CONWAY – Furman’s debut at the Myrtle Beach Invitational turned into a bit of a conflagration.

Liberty kept the Paladins comfortably at bay in the second half. Once Furman felt the Flames’ burn, it dutifully took its medicine, 88-74.

The Paladins take on host Coastal Carolina on Friday evening at 6:30.

With Marcus Foster scoring a career-high 30 points, canning 9/15 shots and 9/11 free throws. and J.P. Pegues adding 20 points, Furman’s balance was askew. Ben VanderWal scored nine points and grabbed eight boards. No other Furman player scored more than five points.

These things happen and did last season, which turned out satisfactorily. Furman lost the first two games to Penn State and Old Dominion before defeating South Carolina in Charleston tournament on Nov. 17-20, 2022, lost to High Point on Dec. 6 over the holidays and The Citadel on Feb. 15, 2023, in the Southern Conference stretch, but the Paladins won the regular season, tournament and first-round game in the NCAA Tournament.

It’s a long season, and the standard Bob Richey operating procedure is to work out systematically the occasional misses in the team engine.

Remain calm. All is well.

Furman (2-1) led for much of the first half, once by six points at 33-27, but the Flames established some separation late and were never seriously challenged after the break. Liberty (3-0) scored the first half’s final 11 points and then shot .643 (18/28) from the floor in the second half.

The team, excepting Foster, hit 13/38 field-goal attempts (.342).

Kyle Rode led the Flames with 19 points and three steals. Brody Peebles added 16, Kaden Matheny 15 and Zach Cleveland 11. Colin Porter spread eight assists around.

Wichita State defeated Coastal Carolina, 86-77. Liberty faces the Shockers in the semifinal round at 9.,

After Furman scored the first basket of the second half, the Flames reeled off nine straight points to extend their lead to 47-35 on Rode’s basket with 17:41 to play.

Furman used a 6-0 spurt to trim the margin to 49-43 at the under-16 media timeout, but Liberty answered with a 12-4 run before the midway point of the half to build a 67-50 cushion on back-to-back baskets by Matheny with under 12 minutes remaining.

Furman shot .415 from the field and converted 24/31 free throw attempts, but the Paladins shot just 6/24 from three-point range.

Take a look at the stats here.

Myrtle Beach Invitational

Date    Matchup (TV)                                              Time

11/16  Vermont 73, Charleston 64                         11:30 a.m.

            Saint Louis 79, Wyoming 69                        2:00 p.m.

Wichita St. 86, Coastal Carolina 77             4:30 p.m.

            Liberty 88, Furman 74                                 7:00 p.m.

11/17  Vermont vs. Saint Louis (ESPN2)                 12:00 p.m.

            Charleston vs. Wyoming (ESPNU)               2:30 p.m.

            Furman at Coastal Carolina (ESPN+)           6:30 p.m.

            Wichita State vs. Liberty (ESPNU)               9:00 p.m.

11/19  Fifth Place Game (ESPNU)                           10:30 a.m.

            Seventh Place Game (ESPN+)                     1:00 p.m.

            Championship Game (ESPN2)                     5:30 p.m.

            Third Place Game (ESPN2)                          8:00 p.m.

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