South Carolina State was just what the doctor ordered – the doctor being Bob Richey – for Furman on its return to Timmons Arena on Tuesday night.

Led by junior PJay Smith’s 20 points, the Paladins returned from a four-game road trip for a 86-78 victory over the Bulldogs.

“We’ve been putting a lot of pressure on J.P. (Pegues) and Marcus (Foster),” Smith said. “I felt like I needed to be more aggressive and try to get my teammates involved. I thought I needed to look for my shot more just to take some pressure off them.

“I tried to lighten their load.”

Smith, from Lavergne, Tenn., a transfer from Lee University, of Cleveland, Tenn., hit 7/10 field goals overall and 6/9 for three points apiece.

But S.C. State (2-6) gave the Paladins hell in the first half, when the Bulldogs piled on a 16-0 rally that put them up 10 points with 8:21 remaining. Order had been restored by halftime, at which point S.C. State clung to a 36-35 lead.

In the former half, the Bulldogs hit 4/6 three-pointers. In the latter, they canned 3/11.

Furman (4-3) shot .613 (19/31) in the second half.

Five more Paladins scored in double figures: Marcus Foster (16), Garrett Hien (12), Alex Williams (12), J.P. Pegues  (11) and Carter Whitt (10).

South Carolina State jumped out to a 24-14 lead and held a 33-24 advantage with under four minutes left in the first half when Smith connected on back-to-back triples to key an 11-3 Paladin run to close the half.

Furman turned up the heat in the second half and went on a 27-12 run, capped by another pair of back-to-back triples from Smith, to take a 62-48 lead with 9:53 remaining. The Paladins maintained at least an eight-point advantage the rest of the way.

The Paladins outscored South Carolina State 46-40 in the paint and got 34 combined points off the bench from Williams, Hien, and Whitt.

Davion Everett connected on 9/11 field-goal attempts and 5/7 free throws to pace the Bulldogs with 23 points. Wilson Dubinsky posted 12 points and Jordan Simpson finished with 10.

The Bulldogs (2-6) shot .455 from the floor, including 7/17 from three-point range. S.C. State pulled down 13 offensive rebounds to score 16 second-chance points.

A year removed from a 28-8 record, Southern Conference regular-season and tournament titles and a first-round upset in the NCAAs, Furman graduated its two best players, Mike Bothwell and Jalen Slawson, but seven of the top nine scorers return.

Furman had 24 assists in 33 field goals, led  by Whitt with seven and Pegues with six.

Furman (4-3) is back on the road on Saturday when it travels to face unbeaten Princeton. Tip-off at Jadwin Gym is set for 2 p.m. and the game will be streamed live on ESPN+. There will be no Furman radio broadcast.

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