stretch its lead back out to as much as 20 down the stretch, ending a three-game losing streak with a 90-72 SoCon win Saturday afternoon at Cameron Hall.
The Paladins remained in fourth place in the standings as a result of Samford's (15-12, 8-6 SoCon) 82-72 overtime win at East Tennessee State on Saturday afternoon at Freedom Hall. It was the Bulldogs' fifth-straight win, but Furman maintains the lead over Samford by virtue of a season sweep of the Bulldogs in the opening month of conference play.
With the win, Furman improves to 17-10 overall and 8-6 in league play, while the Keydets fell to 6-21 overall and 1-13 in Southern Conference play. The win marked Furman's 80th true road win over the past 11 seasons, which is tied with Gonzaga (80) for the fourth-most in NCAA Division I College Basketball, as the Paladins improved to 5-4 in true road games this season. The win also guaranteed Furman's 11th-straight above .500 finish to a season.
Thomas finished his afternoon by connecting on 8-of-16 shots from the field, including 6-of-13 from three-point land, as well as 3-for-3 from the line. The redshirt sophomore transfer from Clemson also added five rebounds and five assists to his overall stat line. Thomas' 25-point effort tied his season-high for scoring. It was VMI that would see Thomas suffer his initial lower body injury, which kept him out a month in Furman's 69-48 win over the Keydets at Timmons Arena back on Jan. 10.
Also finishing in double figures were both Cooper Bowser and Charles Johnston, who added 14 and 11 points, respectively. Bowser finished his afternoon connecting on a perfect 6-for-6 from the field and was 2-for-2 from the line, while leading the Paladins on the defensive end with three blocks, while pulling down four rebounds and issuing out three assists. Charles Johnston posted 11 points and 10 rebounds to record his ninth double-double of the season.
Alex Wilkins was held below double figures in scoring for the second-straight game, but managed to post eight points, including hitting a crucial three-pointer late in the game after the Keydets had trimmed the Furman lead to single digits. The freshman from Mattapan, MA., also finished the game with a team-leading six assists, with only two turnovers and had one rebound in 28 minutes of work.
Wilkins, who is the second-highest highest scoring freshman in program history, needs just 22 more points in the final four games to reach 500 points in his freshman season. He is 84 points away from setting a new freshman scoring record, surpassing former Paladin great Jonathan Moore's 561 points in 1976-77.
Tom House (9 pts), Cole Bowser (7 pts) and Eddrin Bronson (6 pts) combined for 22 bench points on a combined 7-of-15 shooting from the field, including going a combined 5-for-13 from three-point range. That allowed the Paladins to hold a 24-16 edge in bench scoring in the contest.
After being held scoreless for the first time all season, Furman senior forward and ultimate glue guy Ben Vander Wal was back to his usual self for the Paladins, as he finished with eight points on 1-of-1 shooting from the field, which was a two-handed slam late in the second half against the full-court press, while also going 6-for-8 from the charity stripe. He also added seven rebounds, five assists, a steal and a block in 30 minutes of action to finish off another well-rounded effort.
VMI finished the afternoon led by TJ Johnson, who led all scorers with 26 points on 8-of-19 shooting from the field, including a 5-for-14 effort from three-point range and was a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line. In addition to his 26 points, Johnson also added six rebounds and two steals to the VMI cause.
Johnson would be joined in double figures in the scoring column by Linus Holmstrom and Tan Yildizoglu, who added 13 points apiece, while Cal Liston rounded out the Keydets in double figures with 10.
After not breaking the 40% shooting barrier in its most-recent road loss at Mercer, Furman finished the contest connecting on 52.5% (31-of-59) from the field, which included a 34.2% (13-of-38) effort from three-point range. The Paladins were also a solid 15-of-20 (75%) from the charity stripe in the game.
VMI, meanwhile, finished the game connected on 33.3% (21-of-63) from the field and 30.2% (13-of-43) from three-point land. The Keydets were a strong 85% (17-of-20) from the charity stripe.
The Paladins finished the afternoon holding advantages in total rebounds (42-30), points off turnovers (8-6), fast-break points (11-3), total assists (21-14), points in the paint (32-12) second-chance points (12-5) and bench points (24-16).
How It Happened:
Furman came out and established itself from the outset of the game, as both teams put on a perimeter shooting effort in the early going, with the Paladins connecting on seven of their first eight shots of the game, including five from three-point range, running out to a 19-9 lead following a Charles Johnston dunk off a feed from Ben Vander Wal with 15:32 remaining in the half.
Asa Thomas connected on his first four threes during that flurry to start the day for the Paladins, which keyed the early 10-point lead. Thomas and Johnston scored 17 of the first 19 points of the game for the Paladins.
After Johnston's layup gave the Paladins a nine-point lead, at 23-14, with 13:48 remaining in the opening half, both teams then went cold over the next five minutes until Walker Andrews nailed a three with 8:42 remaining in the half, trimming the Furman lead to six, at 23-17, before Johnston converted a tip-in and a jumper, and Tom House and Cole Bowser connected on consecutive threes to post a quick 10-0 run to give the 'Dins a 10-point lead, at 33-17.
With just over five minutes left, Johnson connected on another three to make it a 33-22 game, but the Paladins hit back with six-straight to increase their lead to their largest of the day at that point, at 39-22, following a pair of Cole Bowser foul shots with 3:52 left in the half.
Furman's final three of the half, which fittingly came from Thomas, increased the Paladin lead to 20 for the first time, at 45-25, with 2:15 remaining, however, a pair of Tan Yildizoglu free throws with 1:04 left proved to be the final points of the half, as the Paladins took a 45-27 lead into the halftime locker room.
The Keydets did not convert a two-point shot in the opening 20 minutes of basketball, as the Keydets went 7-for-24 from three-point range and 6-of-7 from the charity stripe. The Paladins connected on eight of their 13 triples in the first half, connecting on 8-of-22 shots from long-range in the opening 20 minutes.
In the second half, the Paladins kept their lead from 14-18 points through the first eight-and-a-half minutes of the second half. A House three with 12:43 remaining gave the Paladins a seemingly comfortable 58-41 lead.
However, Furman has had a tough time holding double-digit second half leads this season, and once again, the that would be the case, however, the Paladins would eventually find a way to finish the job this time around.
Over the next five minutes, the Keydets would whittle Furman's lead down to seven, using a 17-7 spurt, which would be bookended with threes from Linus Holmstrom at the 12:17 mark and then again at the 7:45 mark of the second half, getting the cadets loud and rowdy, and trimming the Paladin lead to 65-58.
Furman took a timeout to settle. This time it was the right anecdote, as this time the Paladins came out of the timeout level-headed and settled down, getting seven-straight points on a Cooper Bowser alley-oop dunk from Thomas and then Wilkins picked the perfect time to score his first field goal of the game, canning a key three from the right wing to extend Furman's lead back to 70-58.
The Paladins came up with another defensive stop and then got a coast-to-coast layup from Cole Bowser to extend the lead back out to 14, at 72-58. Furman would never really be threatened again, as the margin never got inside 10 points the rest of the way, and the Paladins even increased their lead back to as much as 20 with 2:09 remaining, as a pair of Vander Wal free throws made it an 86-66 game with 2:09 remaining before settling for the 18-point, 90-72, win.
The Paladins have a big test coming up Wednesday night, as East Tennessee State (19-8, 11-3 SoCon) comes to Timmons Arena for a 6:30 p.m. EST tip-off. The Keydets return to action against Wednesday night against Wofford (17-10, 9-5 SoCon), with tip-off for that game slated for 6 p.m. EST at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium.
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