By MONTE DUTTON

SPARTANBURG – When Furman plays Wofford, basketball is like a box of chocolates. One never knows what one is going to get.

Oh, wait, it’s more than basketball. A football game comes to mind.

The Terriers made a gooey mess of the Paladins, 77-67, in front of an estimated 3,500 at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium on Saturday evening. Wofford (12-9, 5-3 Southern Conference) led from Jackson Sivills’ three-pointer 26 seconds into the game until the final horn sounded.

Furman (11-10, 5-3) played hard and fast. Mostly too hard and too fast. They were out of sorts and whack, off kilter and in trouble from the opening tap. When they fell behind, they got out of rhythm, each player looking as if he was trying to win it by himself.

“It was more energy,” said Furman head coach Bob Richey. “I thought [Wofford] had the right energy and probably played harder than we did. They had a crowd, and you know, everyone comes to the Furman game, and they had a lot of people here, and the place was juiced. I thought they fed off that juice.

“Unfortunately, I thought it really discombobulated us.”

Turns out it was chocolates and juice.

“I thought we were ready to roll,” Richey added. “You could feel it early. They had more energy than we did.”

The Paladins shot as poorly overall (18/58, .310) as they did from behind the three-point line (11/35, .314).

The Terriers shot .261 from behind the stripe but .590 (23/39) within it. That’s the way shooting numbers typically line up. Shots are thought to be easier as the range gets closer.

Wofford corralled the Furman misfires by a margin of 47-37 overall and 15-12 on the offensive boards.

Corey Tripp scored 20 points and passed out five assists for the Terriers. Kyle Filewich posted 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Sivills added 14.

“We love the points, but for Corey (Tripp) and Jackson (Sivills), the impact is beyond the box score,” said Wofford head coach Dwight Perry. “Obviously, the points are important, but those guys’ toughness and their energy are just infectious.

“When we’re playing the way we are capable of playing and were tonight, honestly, we’re one of the better teams, and we can beat anybody that we play. And, so, it was great to see.”

The loss snapped Furman’s five-game winning streak and ended Wofford’s two-game skid.

Furman missed 12 of its first 14 shots and spotted the Terriers a 25-15 head start. Then Marcus Foster, J.P. Pegues and Alex Williams keyed a 12-4 spurt with three-pointers and the Paladins pulled within two points twice (29-27 and 31-29) with 3:30 and 1:36 remaining in the first half.

It looked momentarily as if the Paladins would take the game over. Foster and Pegues each had turnovers and the Terriers scored the final eight points of the first half on two buckets apiece by Filewich and Dillon Bailey.

“You look at the start of the game and the finish of the first half. That’s what got us,” Richey said.

Wofford kept pushing as the second half began, outpointing the Paladins 11-6 to take a 50-35 lead.

Furman played sporadically all game long. PJay Smith spurred a 12-2 run that brought the Paladins within five points with 11 minutes left, but Anthony Arrington scored five straight points on a 12-2 Wofford run.

Wofford outscored the Paladins 46-14 in the paint. The Terriers won for the eighth time at home in nine dates.

Filewich, a junior Southern Illinois transfer from Winnipeg, Manitoba, was almost automatic, hitting 8/9 shots.

Furman knocked down 11 three-pointers in the loss and scored 20 second-chance points off 12 offensive boards, but managed just seven two-point field goals.

Seven two-pointers! Easy to recite. Williams and Smith each hit two. Foster, Pegues and Ben Vander Wall hit one apiece. The Paladins scored the most common of the game’s means of scoring about once every 5 minutes, 45 seconds.

Foster finished with 22 points and 10 boards — his third double-double in the last four games — while Williams and Pegues each finished with 15 points. Smith scored 11.

“We talked about defensing Furman,” Perry said. “We wanted to play with energy. We wanted to play with toughness, especially on the defensive end.

“We just felt if we could be aggressive and be tough on the defensive end, and do it together while being connected, it would give us a great shot to win.”

Richey said, “No excuses at all. This was such a huge game.”

Furman goes from one chamber of horrors to another on Wednesday as it visits The Citadel at McAlister Fieldhouse in Charleston at 7 p.m.

Take a look at the stats here.

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