SoCon Tournament 2024: Samford wins first Southern Conference Tournament title!

Bucky takes his 'ball' to the biggest Ball of them all; Samford wins SoCon Title

No. 1 seed Samford got 25 points from SoCon Tournament Most Outstanding Player Achor Achor, while SoCon First-Team All-Tournament selection Jermaine Marshall added 23, as the Bulldogs held off feisty No. 7 seed East Tennessee State for a 76-69 win before a championship game crowd of 5,112 on hand at the Harrah's Cherokee Center Asheville to witness the Bulldogs return to the Big Dance for the first time in 24 years.

The win sees the Bulldogs punch their ticket to their first NCAA Tournament since 2000, and improve to 29-5 and will await its opening round NCAA Tournament opponent on Sunday,March 17 on CBS at 6 p.m. EST.
With the loss, ETSU's valiant effort over the course of the four-day tournament comes to an end, as the Bucs finish the season 19-16 and fall to 8-5 all-time in conference tournament title games. The Bucs were attempting to do something that hasn't been done in 75 years, which is win four games to claim the Southern Conference Tournament crown.

Clemson's four wins to claim the 1939 SoCon crown remains intact for at least another season. Monday night's title win by the top overall seed marks the seventh-straight season the No. 1 overall seed entering the Southern Conference Tournament has claimed the tournament title.The Bucs were the fourth No. 7 seed to play for the Southern Conference title game in the past five years. The No. 1 seed improved to 9-1 in the championship game over the past 10 seasons. 

Samford's tournament title marks just the third NCAA Tournament appearance in program history, and the 29 wins are a school record. For the second-straight season, the winner of the Southern Conference Tournament ends a long streak of not having made the Big Dance, as last season Furman ended a 43-year NCAA Tournament drought to move on to the NCAA Tournament in 2023, while a year later, the Bulldogs will make their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 24 years, as well as their first as a Southern Conference member. 

Should the Bulldogs win an NCAA Tournament First Round game, it would mark just the fifth time in league history that a team has won 30 games in a season. Samford would join NC State (1950-51), North Carolina (1945-46), Wofford (2018-19) and East Tennessee State (2019-20) as the only teams in league history. Not counting the COVID-19 compromised season, the SoCon champion has won at least 27 games in each of the past eight seasons. 

The Bulldogs could join some rare company over the past 16 years should they win a game in March Madness,  as one of three teams to win an NCAA Tournament game, alongside Furman (2023) and Wofford (2019). The Terriers were ranked in the NCAA Top 25 entering the 2019 NCAA Tournament before knocking off Seton Hall in the opening round of the tournament. The Paladins, which also achieved the program's first national Top 25 ranking during the 2018-19 alongside Wofford, won the school's first NCAA Tournament game in 49 years last March with their win over Virginia.  

The ticket punched marks just the third time in program history that has happened, and the first two came in consecutive seasons, as the Bulldogs would make the 1999 and 2000 tournaments, respectively, as members of the Trans America Athletic Conference, which is now the Atlantic Sun Conference. The Bulldogs are 0-2 all-time in the Big Dance, with its last game in 2000 seeing Samford drop a 79-65 to Syracuse in the NCAA Midwest Regional. 

Samford improved to 7-16 all-time against ETSU, which includes winning all three matchups this season, as the Bulldogs also captured a 75-72 win in Johnson City last month, while clinching the Southern Conference regular-season title with an 87-71 win over the Bucs a couple of weeks ago in Homewood. The Bulldogs have now won six-straight overall in the series dating back to the 2021-22 season.

Achor Achor was a major factor in both the semifinal and championship wins for the Bulldogs. Following a 28-point, 14-rebound effort in Samford's 84-77 semifinal win over Furman, the 6-9 junior from Melbourne, Australia posted his 25 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field and 11-of-14 from the charity stripe, while also adding nine rebounds, including five offensive boards, to showcase his overall prowess on the offensive end. On the defensive end, Achor was also a menace, swatting away four ETSU shots, while also recording a pair of steals. 

Marshall, meanwhile, recorded his 23 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field and went 1-of-3 from three-point range and was 8-for-13 from the charity stripe. Jaden Campbell added 11 points to round out the double-figure scorers for the Bulldogs. 

Rylan Jones, a steadying force throughout the 2023-24 season for the Bulldogs after transferring in from Utah State, finished the game with six points, four assists, two steals and no turnovers in 32:47 of total court action. The SoCon's "Newcomer of the Year" was a second-team all-tournament selection. 

ETSU ended up the evening with a couple of players in double figures, with all-tournament selections Ebby Asamoah and Quimari Peterson leading the way, posting 18 and 17 points, respectively. 
Asamoah finished out his career for the Bucs in stellar fashion, posting his 18 points on 5-of-15 shooting from the field and his 3-for-11 performance from three-point land saw the graduate transfer from Delaware set a new Southern Conference Tournament standard with 16 triples, averaging four a game over the course of the weekend. 

The Bulldogs finished the title tilt connecting on 43.4% (23-of-53) from the field, while the Bucs connected on 40.7% (23-of-53) from the field for the game. The Bucs saw their string of three-straight games having made double-digit threes come to an end, as ETSU went just 6-of-23 (26.1%) from downtown. The Bulldogs, who led the SoCon in three-point field goal percentage for much of the season, finished connecting on just 27.8% (5-for-18) from long range.

ETSU held statistical advantages in second-chance points (13-6) and total rebounds (41-32), while Samford finished with advantages in points from turnovers (16-11), points in the paint (36-24) and fast-break points (10-2).

ETSU Effort

ETSU's effort and energy was almost astonishing throughout the entirety of the weekend considering they had to play four games in four days, nearly pulling off the unthinkable in the process. The Bucs posted an overtime, 85-84, win over Chattanooga in almost unbelievable fashion in a game that ran two hours and twenty-eight minutes before turning around and playing a two-hour and thirty-seven minute affair in the championship game, which featured 53 fouls whistled. ETSU claimed 168 rebounds over the course of four games, including 93 in the semifinal and championship alone to go along with 39 offensive rebounds in the two games. 

The Bucs also set a SoCon Tournament record with 42 steals in four games, as the Bucs charted a combined 19 in the semifinals and championship and another 23 against VMI and UNC Greensboro in its first two games of the tournament.

Bucky's Ball! 

The Cinderella Story might be head coach Bucky McMillan himself, as the former high school coach made the move to the Division I level almost seamlessly. He's a hometown product from Birmingham, and played his college basketball at Birmingham Southern where he was coached by current assistant coach Duane Reboul, who was one of the top coaches in the country for 17 seasons at the helm of the Birmingham Southern program.

Reboul led the transition for Birmingham-Southern from the NAIA level to the NCAA Division I level, as he led the Panthers to the 2004 Big South Conference Title, and was named Big South Coach of the Year on two occasions (2004 and '06).

McMillan now gets to take Bucky Ball--a high-intensity style of relentless full-court pressure that forces the opposition into miscues--to the Big Dance. Bucky Ball will also likely determine how long Bucky stays at the Ball as a Cinderella, and given the right matchup, the Bulldogs could cause some havoc in the Big Dance.

How It Happened:

The Bulldogs carried a narrow 40-38 lead into the halftime locker room, however, it looked as though Samford might run away with the game in the early portions of the game, as the Bulldogs went on an 11-2 run after the Bucs got the first points of the night on a layup by Karon Boyd. 

