J.P. Pegues was back for the Furman Paladins in a Timmons Arena showdown against Belmont on Friday night.
The junior from Nashville, Tenn., the Bruins’ locale, scored 23 points and established career bests with nine rebounds and a like number of assists as the Paladins rolled, 99-76.
The victory marked Furman’s (2-0) 17th in its last 19 games overall and its 34th in its last 36 regular season non-conference contests inside Timmons.
“It was a great night at Timmons Arena just to be able to play a team of that magnitude and come away with a victory,” said Furman head coach Bob Richey.
“We had to clean up a lot from Monday (an 84-68 win over North Greenville) because that was clearly a pretty sloppy game.”
Senior Garrett Hien, bulked up by 15 pounds of offseason muscle, ignited the Paladins early by scoring all 13 of his points in the first half as the Furman shot .486 from the field and connected on 5/12 triples to build a 46-31 lead at intermission. The Bruins went 0/10 on three-point attempts in the first half and just 3/21 from long range in the game.
The Paladins used a 10-3 run, capped by Pegues’ four-point play with 16:14 remaining, to open a 56-39 second-half lead and answered a 9-2 Belmont run with an 11-3 spurt to increase the lead to 69-51 on Ben VanderWal’s basket with 12:20 to go. The Bruins reeled off 10 straight points to trim the margin to 69-61 with under 11 minutes to play, but the Paladins outscored Belmont 30-15 over the final 10:30 to pull away.
“J.P. (Pegues), we know his value,” Richey said. “We can see how much better he’s gotten already.
“His presence is just elite. The command of the game he played with … to go out there and almost get a triple double. He took 13 shots and got 23 points. He played with unbelievable presence and swagger.”
Pegues, the MVP in the Southern Conference Tournament earlier this year, went 7/13 from the field and 6/8 at the foul line to lead the Paladins in his first game of the season while Marcus Foster netted 16 points on 4/9 shooting from behind the arc and PJay Smith Jr. added 15 points. Hien finished with 13 points and freshman Cooper Bowser rounded out Furman’s group of five double-figure scorers with 10.
Furman posted a 51-34 edge on the glass and shot .521 from the field, including .414 (12/29) behind the arc. The Paladins dished out 25 assists as a team and outscored the Bruins by 27 points from three-point range.
Ja’Kobi Gillespie led Belmont (1-1) with 21 points while Kyler Vanderjagt and Jayce Willingham added 12 and 11 points, respectively, off the bench.
The Paladins travel to the Myrtle Beach Invitational Nov. 16-19. Furman takes on Liberty in opening-round play on Nov. 16 before facing either Wichita State or host Coastal Carolina on Friday, Nov. 17. The tournament concludes with a game against College of Charleston, St. Louis, Vermont or Wyoming on Sunday, Nov. 19 at the HTC Center in Conway.
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