By MONTE DUTTON Jonah Pierce has lived up to all expectations (Monte Dutton photos). Recent men’s basketball seasons have featured similar patterns at Presbyterian College. Last season, for instance. On Jan. 2, 2025, the Blue Hose opened the Big South season with a 68-60 victory over Longwood. At the time, PC’s overall record was 8-8, …
Paladins pick up pace
By MONTE DUTTON Ben Vander Wal (Monte Dutton photo) Click here. Basketball is funny. That’s my mindless observation. Joe Garagiola wrote a book called Baseball Is a Funny Game, so he began the advance of the banal. A Game Is a Funny Game. Remain Calm. All is well. At glittering new Timmons Arena, Furman calmly …
Now’s when the fun begins
By MONTE DUTTON Ah, yes, the telltale extra digits of AI illustration. Click here. What a surprise. Furman and Wofford are surging in the Southern Conference men’s basketball race. Chattanooga and the Paladins were picked 1-2 in the preseason poll of SoCon coaches. On Wednesday, while Furman was knocking off the Mocs on the road, …
Where everybody knows your name …
By MONTE DUTTON Click here. Some play football because they love it. Some play because it runs in the family and is expected of them, some because girls seem to like it. Some like to hit and not be hit. Some just love to get after it. It has been Buddy Bridges’ frequent observation that …
Rahl picks up pieces left by Englehart’s departure
Matt Rahl coached the offensive line in two years on Steve Englehart's staff (Monte Dutton photo). Coming off one of the great seasons in Presbyterian College football history, athletics director Dee Nichols and those around her saw no need to reinvent the wheel, or the wheel route, for that matter. Following two seasons on Steve …
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‘Piercing’ Upstate’s armor
By MONTE DUTTON Jonah Pierce (Monte Dutton photos) Jonah Pierce is a redshirt senior from Sanford, Fla., on the Presbyterian College basketball team. A knee injury cost him most of the 2024-25 season. He is back with a vengeance hidden by a perpetual smile on his face. Pierce didn’t beat USC Upstate, 86-77, by himself …
Bowled over, as usual
By MONTE DUTTON Click here. My God. I’ve had an addiction to college bowl games since I was in grade school. They’re not the same, but the games must go on because ESPN says so. As long as Duke’s Mayonnaise (which I love) ponies up, a 5-7 Mississippi State can play an 8-4 Wake Forest, …
Team effort dooms Bears, 74-72
By MONTE DUTTON Ben Vander Wal (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. Imagine a basketball game in which one team, the victorious one, leads for 32 minutes, 45 seconds, but never by more than nine points. Furman’s 74-72 victory over Mercer, the first Southern Conference game for both teams, was a harbinger of what lies ahead. …
Furman opens SoCon play with Mercer
Eddrin Bronson (Furman photo) Click here. It’s a fitting opponent that will provide a stern test as Furman opens Southern Conference men’s basketball play on Wednesday at Timmons Arena. The Paladins put a five-game winning streak on the line when they take on Mercer in a New Year’s Eve matinee that tips at noon. The …
Nationwide search finds PC’s new coach nearby
By MONTE DUTTON Matt Rahl (PC photo) Presbyterian College announced the results of its “nationwide search” on Monday morning. Matt Rahl is the choice of Director of Athletics Dee Nichols – one would think with the advice and consent of select others – to succeed Steve Englehart as head football coach of the Blue Hose. …
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Nightrider's Lament 