The Bucs then went on a 9-2 run to get right back in the game. Neither team would lead by more than four points the remainder of the half, as the Bulldogs went to half leading by a bucket

The Bucs fell behind as nine on three occasions in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, with the last coming on an Achor Achor layup in the paint with 12:42 remaining to give the Bulldogs the 56-47 lead. ETSU, however, continued to manage from never letting the Bulldog lead grow to double digits.  With the Bulldogs ahead 63-56 with 9:13 remaining, ETSU would mount one final surge, using an 8-2 run to get within 65-64 following an Asamoah jumper in the lane as the Bucs crowd came alive once again with excitement.  

On the next possession, Rylan Jones responded with maybe the most important made shot of the night, taking his own deflected pass out of the air and re-directing it towards the basket in one-motion, and the ball splashed through the net to give the Bulldogs a 67-64 lead with just over six minutes remaining. 

The Bulldogs would eventually grow their lead to three possessions, at a margin of seven points with just a minute remaining, as Jermaine Marshall connected on a pair of free throws to make it a 73-66 game. Samford would make only one more field goal for the game, as they would score seven of their final nine points from the line. In fact, over the final 6:23 of the game, both ETSU and Samford combined to make only four shots from the field.

All-Tournament Teams

First team
Ebby Asamoah, ETSU
Quimari Peterson, ETSU
JP Pegues, Furman
Achor Achor, Samford
Jermaine Marshall, Samford
 
Second team
Jaden Seymour, ETSU
Marcus Foster, Furman
David Thomas, Mercer
Rylan Jones, Samford
Jan Zidek, Chattanooga

Tournament Most Outstanding Player

Achor Achor, Samford

Pinnacle Award (highest GPA on championship-winning team)
Nathan Johnson, Samford

SoCon Tournament 2024 Semifinals: The Thrill of March

The Southern Conference Tournament seemingly delivers the goods year-in and year-out, rarely ever disappointing in terms of producing multiple thrilling endings throughout the course of the weekend, and the 2024 Tournament will likely be mostly remembered for its final two matchups of the day in both the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, respectively, with both needing overtime to decide and both seeing lower seeds emerge victorious. 

In the final quarterfinal on Saturday night, Furman came back from a 12-point deficit in the first half to claim what was a 79-76 overtime win over Western Carolina. In Sunday night's epic semifinal classic, ETSU posted its comeback win with just over 14 minutes remaining in the game, trailing by 20 points with 14:16 left (54-34) only to use the press to help fuel a furious rally en route ton what was a unforgettable 85-84 overtime win over Chattanooga.

With former boss and ETSU head coach Steve Forbes looking on, the pupil Brooks Savage made his mentor smile at the end of Sunday night's game, and now Savage must figure out how to get his Bucs enough legs and energy to find enough for one more fight in Monday night's championship game against top seed and 28-win Samford.

Semifinal 1

No. 1 Samford 84, No. 5 Furman 77

Tournament top seed Samford held No. 5 and defending champion Furman to 34.2% (21-of-61) and Achor Achor scored 28 points and ripped down 14 rebounds, as the Bulldogs became the 10th-straight No. 1 seed to reach the championship game, as the Bulldogs held off the feisty Paladins, 84-77, in the first of two semifinal matchups Sunday evening at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center.

With the win, the Bulldogs improved to 28-5 overall, while the Paladins conclude their 2023-24 season with a 17-16 overall mark. Furman finishes the season tied with UNC Greensboro for most wins since the start of the 2015-16 season, as the Paladins and Spartans both have 198 victories over that span. The Paladins are now 198-98 over the past nine seasons overall, while the Spartans sport a 198-100 mark.

The Bulldogs will face off against East Tennessee State, which makes its first appearance since 2020. The Bucs will be making their third appearance in the title game since returning as a league member in 2014-15, winning the 2020 and 2017 editions of the title game, respectively. The Bucs also dropped a 63-47 contest to UNCG in 2018. 

ETSU’s 79-74 win as a three seed over No. 1 UNC Greensboro in 2017 marked the only time in the past nine SoCon Tournaments that a No. 1 seed has lost a championship game.  The No. 1 seed is 8-1 in the past nine title tilts, including having won six-straight. 

The Bulldogs improved to 10-15 all-time in Southern Conference Tournament action, while also moving to 3-4 all-time against Furman in the tournament. The Bulldogs claimed two out the three meetings on the season, as Samford also held off Furman, 74-72, in Birmingham in late February. 

Furman fell to 58-64 all-time in the Southern Conference Tournament, which includes a 12-18 mark in the semifinal round of the tournament. 

The Paladins actually handed Samford its first of three SoCon losses, with a 78-68 win in Greenville, snapping the Bulldogs’ 17-game winning streak, which was tops in Division college basketball at the time.

Achor Achor finished his evening going 12-of-15 from the field, and went 1-for-1 from three-point range, as well as connecting on 3-of-5 from the charity stripe. The 14 rebounds matched a season and career-high for Achor, and marked his third double-double of the season.

Joining Achor in double figures in the winning effort were Jaden Campbell and Rylan Jones, who finished with 14 and 11 points, respectively.

The Paladins were paced in the losing effort by JP Pegues, who record his 16th game of the season with 20 or more points, following up his 28-point performance in the quarterfinal win over Western Carolina by adding 22 in the semifinals against Samford. The native of Nashville, Tenn., closed out his junior season as a Paladin by connecting on 4-of-12 shots from the field, including 3-for-7 from long-range, and was 11-of-14 from the charity stripe.

Carter Whitt finished off one of his better performances of the season, adding 20 points on 7-of-11 from the field, including 4-of-5 from three-point land and was 2-of-2 from the line.

Furman got off to a quick start, and a Ben VanderWal layup of a missed three-pointer from Marcus Foster, who scored the Paladins' first eight points of the game, gave the Paladins their largest lead of the contest, at 23-14.

From there, the wheels became to run of the championship train for the Paladins, which would struggle to score for the remainder of the opening half of play, as the Bulldogs closed the opening half on a 20-5 run, which included a stretch for the Paladins that saw them miss their final 12 shots of the frame, which led to a 34-28 Samford halftime advantage. The Paladins finished the final 4:40 of the opening half without a field goal.

The Bulldogs assumed complete control of the game in the opening minutes of the second half, using a 14-7 run out of the locker room to assume a 48-35 advantage following three Jaden Campbell foul shots after he was fouled on a three-pointer by Alex Williams with 15:19 left.

Samford eventually took its largest lead of the night on a big dunk off the right side following a Paladin turnover, making it a 66-50 Bulldogs advantage with 5:40 left. 

Furman employed its own version of a press to trim the Bulldogs lead to five following a JP Pegues three with 38 seconds remaining, however, it was too little too late for the defending champions, who finally had their crown stolen by the Bulldogs, as their will be a new Southern Conference champion in 2024.

For the game, Samford connected on 54.9% (28-of-51) from the field, which included just a 6-for-21 (28.6%) effort from three-point land. The Bulldogs shot 68.6% (22-of-32) from the charity stripe. 

The Paladins on the other hand, connected on just 34.4% (21-of-61) from the field, which included a 28.9% (11-of-38) effort from long range. 

The Bulldogs held a substantial 42-20 edge in points in the paint, while Furman finished the game holding advantages in points from turnovers (25-18), second-chance points (7-6), and bench scoring (32-24). 

Samford also held a narrow 36-34 edge in total rebounds, as well as posting a 15-12 advantage in total assists. 

