By MONTE DUTTON

In a way, Tuesday night’s men’s basketball game at Timmons Arena was true to expectations, and in another, both teams in Furman’s 76-61 victory over Presbyterian played against type.

“Investment equals return,” Furman head coach Bob Richey said. “It’s a funny deal, right? You can probably lay that role on any layer of life, talk about playing the game the right way. Our three best offensive efficiencies were also our three best defensive efficiencies.”

The Paladins, stung by a brace of recent agonizing losses to Princeton and Tulane, led almost all the way in only their third home game in the last 10. J.P. Pegues, the 6-1 junior point guard from Nashville, Tenn., was his usual, canny self: 21 points, two rebounds, two assists, a steal, zero turnovers. He was 8/12 from the field and 3/3 from the line.

“I’m going to go out there and move the offense, keep it flowing and not let it get stagnant,” Pegues said. “When I’m wide open, I’m going to shoot them, but if it’s contested, I’m going to move it … and keep working it.”

Marquis Barnett, PC’s leading scorer, entered the night averaging 13.8 points and scored 14. The 6-4 junior from Saginaw, Mich., went 7/10 from the field, collected three rebounds and three assists.

Not so commonplace were other developments.

For instance, Furman’s Garrett Hien, 6-9 senior forward from Charlotte, N.C., posted the first “double-double” (19 points, 11 rebounds) of his 107-game Furman career. He also led the Paladins with five assists and two steals.

“It was my first double-double, so I’m pretty happy about that,” Hien said. “I wouldn’t be able to do it without my teammates, who kept trusting me especially through the start of the season when I kind of struggled offensively. They just kept feeding me the ball, kept trusting me down low.”

Both teams have ample depth, and every single warm body that shuffled onto the court – 10 for the Paladins and nine for the Blue Hose – scored. Only two for each – Pegues and Hien for Furman, Barnett and Jonah Pierce (11) for Presbyterian – scored in double figures.

Pegues dwelled more on Furman’s improved defense.

“Coach Richey has really been pushing the importance of playing together on the defensive end,” he said. “We showed spurts this season a lot of times with playing (defense) at a high level.

“We also have had games where we didn’t do it at a high level. Coming into the game, our goal was to see if we could play a good game for 40 minutes straight.”

“It was nice to see us lead with our defense,” Richey said. “I think our defense was better than it said analytically just due to the teams we’ve played.

“It was nice to see some of the defensive work we’ve been pouring in to pay off.”

It was a good game, not a great one. It was interesting, not spine-tingling. Furman (6-6) dominated the late first half and early second. PC’s Samage Teel tied the score with two free throws with 9:22 remaining in the first half, but the Paladins outscored the Hose, 21-10, over the remainder.

“We started out pretty well in terms of being able to go toe to toe with them,” Presbyterian head coach Quenton Ferrell stated. “We hit a snag (late in) the first half. We got good looks. We just couldn’t make anything.

“I knew, to win, we would have to play well offensively. … We did some good things offensively, but we just couldn’t put it in the basket.”

Hien opened the latter half by burying the only three-pointer he attempted, and after 3:49, Furman led, 49-31. The lead reached 22 with 6:48 to go.

Long-range shooting wasn’t a hallmark of either team. Presbyterian (7-6) canned 4/21 (.190) three-point field goals and Furman (5/27, .185) was even worse. Furman won on the boards, 41-37). PC had 10 turnovers, Furman eight.

The Paladins were 10 points off their scoring average. The Blue Hose fell 15 shy of their norm.

The Paladins executed an 11-0 run to open the second half. The Blue Hose scored eight straight to take its biggest lead, 13-9, on Kaleb Scott’s basket at the 13:40 mark of the opening half.

“We have opened the future,” Richey said. “I know this team can compete for a championship, and this team will compete, and they’re going to use all these experiences to push them ahead. It’s not that it’s going to be easy.

“We’re going to have to make a choice. We’re going to move forward, and every single one of our goals is ahead of us.”

The Paladins next host Anderson on Dec. 30. The Blue Hose must turn it around more quickly. They visit Wake Forest on Thursday at 3 p.m.

“We’ve got to learn and grow from it,” Ferrell said.

Take a look at the stats here.

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