CONWAY – It takes a crowded weekend to draw attention away from Bob Richey’s Furman basketball team.

It takes a bit of shock and awe, the kind that spreads from a stunning football upset at Wofford and the release of seedings for the FCS playoffs.

For the second year in a row, the Furman men played three games in a tournament near the South Carolina coast, and again the Paladins lost two of the three.

Last year it was Penn State and Old Dominion in Charleston, largely lost in memory due to the Paladins’ 19-point victory over South Carolina.

This year it was the Myrtle Beach Invitationall from Coastal Carolina University’s HTC Center. Furman (3-2) fell to Liberty in the opener on Thursday, defeated the host Chanticleers,89-80, on Friday, and fell to Wyoming, 78-71, on Sunday.

Furman is coming off a 28-8 record and a Southern Conference championship. Richey’s starting lineup lost two of the school’s greatest, Mike Bothwell and Jalen Slawson.

Seven of the top nine are back, though, and Richey has bright newcomers to blend into the mix.

The point is that Furman went through an early-season development process last season and most every other Richey season. Things will be fine.

Already fine was fifth-year senior Marcus Walker, who scored 30 points twice and 46 in three nights.

On Sunday, Wyoming built a 17-point second-half lead and held off a late Furman charge to down the Paladins, 78-71.

 The Cowboys (4-1) carried a 37-28 lead into the locker room at halftime. After Furman hit two free throws to open the second half, Wyoming reeled off an 11-0 run, including eight points from Sam Griffin, to open up a 48-31 lead with 17:22 remaining.

 Furman trailed 62-50 with under 7:30 to play before junior J.P. Pegues scored eight consecutive points, culminating with a four-point play with 6:10 left to trim the Wyoming lead to 62-58. Pegues converted on two trips to the foul line with 1:40 on the clock to pull Furman within three points at 70-67, but Brendan Wenzel drilled a triple on Wyoming’s next possession and Caden Powell followed a missed three by the Paladins with a pair of free throws to put the Cowboys in front 75-67 with 1:14 to go.

Furman got no closer than six points the rest of the way.

Wyoming shot .475 from the field and connected on 12/25 three-point attempts for the game while Furman shot just .415, due in large part to an abysmal 8/34 from behind the arc.

Griffin paced all scorers with 26 points on 11/19 shooting and guard Akuel Kot added 20 points. Wenzel and Powell rounded out the Cowboys’ double figure-scorers with 13 apiece.

Pegues led Furman with 22 points while Foster totaled 18 to become the Myrtle Beach Invitational’s all-time scoring leader with 78 combined points over three games. Foster was also selected to the all-tournament team on Sunday afternoon. Carter Whitt finished with nine points and seven assists for the Paladins.

Foster poured in 30 points and Carter Whitt posted career highs with 20 points and eight rebounds to lead Furman to an 89-80 victory over Coastal Carolina.

 Foster connected on 12/23 field-goal attempts and added five rebounds and five assists en route to reaching 30 points for the second straight night.

After pulling down six of his career-best eight rebounds in the first half, Whitt made good on 7/10 second-half shots to score all 20 of his points after the break. Pegues contributed 14 points and six assists while PJay Smith added eight. Senior Garrett Hien scored seven points and grabbed six rebounds to go with a career-high eight assists and five steals.

 Leading 67-65 with under 6:30 to play, Pegues found Foster in the corner for a triple as Furman answered Coastal Carolina’s 7-0 run with an 8-2 spurt to up its lead to 75-67 with 5:15 left. Whitt scored seven of the next nine points for the Paladins as they maintained at least a six-point advantage the rest of the way.

The Paladins scored 21 points off 18 Chanticleer turnovers and outscored Coastal Carolina 21-10 on the fastbreak.

 Kylan Blackmon led Coastal (1-2) with 23 points while Jocob Meyer and Ginika Ojiako reached double figures with 18 and 14 points, respectively.

To take a look at the Wyoming stats, click here. To see the Coastal Carolina box, click here.

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