Semifinal No. 2

No. 7 East Tennessee State 85, No. 3 Chattanooga 84

The second semifinal of the evening was the best game of the 2024 Southern Conference Tournament, and it was the second-straight night that the 2024 tournament saw the final matchup of the night needing an extra five minutes to decide, as No. 7 East Tennessee State rallied from a 20-point deficit with a little over 14 minutes remaining to stun Chattanooga, 85-84, in overtime at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center Asheville. 

In recent tournaments, we’ve seen some similar trends of teams overcoming large deficits within games to tie games or even take leads in the second half, however, what transpired in the second semifinal matchup was truly remarkable, as well as a testament to what first-year head coach Brooks Savage in terms of a winning culture to the ETSU basketball program. 

The win saw the Bucs improve to 19-15 overall, and will move on to play in the championship game for the 13th time in school history, while their opponent—the No. 1 seed Samford Bulldogs—will be taking part in their first tournament championship game since joining the SoCon in 2008.  It was ETSU's 188th win since the start of the 2015-16 season, which is second to only Furman and UNC Greensboro in total wins over the past nine seasons.

The Mocs finished their 2023-24 season with a 21-12 mark. The Bucs improved to 45-25 all-time in the Southern Conference Tournament, including upping their overall mark to 10-8 in tournament games against the Mocs. Chattanooga fell to 64-35 in tournament play all-time.

The Bucs are 8-4 in title game matchups, and their eight tourney titles rank second only to current SoCon member Chattanooga, which has won 12. The Bucs became the four No. 7 seed to reach the title game in the past seven seasons, looking to become the first team to win four games in the tournament since 1939. 

The Bucs kept their bitter rivals from the Volunteer State at 12 titles, preventing the Mocs from reaching their third-straight Monday night title tilt by using a furious second half rally, which saw Brooks Savage employ a tenacious press that Dan Earl simply had no answers or adjustments for. 

ETSU would be led in scoring in the contest by Quimari Peterson, who dropped in a game-high 27 points on 8-of-24 shooting from the field, which included a 5-for-14 effort from three-point range and was also 6-of-9 at the charity stripe. 

Ebby Asamoah, who fouled out with 4:38 remaining, posted 21 points and 21 minutes of action and was one of the key components in the epic come-from-behind win for the Bucs. Asamoah was 50% from the field, connecting on 8-for-16 from the field, which included a 5-for-9 effort from three.  All-SoCon selection Jaden Seymour finished out the contest as the final Bucs player in double figures, finishing with 15. 

Chattanooga was led by Jan Zidek, who posted 26 points, while Trey Bonham added 19 points and 11 rebounds in the loss. Honor Huff posted 16 points and Sam Alexis finished with 11 before fouling out. 

Zidek, who was a grad transfer from Pepperdine, finished his final game for Chattanooga by going 7-of-12 from the field and 1-for-4 from three-point land, while posting an 11-of-12 performance from the charity stripe. 

At the center of ETSU's magical come-from-behind win was their work on the backboards, and in particular, on the offensive glass, securing 24 offensive boards en route to a 52-41 advantage on the glass. It also led to an 18-3 advantage in second-chance points for the Bucs.

If that stat doesn't blow your mind, check this out. The Bucs won the game despite shooting 17.1% (6-of-35) in the opening half of play and only 32.9% (26-of-79) for the game. The Bucs found themselves behind 38-27 at the break. 

As much as the scoring was a part of ETSU's memorable semifinal win, it was the sum of its parts that also played a major role with a number of winning plays that don't always show up on a stats sheet, including Allen Strothers, who came off the bench to record five steals and knocked away a late ball on an apparent clear breakaway layup for the Mocs off an ETSU turnover. Strothers' five steals in the game were a career-high. 

The Bucs knocked down double-digit threes for the third-straight game, connecting on 12-of-37 () from long-range. Meanwhile, Chattanooga, which came into the game leading the SoCon and ranking fifth nationally in three-pointers made with 343, connected on just 6-of-17 long-range attempts in the contest. The Bucs ended up outscoring the Mocs 36-18 from beyond the arc. 

The six threes by the Mocs marked just the 10th time this season that UTC has failed to reach double digits in made long-range efforts, with only the five made threes against Mercer on Jan. 17 in a road win ranking as a lower total of made threes this season. 

The five made triples against the Bears marked the first time in 52-straight games in Dan Earl's short tenure as head coach of Chattanooga that the Mocs had failed to connect on at least six threes in a game, which had been the longest streak in NCAA Division I college basketball. 

The Mocs also connected on just six threes a win over Southeast Missouri (W, 72-56) and a loss vs. Samford (L, 58-78). The 17 attempted threes were the second fewest of the season, with only the game against SEMO ranking lower, as the Mocs only put up 16 triple attempts in that contest. 

Meanwhile, ETSU's 853 attempted threes this season and is a school record, while the 266 made threes rank in the Top 10 all-time in made three-point field goals.

The Keydets were once again without their leading scorer and best player Brennan Watkins, but it probably wouldn’t have mattered as ETSU was a buzzsaw for much of the ecvening.

With its 98 points the most points against a Division I opponent this season, the Bucs improve to 17-15 overall and will now face UNC Greensboro in the quarterfinals of the tournament in a 2:30 p.m. contest. The Keydets conclude their season with a 4-28 overall mark . 

The Bucs improved to 3-1 all-time in the tournament against VMI, while also improving to 43-25 all-time in Southern Conference Tournament play. The 32-point win by the Bucs was its largest since beating The Citadel by 34 points in (89-55) in the 1992 SoCon Tournament, which ETSU won as the top overall seed. 

The Bucs and Spartans will be meeting for the fourth time in conference tournament play, as UNCG holds the slight 2-1 lead in postseason meetings. Two of the previous three meeting between the two have come in the championship game, with ETSU capturing a 79-74 win in the 2017 tournament, while the Spartans would return the favor the very next season, handing ETSU a 62-47 setback the very next season. 

The win marked ETSU’s first in Asheville in the Southern Conference Tournament since 2021, when the Bucs defeated Chattanooga, 63-53, in the quarterfinals before bowing out in the semifinals with a loss to eventual champion and top overall seed UNCG, dropping a 77-65 contest. 

In the win, the Bucs had 11 players score in the contest and shot a season-best 52% (32-of-62) from the field, while also finishing out the game with 18 assists. The Bucs also finished out the game by connecting on 11-of-20 from three-point land. 

Tyler Rice came off the bench to lead ETSU with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field, while Jaden Seymour,  Jadyn Parker and Maki Johnson each added 12 points to the ETSU cause. Ebby Asamoah and Braden Illic finished with 11 points apiece to round out the blowout win.

Illic’s final points came with a tad of controversy, as the result had been well decided and with time winding down towards the final buzzer, Illic’s three was good, which caused for an icy handshake line and a skirmish ensued with some pushing and shoving, however, no serious altercation ensued and the two teams retreated to their respective locker rooms inside the Harrah’s Cherokee Center.

ETSU was not crisp in the early stages of the game, but despite not really turning it on until the second half, the Bucs still managed to head to the half by scoring 42 points. 

The Bucs trailed 20-16 when DJ Nussbaum knocked down a jumper just right of the paint with 12 minutes left in the opening frame. However, a 26-11 run over the next 12 minutes saw the Bucs take complete control of the game and assume control of the game, taking a 42-31 lead into the half. 

