Meanwhile, near the Grand Strand, quite the men’s basketball tournament awaits Bob Richey’s Furman Paladins.
Liberty figures to provide stiff opposition for Furman (2-0). The Flames members of Conference USA, opened the season with back-to-back wins, over Charlotte (71-59) tand Mid-Atlantic Christian (103-43), which is also located in Lynchburg, Va.
The Paladins and Flames play Thursday’s fourth game, scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at HTC Center in Conway.
The game is to be streamed live on ESPN+ with Rich Hollenberg and Daymeon Fishback calling the action. Furman fans can listen to the game on The Fan Upstate 97.7 FM, on 1330 AM, and via the Audacy app with Dan Scott and Tom Van Hoy on the call. Links for the ESPN+ stream, radio broadcast, and live statistics are available online at FurmanPaladins.com.
Both schools are ranked in the top five of a so-called “mid-major” poll.
Furman holds a 5-1 lead in the all-time series versus Liberty and claimed a 61-58 decision in the most recent meeting on Dec. 6, 2016, in Lynchburg. The Paladins are 52-48 all-time versus the Myrtle Beach Invitational field, which also includes host Coastal Carolina, College of Charleston, St. Louis, Vermont, Wichita State and Wyoming.
The winner of Thursday’s game takes on the Wichita State-Coastal Carolina winner on ESPNU at 9 p.m. on Friday. The losers of Thursday’s Furman-Liberty and Wichita State-Coastal Carolina contests play on Friday at 6:30 on ESPN+.
The eight-team tournament concludes with four games on Sunday. The championship is set for Sunday at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN2.
Led by 19 points from Jada Session, Furman took the measure of Charleston Southern on Tuesday evening at Buccaneer Fieldhouse in North Charleston.
The Paladins ran their record to 2-1 under first-year head coach Pierre Curtis.
Session, a junior forward, added eight rebounds, a pair of assists and two steals as Furman rallied from 34-26 halftime deficit by outscoring the Buccaneers 30-13 in the third period.
Sydney James counted a pair of three-pointers among her 14 points.
The Paladins answered by outscoring the Buccaneers 14-7 over the final 4:16.Tate Walters scored 12 points.
Catherine Alben joined Kennedi Jackson for game-high scoring with 21 points apiece for Charleston Southern.
Furman returns home to face Coastal Carolina Saturday at Timmons Arena, beginning at 2 p.m.
Take a look at the stats here.
The Paladins’ kick snapper, redshirt junior Julian Ashby, is the Southern Conference’s Student-Athlete of the Week.
His credentials are exemplary.
The Lilburn, Ga., product is a physics major with a 3.97 cumulative grade point average. He has handled snaps for placements and punts for three-plus seasons.
Luke Clark, a bandit in the Paladins’ defense, is SoCon Defensive Player of the week.
Clark, a redshirt junior from Louisville, Ky., led a dominating Paladin defensive effort and pass rush, amassing three tackles, two sacks, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.
The Paladins won 37-3 after holding a 34-0 halftime lead.
Clark’s two sacks paced an eight-sack performance by the Paladins, and his fumble recovery off his own quarterback takedown, set up a field goal that capped a first half that saw Furman take a 34-0 halftime lead.
Furman remains second in the AFCA and Stats Perform (media) national rankings of FCS football. Reigning national champion South Dakota State is No. 1.
The 25th-ranked women’s cross country team placed five on the All-Southeast Region team, while the 14th-ranked men placed DylanSchubert and Carson Williams on the corresponding team.
Williams earned an at-large berth in the NCAA meet on Nov. 18 in Charlottesville, Va.
Mercer won the SoCon men’s soccer title with a 2-0 victory over Furman.
The Bears (7-6-8) won the conference’s berth in the NCAA Tournament, which begins Nov. 16. Furman finished 10-6-3,
“We gave up two goals in the first six minutes and that is a hard hole to get out of, but I was proud of how our team fought,” stated head coach Doug Allison. “I just want to thank the outstanding crowd we had for supporting us and wish Mercer the best in the NCAA Tournament.”
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Nightrider's Lament 