ETSU’s dominance continued in the early stages of the second half, as the Bucs continued to add to its lead, increasing the advantage to 21 points when DJ Hughes found Seymour for an open three to make it 57-36 game with 15:53 remaining. 

VMI was able to cut the deficit to 15 once more, but ETSU responded to push the lead back to more than 20 on a Maki Johnson triple, at 65-44, with 11:29 left. The Bucs then cleared the bench when Gabe Sisk found Tyler Rice in the open floor for a layup, increasing the lead to 30 for the first time all night, at 82-52.

Four Keydets finished the night with four in double figures, with Taeshaud Jackson leading the way with a double-double, using a 16 points and 10 rebounds.

SoCon Tournament 2024: Day 1 Recap

SoCon Tournament 2024: Day  1  RECAP

Game 1:

No. 8 Mercer 84, No. 9 The Citadel 76

Game 2:

No. 7 East Tennessee State 98, No. 10 VMI 66

The 104th Southern Confernece Tournament officially got underway a week later into March than normal, however, three of the four teams playing in the opening round were involved in the opening weekend of the tournament some 372 days ago.

East Tennessee State. Mercer, The Citadel and VMI opened as the No. 7-10 seeds in that order.

The opening matchup saw the No. 8 Mercer Bears face off against the No. 9 The Citadel Bulldogs, with the team’s sporting the exact same seeds in the opening matchup of the tournantournament as they did a little over a year ago.

The only major difference was the game was much closer, as the Bears held off a pesky The Citadel team in an 84-76 contest. The Bulldogs, which dropped a 66-41 contest without top player Austin Ashe last season, were in the game for a majority of the night.

The win sees Mercer improve to 16-16 overall, while the Bulldogs conclude their season at 11-21. The Bears now move on to the quarterfinals of the tournament for the fourth-straight season under head coach Greg Gary, and for the second-straight season, will face the top overall seed, as Mercer will face No. 1 Samford in the first of four semifinal matchups slated for Saturday, with tip-off set for noon.

The Bears and Bulldogs split the two regular-season matchups, with Mercer winning the most recent matchup, 88-84, between the two in Macon. The win over The Citadel marked Mercer’s fifth win in its last six games.

The win saw the Bears continue to shoot the ball at an efficient clip from both two-point and three-point range, but it’s been their shooting from three-point land as of late that has most around the league taking notice of late.

Over its last two games against Furman and The Citadel, not only hace the Bears scored 80 or more points in both games, but they are shooting a blsitering 56.6% from long-range, knocking down a combined 17-of-30 from long range. In Friday’s night’s tourney opener, the Bears were able to knock down  8-of-15 shots from long range in the opening round win, which was all part of a 57% shooting effort (30-of-53) in the opening night win.

David Thomas continued his outstanding play of late for the Bears, leading the way with 27 points on a 10-of-15 shooting effort from the field and was 5-for-6 from three-point land. He also went 2-for-4 from the free throw line. 

Thomas was one of five Bears in double figures, with second-team All-SoCon pick Jayln McCreary adding 14 points, with Alex Holt (11 pts), Robby Carmody (10 pts), and Jalen Cobb (10 pts) to round out the double figure scorers for Mercer.

The Bears and Bulldogs went back-and-forth in the opening 12 minutes, and with Mercer holding a 22-20 lead, the Bears created a little separation for the first time all night with a mini 7-0 spurt to build what was a 29-20 lead with a layup in the paint by McCreary to give Mercer the 29-20 lead.6:28 left in the opening half of play.

From there, Madison Durr would score five of the next seven in the game, as the Bulldogs pulled to within six, at 31-25, with 4:39 left in the opening frame. However, the three-and-a-half minutes later, an Alex Holt dunk allowed the Bears to take a 10-point, 37-27, lead with just 1:12 remaining in the half and the Bears and that would remain the score as the two teams headed to the locker room. 

In the second half, the Bulldogs would get to back into the game, cutting the Mercer lead to five with 10:34 remaining in the game following a bucket by Stephen Millora-Brown in the paint.

However, that would be the last real threat the Bulldogs would pose the remainder of the night, as Mercer scored nine-straight points to take a 63-49 lead and the Bulldogs weren’t able to cut the deficit under double digits until a little over a minute remaining when Elijah Morgan connected on a three-pointer to get the Bulldogs to within eight 1:26 remaining.

However, it was a case of too little too late, as the Bulldogs could get no closer than six points from that point forward, and the Bears went on to the eight-point triumph.

The Citadel finished the game having been led by four players in double figures in the game, as Madison Durr led the Bulldogs with 22 points and five rebounds, connecting on 8-of-16 shooting from the field, including a 6-of-13 from the charity stripe. 

Elijah Morgan chipped in with 18 points, while Quentin Millora-Brown and AJ Smith rounded out the double-figure scorers with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Millora-Brown added 12 rebounds to finish off the double-double performance 

The Bears have scored 80 or more points nine times this season, including in five of the past six games. Mercer is 8-1 in those games, with the lone loss being an 87-80 setback to Samford  

The Bulldogs finished the night connecting on 46.0% (29-of-63) from the field, which included a 29.4% (5-of-17) from beyond the arc.

In the second matchup, there was little drama that could be found between No. 7 East Tennessee State and the Bucs would end up winning by 32 points in the end, claiming what was a 98-66 win over VMI.

The Keydets were once again without their leading scorer and best player Brennan Watkins, but it probably wouldn’t have mattered as ETSU was a buzzsaw for much of the ecvening.

With its 98 points the most points against a Division I opponent this season, the Bucs improve to 17-15 overall and will now face UNC Greensboro in the quarterfinals of the tournament in a 2:30 p.m. contest. The Keydets conclude their season with a 4-28 overall mark . 

The Bucs improved to 3-1 all-time in the tournament against VMI, while also improving to 43-25 all-time in Southern Conference Tournament play. The 32-point win by the Bucs was its largest since beating The Citadel by 34 points in (89-55) in the 1992 SoCon Tournament, which ETSU won as the top overall seed. 

The Bucs and Spartans will be meeting for the fourth time in conference tournament play, as UNCG holds the slight 2-1 lead in postseason meetings. Two of the previous three meeting between the two have come in the championship game, with ETSU capturing a 79-74 win in the 2017 tournament, while the Spartans would return the favor the very next season, handing ETSU a 62-47 setback the very next season. 

The win marked ETSU’s first in Asheville in the Southern Conference Tournament since 2021, when the Bucs defeated Chattanooga, 63-53, in the quarterfinals before bowing out in the semifinals with a loss to eventual champion and top overall seed UNCG, dropping a 77-65 contest. 

In the win, the Bucs had 11 players score in the contest and shot a season-best 52% (32-of-62) from the field, while also finishing out the game with 18 assists. The Bucs also finished out the game by connecting on 11-of-20 from three-point land. 

Tyler Rice came off the bench to lead ETSU with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field, while Jaden Seymour,  Jadyn Parker and Maki Johnson each added 12 points to the ETSU cause. Ebby Asamoah and Braden Illic finished with 11 points apiece to round out the blowout win.

Illic’s final points came on a three with the Bucs up 30 and as a result, caused for an icy handshake line and a small skirmish ensued with some pushing and shoving, however, no serious altercation ensued and the two teams retreated to their respective locker rooms inside the Harrah’s Cherokee Center.  If anything, the tensions on both sides are just an example of how the temperature is a little bit closer to boiling point this time of year. They don’t call it March Madness to just call it March Madness. 

ETSU was not crisp in the early stages of the game, but despite not really turning it on until the second half, the Bucs still managed to head to the half by scoring 42 points. 

The Bucs trailed 20-16 when DJ Nussbaum knocked down a jumper just right of the paint with 12 minutes left in the opening frame. However, a 26-11 run over the next 12 minutes saw the Bucs take complete control of the game and assume control of the game, taking a 42-31 lead into the half. 

ETSU’s dominance continued in the early stages of the second half, as the Bucs continued to add to its lead, increasing the advantage to 21 points when DJ Hughes found Seymour for an open three to make it 57-36 game with 15:53 remaining. 

VMI was able to cut the deficit to 15 once more, but ETSU responded to push the lead back to more than 20 on a Maki Johnson triple, at 65-44, with 11:29 left. The Bucs then cleared the bench when Gabe Sisk found Tyler Rice in the open floor for a layup, increasing the lead to 30 for the first time all night, at 82-52.

Four Keydets finished the night with four in double figures, with Taeshaud Jackson leading the way with a double-double, using a 16 points and 10 rebounds.

Furman will be the No. 5 seed in the Southern Conference Tournament for the first time since 1971

Matt Rafferty vs. WCU in 2018 SoCon Tournament

Furman (16-15, 10-8 SoCon) has had all kinds of hardships to deal with in the 2023-24 season, as the defending Southern Conference champion and the consensus preseason favorite to claim back-to-back league crowns has had injuries and the embarrassment of a home loss to a non-Division I program among among other things to navigate in 2023-24, however, there is still very much the feel that the Paladins will have a say so in what goes down in Asheville this weekend.

Marcus Foster (17.2 PPG, 7.6 RPG), JP Pegues (18.0 PPG, 4.9 APG) and Alex Williams (13.5 PPG, 4.6 RPG) are all healthy now, but the Paladins have been mostly inconsistent this season, with their normally efficient offense having been prone to scoring droughts at times this season. 

The Paladins found themselves without the services of Foster, who is Furman’s second-leading scorer coming into the tournament, as he was sidelined for nine games with a lower body injury, and without him, the Paladins went 4-5, which included a loss to Division II Anderson University.

Injuries aside, there's been something notably missing for Furman's men's basketball team throughout the 2023-24 season. Outside the obvious of having graduated two of the best players in school history--Jalen Slawson and Mike Bothwell--the Paladins have just haven't been able to find sustained success other than one five-game winning streak in the middle of the season.

The reality is, Furman is one of the most talented teams in the Southern Conference from 1-10, and may actually may even be a tad deeper than the team that won it a year ago. While talent isn't the issue, it is true that it takes much more than talented players to turn the SoCon Tournament trick.

However, the failures on the defensive end of the floor at times this season have led to offensive inconsistencies, and those were the two primary ingredients teams like Mercer, Western Carolina and Samford used to to exploit the Paladins in recent games. There is also a lack of mature leadership on the floor at times this season, despite all the experience that returned to the fold off last season's title-winning team.  Leadership is a developed trait even if one is born as a natural leader.

Pegues and Foster have both had to learn how to be floor leaders, which is always a process. Like Bothwell and Slawson before them, leadership wasn't a natural inclination for either, but rather a learned one through calloused hardships. For coach Richey and staff, those leadership growing pains can be both the most difficult traits to develop, nurture, harness in positivity and bring forth when needed as anything they do collectively as a staff. While it can be frustrating, the pay-off is well worth those headaches, as Furman was able to pull off last March. 

On the court, Furman's lack of defense without a true rim protector has made foes less tentative when challenging the Paladins at the rim. 

The Paladins, who head to Asheville as the defending champion and the No. 5 overall seed,  have managed to regain their health. 

The Paladins have missed all three of their top players at one point or another this season, and when head coach Bob Richey’s team took the floor for its first SoCon game of the 2023-24 season, it played without all three of its top scorers. It played a combined 14 different starting lineups throughout the non-conference and the early portions of league play.

Despite all of that, the Paladins head into the tournament losers of two straight and struggling in a major way on the defensive end of the floor. Furman represents a bit of a trend in the Southern Conference Tournament of late for defending champions, which is following up a championship won with mediocrity the ensuing season. 

Since 2019, no defending champion has arrived in Asheville to defend their crown with more than 17 wins in the regular-season, however, two of those reached the championship game, and four of the five won at least one game in the tournament the following season, with only UNCG in 2022 being the one that failed to follow up a championship run with an opening game win the next season. The two defending champions that reached the championship game were both No. 7 seeds, with Wofford doing so in 2020 and Chattanooga doing so last season.

Richey’s Paladins haven’t had to defend a Southern Conference title in 43 years, and when Furman broke through and won the 103rd edition of the tournament, it was an ode to the overall offensive trend prevalent throughout college basketball over the past few years, with the Paladins becoming the first team scoring champion (80.9 PPG) to win the Southern Conference Tournament since Davidson claimed the crown back in 2013.

The Paladins will face No. 4 Western Carolina (22-9, 11-7 SoCon) in the last quarterfinal matchup of the opening round of the tournament, with tip-off slated for approximately 8:30 p.m. EST. 

Though the Paladins are six games below .500 all-time in the SoCon Tournament (57-63), they have never lost to the Catamounts in the tournament (5-0), which includes an overtime, 83-80, win over the Catamounts in the SoCon semifinals last March.  

It’s the first time the Paladins will head to the SoCon Tournament in Asheville lower than a No. 3 seed since 2015, which saw the Paladins reach the championship game for as a No. 10 seed, as they became the lowest seed to ever reach the title game. 

In case you were wondering, the last true No. 5 seed to win the SoCon Tournament was Chattanooga, who defeated seventh-seeded VMI, 75-61, in the championship game in Asheville back in 1988. That’s a magical year for Paladin fans all over, with Furman claiming its greatest athletic achievement in that calendar year, winning the school’s only national title, with a 17-12 gridiron win over Georgia Southern in the Division I-AA national title game in Pocatello, Idaho.

If you’re looking for even more purple magic, here’s a nugget to file for the memory bank. The Paladins haven’t been a true No. 5 seed in the Southern Conference Tournament since 1971, which also just happened to be a lucky No. 5, as the Paladins went on to defeat No. 4 The Citadel (W, 95-82), No. 1 Davidson (W, 83-79) and No. 6 Richmond (W, 68-61) to claim the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament bid.

All told, the SoCon charter member Furman has traditionally struggled in its first game in the conference tournament, sporting just a 38-41 record in either the first round or quarterfinals. 

If Furman is going to re-create the magic of last March, it has to find some sort defensive presence, as it has been inconsistent in that area all season. It's a must. 

In the final two regular-season games of the 2023-24 season against Western Carolina and Mercer, the Paladins gave up a total of 103 points (Western Carolina 55 pts and Mercer 48 pts) and saw those two teams teams combine to connect on 61.6% (37-of-60) from the field and 50% (13-of-26) from three-point range in a pair of second halves. 

Another concerning trend is Furman’s struggles shooting the three-pointer. Just two years ago, the Paladins with a team connecting on 39% from long range for the season knocking down a single-season league record 402 triples, however, just two years later, the Paladins bring their worst shooting team from long range (32.4%) since 2001, when the Paladins were connecting on just  32.4% from long range and have totaled 298 threes coming to Asheville. 

The 298 threes made through 31 games heading tp Asheville is two less than the 300 the Paladins had heading to Asheville last season, and the Paladins were shooting 35.1% (300-of-854) from long range going into the 2023 tournament. 

Over the course of three games in Asheville in the 2023 SoCon Tournament, the Paladins didn't excel shooting the ball from long range, finishing by connecting on just 30% (24-of-80) from downtown, however, its execution from two-point range was elite, connecting at nearly 60% (50-of-84/59.5%) from two-point range over the course of three games in Asheville. 

On the defensive end, the Paladins held foes to just 23.9% (17-of-71) from three-point range and a total combined 42.3% (78-of-184) from the field, and that was more than enough to ensure the Paladins got the job done for the first time in 43 years.

Depending on what Furman team shows up in Asheville, the Paladins have more than enough to win the tournament for a second-straight season, and much of that has to do with a team that, while wildly inconsistent, still has a player, in JP Pegues who has in recent games shown the ability to absolutely take over a basketball game. 

In the stretch run in losses at both Samford and Western Carolina, Pegues scored 33 and 35 points, respectively, and scored 20 or more points in 14 games this past season, including five of the last six. Furman has lost three of four coming to Asheville, which is not a favorable trend this time of year.

We also of course know just how good of a player that Pegues can be in the clutch, connecting on three shots with less than a second remaining in a game to either give the Paladins a lead or tie the game late in regulation this season.

Pegues’ story really began down the stretch last season, as he was a big reason the Paladins won a school record 28 games, returned to the Big Dance for the first time in 43 years, and he was the primary reason the Paladins won their first NCAA Tournament game in 49 years, as his iconic three-point shot with 2.4 seconds remaining against Virginia helped the Paladins produce the first magic moment of the 2023 edition of March Madness. 

If you’ll also remember, Pegues was named Southern Conference Tournament MVP after not having made any of the three SoCon all-league teams. 

While Richey will put his eggs in the basket of having two of the league’s top players and scorers in general, the Paladins have missed the defensive presence of Sacramento Kings draft pick Jalen Slawson, and that has shown when teams are much more willing to attack the rim against the ‘Dins this season. When 6-11 freshman Cooper Bowser (3.8 PPG, 1.6 RPG, 73% FG) is in the game, however, that desire to attack the Paladins at the basket goes way down.

Furman’s struggles this season can be summed up in this little factoid, as the 2023-24 season marks the first time Furman has finished lower than third in the league standings since finishing 10th in the 2014-15 season, which is also the same season the Paladins got it all started with a run to the championship game before losing to top-seeded Wofford. That’s what allowed Furman to capture lightning in a bottle and never looked back.

A Look at the Catamounts:

The fourth-seeded Catamounts will likely come to Asheville with the Southern Conference Player of the Year, in Vonterius Woolbright (21.4 PPG, 5.4 APG, 12.1 RPG). That should serve as a great omen for Catamount fans, as the past three league champions have had the league's player of the Year.  His nine Player of the Week citations are a league record, as his ninth award of the season helped him surpass SoCon legend and future NBA Hall-of-Famer Stephen Curry, who won eight at Davidson during the 2008-09 campaign.

He has simply been sensational this season, posting one of the greatest individual seasons in league history and has a nation-leading five triple-doubles this season, while leading the league in scoring (21.4 PPG) and nation in rebounding (12.1 RPG).

Another good omen for the Catamounts and seemingly one of the recent harbingers of success when it comes to winning the tournament in Asheville is the ability to be consistent on the defensive end of the floor. 

The Catamounts will enter the tournament with the league's top scoring defense (68.4 PPG), which has also been the case for five out of the past 10 teams that ended up cutting down the nets at the end of the tournament in Asheville. The last team to lead the conference in scoring defense and go on to win the title was East Tennessee State in 2020. 

Western Carolina also enters the tournament leading the league in field goal percentage defense (40.6%), while ranking third in the SoCon in three-point field goal percentage defense (36.5%)

The Catamounts' 22 wins match a school record and are a regular-season record in Western Carolina's Division I hoops era. The last time the Catamounts finished a season with 22 victories was the 2008-09 campaign, which saw the Catamounts finish the campaign with 22 wins, losing in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament to former SoCon member Marshall. 

The 2023-24 season marks just the second 20-win season in school history for the Catamounts, while the only NCAA Tournament appearance for the Catamounts came some 28 years ago, when the Catamounts defeated Davidson, 69-60, in Asheville to claim the school's first and only ticket to March Madness. 

What Woolbright has done this season is nothing short of remarkable, and he continues to be the one player in the SoCon that has seemingly been unstoppable this season. 

Just last week, Woolbright and Pegues treated us to performances on the court that none of us will soon forget, with Woolbright notching his fourth of five total triple-doubles this season, as he finished the contest against Furman with 15 points, 11 assists and pulled down 10 rebounds, as he helped the Catamounts post an 85-77 win over the Paladins on Senior Night at the Ramsey Center.

In the losing effort for Furman, Pegues was sensational for the Paladins, scoring a career-high 35 points, which included a 6-for-13 performance from three-point range, as well as going a perfect 9-for-9 from the charity stripe. 

While Woolbright is no doubt one of the best players we've seen come through the league in recent memory, he follows in a long line of elite guards that have been a part of the Western Carolina hoops tradition, which includes the late Henry Logan, 14-year NBA veteran Kevin Martin, Ronnie Carr (made first three-point shot in college hoops history), Frankie King, Trey Sumler, Jarvis Hayes and Anquell McCollum. All scored the ball well, but perhaps no guard in Catamount hoops history has been as versatile as Woolbright. 

The good news for WCU fans is that he has help, as the Catamounts have arguably the most elite backcourt in the Southern Conference, with Russell Jones Jr. (12.7 PPG, 2.2 RPG), Tre Jackson (13.5 PPG, 2.8 RPG) and DJ Campbell (11.7 PPG, 3.8 RPG) all giving Woolbright the needed scoring support. Even Mercer transfer Kamar Robertson has elevated his overall production of late adding needed depth to the backcourt. 

Offensively, the Catamounts rank sixth in the SoCon in team field goal percentage (45.8%), while ranking third overall in the league in three-point field goal percentage (36.5%). Russell Jones Jr. put together an especially strong performance by scoring 20 points against the Paladins in the recent meeting between the two. Jackson, Woolbright and Jones Jr. have all scored 1,000 points in their respective careers. 

Jones Jr. is one of the reasons the Catamounts are such a proficient perimeter shooting team, as he ranks fourth overall in the SoCon, connecting on 41.8% from long range this season.

Jackson, meanwhile has knocked down 94 triples this season, which is second to only Chattanooga's Honor Huff, who has knocked down 104 trifectas.

The one real question mark for the Catamounts heading into the SoCon Tournament remains the frontcourt offensive production between Charles Lampten (1.8 PPG, 4.4 RPG,, 49 blks), Colin Grainger (2.2 PPG, 2.7 RPG), Corneilous Williams (3.6 PPG, 3.0 RPG) and Bernard Pelote (6.6 PPG, 4.4 RPG).

Furman and Western Carolina split the regular-season series for the second-straight season. Back on Jan. 20, JP Pegues hit a top of the key three with less than a second left to secure a 65-62 win in Greenville. 

Other than the 2023 semifinal meeting in the tournament, the Paladins other four wins over the Catamounts in the SoCon postseason came in the 2018 quarterfinals (W, 97-73), 2004 first round (W, 73-68), 2002 first round (W, 65-61) and 1984 first round (W, 71-67).

The matchup between the Paladins and Catamounts figures to be one of the more enthralling battles of the opening two days of the men's tournament, with the only problem being that we have to wait for the very last quarterfinal game to tip-off at approximately 8:30 to witness it in front of what should be the best crowd of the opening two days of the tournament.

Below is a brief look back at the past tournament clashes between the Furman and Western Carolina

Furman guard Anthony Thomas in '02
 

1984: Furman 71, Western Carolina 67 (Mar. 2, 1984/First Round/Asheville Civic Center, Asheville, N.C.)

--Furman finished with four in double figures, as George Singleton led the way with 19 points, while Noel Gilliard added a double-double of 16 points and 13 rebounds, helping the Paladins power past the Catamounts in an opening round matchup in the Southern Conference Tournament. The win by the Paladins came despite a strong performance from Catamount guard Quinton Lytle, who played all 40 minutes and poured in a game-high 23 points and ripped down five boards in the losing effort. He was one of two WCU players in double figures in the contest, as Quentin Moore added 12 points in the losing effort for the Catamounts. Furman would go on to lose 70-57 to the Gerald Wilkins-led Chattanooga Mocs in the semifinals. 

2002: Furman 65, Western Carolina 61 (Mar. 2, 2002/First Round/North Charleston Coliseum, Charleston S.C.)

--Veteran Furman guard Anthony Thomas helped power a key 7-0 second half run, which allowed the Paladins turn a one-point lead (51-50) into an eight-point cushion (58-50) at a key juncture of the second half, and it was the senior guard Thomas who scored five of those seven points to spark the run, finishing the contest with 16 points. The Paladin run sparked by Thomas came just after Catamount guard Colin Largent brought Western Carolina to within a point following a three-pointer with just 3:25 left in the game. Thomas was able to also connect on seven free throws inside the final 1:43 to help the Paladins close out a four-point, 65-61, win, which also ensured Furman first winning season since 1992-93. The win by the Paladins came despite the fact that WCU had one of the premier guards in all of college basketball, In Zanesville, OH., product and future NBA talent and Catamount Hall-of-Famer Kevin Martin, who came into the contest ranking 10th nationally in scoring, averaging 22.3 PPG. The Paladins were able to limit the sensational freshman performer to just 18, which also led the Catamounts. For Furman, it was led by Anthony Thomas' 16 points, while Guilherme Da Luz added 12 points and six boards, and Karim Souchu chipped in with 11 points and six rebounds, as the Paladins embarked on a run that would eventually end up in the championship game, as the Paladins finally ran out of gas with a 62-57 loss to Davidson. 

2004: Furman 73, Western Carolina 68 (Mar 3, 2004/First Round/North Charleston Coliseum, Charleston, S.C.)

--Furman forward and Dakar Senegal native Malaye Ndoye poured in a game-high 25 points, as Furman knocked off Western Carolina, 73-68, in the opening game of the 2004 Mountain Dew Southern Conference Tournament at the North Charleston Coliseum in the second meeting in the previous three tournaments between the two. Ndoye's strong afternoon, especially in the latter portions of the first half, which carried over to the second half, helped the Paladins build as much as an 18-point lead (60-42) with 9:16 left to play in the contest. The Catamounts proved to have nine lives, however, battling back into the game through Turkish-born and sharp-shooting guard Emre Atsur, along with junior guard Kevin Martin, and Canadian-born high-riser Corey Muirhead. Martin sparked a Catamount run by scoring five-straight points, while Muirhead scored nine of his 15 points down the stretch, and suddenly the Catamounts found themselves back in the game, and got the crowd involved in the contest with a pair a pair of alley-oop dunks in the process. A Muirhead jumper tied the score, 64-64, with 4:12 remaining, as the Catamounts completed a furious 22-4 run to tie the game inside the final five minutes. The score would remain that way for the next 3:26 before Robby Bostain gave the Paladins the lead for good with a jumper at the 1:38 mark to give the Paladins the 66-64 lead. Over the final four minutes and change, the Paladins finished the contest on a 9-4 run to close out the opening round win. Also in double figures for the Paladins were guard Eric Webb, who scored 13 points and dished out four helpers, while 2003-04 SoCon Freshman of the Year Quan Prowell added 10. Kevin Martin led four Catamounts in double figures with 18 points, while Muirhead and Atsur added 15 and 13 points, respectively. It would turn out to be Martin's final game in a Catamount uniform, declaring for the NBA Draft shortly after his junior season. 

2018:  Furman 97, Western Carolina 73 (Mar. 3, 2018/Quarterfinals/Harrah's Cherokee Center, Asheville, N.C.)

--The Catamounts would play well in the opening moments of the game, and even took their first lead of the season against the Paladins, 13-12, following a Devin Peterson jumper. However, that would be about the only drama that the Catamounts would provide for the rest of the night, as Furman went on to cruise to a 97-73 win. Furman used an early 14-0 run to take a commanding 26-13 lead, following a Clay Mounce follow-up dunk with 9:13 remaining in the first half. A Geoff Beans four-point play started the run with 13:18 remaining in the half. From that point, the Catamount deficit never got them inside double digits again, and the Paladins’ led by as many as 29 point. The Paladins had five players in double figures and shot 55.6 percent from the field for the game. Senior swingman Daniel Fowler led the way with 18 points, which included going 6-of-7 from the field. The Paladins connected on 64.3 percent of their shots in the opening half to take a 50-31 lead into the halftime locker room. Fowler was joined in double figures by Jordan Lyons (15 pts), Matt Rafferty (14 pts, 9 rebs, 5 stls, 5 asts), John Davis III (12 pts, 5 asts), and Alex Hunter (10 pts). The Catamounts were paced by Marcus Thomas, who came off the bench to score 19 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field.

2023: Furman 83, Western Carolina 80 (OT) (Mar. 5, 2023/Semfinals/Harrah's Cherokee Center, Asheville, N.C.)

2023 SoCon Semifinals: No. 1 Furman 83, No. 4 Western Carolina 80

Russell Jones Jr. is guarded by Furman’s JP Pegues in last year’s SoCon Tournament semifinal in Asheville

Despite holding as much as a 20-point second half lead, Furman nearly squandered the opportunity to make it back to the championship game and subsequently forfeit a chance to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 43 years, as Western Carolina made the penultimate stage a difficult hurdle for the Paladins to traverse, however, Furman proved to be a team “calloused” for such moments, as it was able to hold off the feisty Catamounts, 83-80, in overtime to advance to the championship game of the Ingles Southern Conference Tournament for a second-straight season. 

One of the interesting storylines coming into Sunday night’s classic semifinal clash at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center, which was played before a raucous crowd fit for a championship Monday was the fact that the two teams sported a combined 70 years of NCAA Tournament drought, with Furman having not qualified for the postseason since 1980 (43 years) and Western Carolina’s last appearance in the Big Dance coming in 1996 (27 years).  

With the win, Furman won its school-record 26th game and improved to 26-7 overall, while Western Carolina concluded its season with an 18-15 record. The Paladins will face Chattanooga (18-16) in Monday night’s Southern Conference Tournament championship game. The 26th win by Furman eclipses the 25 wins achieved two other times in school history, which happened in consecutive seasons (2018-19 and 2019-20). Tip-off between the Paladins and Mocs for the Southern Conference title game is set for 7 p.m. EST and will be nationally televised on ESPN.  It marks the first time the Paladins have advanced to consecutive championship games in back-to-back seasons since 1979 and ’80.

The Paladins were led in scoring in the contest by four players in double figures, with Mike Bothwell’s 26 points leading the charge, while point guard JP Pegues added 24. Jalen Slawson narrowly missed a double-double, with 15 points and nine rebounds before fouling out with two minutes left in regulation, and Garrett Hien finished with 12.  

Bothwell’s stellar performance saw him connect on 7-of-15 shots from the field, including 2-for-7 from three-point range and he went 10-of-16 from the line. He also added three rebounds, three assists and four steals. 

Vonterius Woolbright’s 30 points led all scorers in the contest, while backcourt mate Tre Jackson added 22 points. Tyzhaun Claude closed out his night with 15 points and 11 boards, as he fouled out with 1:06 left in overtime.  

Western Carolina finished the contest connecting on 44.1% (30-of-68) shots from the field, while shooting just 23.8% (5-of-21) from the three-point line. The Catamounts did make the most of their charity shots, connecting on 15-of-19 for the contest, which converts to a 78.9% clip. However, the Catamounts shot 27 less free throws than the Paladins in the contest. 

The Paladins on the other hand, connected on just 39.0% (23-of-59) of their shots from the field, including just a 29.2% (7-of-24) clip in the second half. The Paladins did not make a three-pointer in the second half (0-for-11) and finished the game shooting just 22.6% (7-of-31) from long range. However, Furman got the line 46 times, making 30 and ended up with a 15-point advantage in foul shots made as a result. The 46 free throws shot and the 30 made were both season highs for the Paladins.  

Western Carolina finished the night with advantages in total rebounds (46-36), points in the paint (46-30), second-chance points (18-12), fast-break points (7-5) and bench points (9-5). Furman owned a 12-6 edge in points from turnovers, and the two teams tied with 11 assists apiece.  

Furman came out of the gates quickly, running to a 9-4 lead at the first media timeout, highlighted by a three by JP Pegues, as well as an acrobatic layup from Mike Bothwell and an alley-oop dunk to Jalen Slawson from Bothwell, bringing the Furman faithful to its collective feet. However, Western responded out of the first media timeout with a three-pointer from Russell Jones Jr. and layups by Vonterius Woolbright and Tre Jackson, allowing the Catamounts to assume their first lead of the night, at 13-12. That would remain the score as the two teams headed to the second media timeout of the opening half. 

The two teams would battle back and forth over the next four minutes, but a three by Slawson and a layup by Hien as well as a jumper by Pegues gave the Paladins a 25-20 lead following a mini 13-7 spurt.  The Paladins would see their lead grow to as many as 16 points in the opening half of play, as Bothwell scored on a second-chance opportunity in the paint, as his layup gave Furman a 42-26 lead with 2:39 left in the half. The Paladins would finish the half with 45, with a Ben VanderWal foul shot and a layup by JP Pegues helping the Paladins close out the half, taking a 15-point, 45-30 lead to the break. 

Furman entered the night 23-2 when leading the game at the break, with one of those losses coming in Cullowhee to the Catamounts, and Western Carolina would very nearly turn the trick again, fighting their way back into the game. After falling behind by 20 following a pair of Bothwell free throws with 17:19 left gave the Paladins a 53-33 lead, the Catamounts would begin their slow but constant charge back into the game.  

With just 38 seconds remaining, the Catamounts had surpassed the Paladins on the scoreboard, with Vonterius Woolbright’s layup off the right side, giving the Catamounts a 72-70 lead and sending the Catamount hue of Purple into delirium at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center. It was the first lead held by the Catamounts since they held a 15-14 advantage with just under 10 minutes remaining in the first half following a Tyzhaun Claude jumper in the paint.  

Furman would tie the game, 72-72, following a pair of foul shots from Mike Bothwell with 26 seconds remaining. Furman’s defense forced Russell Jones Jr.’s shot to be a fade-a-way from the corner as time expired, and the shot was no good and the two teams would play an extra five minutes of basketball. 

When the two teams headed to the extra session, Furman would be without one of its leaders, as Jalen Slawson fouled out of the game with 2:02 remaining. It was not too much unlike the situation earlier this season at the Ramsey Center, when Slawson fouled out of the 12-point loss back on Dec. 31, 2022. 

The Catamounts would lose Tyzhaun Claude, who played an outstanding game before fouling out in overtime with 1:30 remaining. Like the first matchup with the Paladins in on New Year’s Eve, Claude fouled out. He only had seven points in that game, while he didn’t even play in the clash between the two in Greenville, nursing a sprained ankle. In Sunday night’s classic, Claude finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

The Catamounts wasted little time in getting the extra five minutes off to a fast start. Western Carolina, which came into the matchup 3-0 in overtime games this season, got things off to a good start when Tre Jackson banged a three after the Catamounts corralled one of their 14 offensive rebounds to give the Catamounts a 75-72 lead with 4:22 remaining.   

Furman wouldn’t score its first points of the extra session until the 2:29 mark, as Ben VanderWal knocked down a pair of foul shots to get the Paladins within one, however, Woolbright again got free in the paint and coasted in for a layup to give the Catamounts a three-point lead once again, at 77-74, with 2:07 left. On the next trip down the floor, the ball found its way to Bothwell at the left elbow and his three, which is arguably one of the biggest shots of his five years in a Paladin uniform, knotted the score, 77-77, with 1:06 remaining.  

The Catamounts continued to play high-level basketball, utilizing excellent guard penetration, much like the Catamounts had done in their win in Cullowhee earlier this season. 

To a certain extent, it was also something East Tennessee State was able to do well with DeAnthony Tipler and Jalen Haynes in the Bucs’ 83-79 loss in Greenville back on Feb. 19. Woolbright was versatile as a scorer and passer, and it’s something Furman had respect defensively, and it gave the Paladins problems for much of the second half and overtime and it’s how the Catamounts were able to get back into the contest, despite not shooting the ball well from deep. When Woolbright’s under-handed assist found its way to Claude with 1:30 remaining, he flushed it home with a monster dunk to give Western the lead once again, 79-77.  

However, Mike Bothwell just wasn’t going to let the Paladins lose. It’s why he and Jalen Slawson came back, and with Slawson already gone, it was up to him to help the Paladins find a way after it had struggled to score points for much of the final 10 minutes and overtime to score points. Bothwell drove in for a layup and missed but drew Claude’s fifth foul with 1:06 to play. He would knock down a pair of free throws to tie the game. 

Western Carolina’s Woolbright was fouled on the other end by Marcus Foster with 49 seconds left. He connected on 1-of-2 free throws to give the Catamounts the narrow 80-79 lead. 

Furman’s player to be reckoned with for much of the first half and the tournament so far has been JP Pegues. Pegues was able to coax WCU’s Bernard Pelote off his feet and then proceeded to jump into him in the act of shooting a three-pointer to draw the foul and three-shot opportunity from the charity stripe. It was a tactic that former Indiana Pacers guard Reggie Miller used to utilize with plenty of success throughout his storied NBA career. Pegues made two of three free throws to put the Paladins back on top, 81-80, with 28 seconds to play.  

Following a timeout by Western Carolina, the Paladins would force Jackson to take a contested jumper from just outside the paint, which was off the mark and rebounded by Marcus Foster and then quickly passed into the hands of Bothwell, who was immediately fouled with eight seconds to play. Bothwell made both foul shots to give Furman a three-point lead. Furman burned its final timeout and then survived Jackson’s three-point attempt at the buzzer to hold on for a heart-stopping 83-80 win.