CHARLESTON – For a half, Furman died by the three-point shot. For another half plus, the Paladins lived by it.

The result? An 82-79, overtime victory Wednesday night over The Citadel that was ripped from the jaws of defeat in front of the kind of raucous McAlister Fieldhouse crowd (4,117) that perennially greets the Paladins when they make their appointed round.

“The thing was wall to wall,” Furman head coach Bob Richey said on post-game radio. “We must have made the whole school come out here. That’s the best crowd I’ve ever seen in this place. I thought it kind of rattled us at first. It had us a little bit startled.”

In the final 15 seconds of overtime, The Citadel missed three necessarily long attempts, trailing by three.

Marcus Foster compiled 17 points, a career-best 15 rebounds and career-high seven assists to notch his fourth double-double in five games since returning from injury. Pegues totaled 16 points and Smith netted 15 points on 4/8 shooting from three. Alex Williams added 12 points for the Paladins, who shot 47% from the field and went 9-for-11 at the foul line.

It was an escape from Charleston that Harry Houdini would have envied.

“We really learned from that loss at Wofford,” Foster said on radio. “We really learned to rely on our teammates and to strengthen our connection.

“We never lost the faith. We knew it was going to be a tough fight.

One lesson the Bulldogs learned: If J.P. Pegues misses a shot with a game on the line, do not give him another.

Pegues drained a game-tying three-pointer with under a second left in regulation and Furman held The Citadel to 1/8 shooting in overtime to rally for a victory that seemed unlikely. The Bulldogs led by 18 points in the first half and 15 in the second.

Elijah Morgan, The Citadel’s 6-1 grad transfer guard from New Orleans, La., by way of Notre Dame, tortured the Paladins with 22 first-half points … and 24 overall.

The Paladins missed their first three triples, but Carter Whitt broke the ice with a nifty assist to Pegues in the lane. The Bulldogs built a 7-2 lead anyway, and Furman (12-10, 6-3 SoCon) began 1/7 from the field.

At the 6:58 mark, The Citadel stretched its lead to 28-18. Morgan hit four of his first six three-point attempts, and an A.J. Smith basket stretched the Bulldogs’ lead to 33-20 and led Furman to call timeout at 5:34. Morgan had 17 and Smith 10 while Williams led the Paladins with seven. Furman missed nine of its first 10 triple attempts but was 19/24 inside the arc with three minutes remaining in the first half.

Pegues missed triples on three consecutive possessions, and Furman, as a team, fell to 1/13 from deep.

Morgan’s three-pointer briefly put The Citadel up by 18, but Alex Williams popped a three, his and Furman’s second, and Pegues finally hit one, and the lead was down to 12, 42-30, at halftime. Williams had 10, Pegues seven, for Furman in the first half.

Brown got his third foul with 17:09 remaining, and Foster’s two free throws brought Furman momentarily within 10 at 48-38. Smith’s drive down the lane brought Furman within seven, 50-43, with 16:09 left, and Ed Conroy called a timeout after Furman scored 13 of the latter half’s first 21 points. After a 1/12 start, Furman hit five of its next six triples.

Furman took its first lead of the game, 58-56 on a Carter Whtt layup, off Foster’s assist, with 7:44 left. The Dogs were in serious foul trouble, and Furman led 28-14 in the second half.

Davis’s triple put The Citadel back up, 61-58.

The Paladins faced a 72-69 deficit with under 25 seconds to play and The Citadel’s Madison Durr headed to the foul line. The guard missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity, but Pegues missed a three with 10 second to go and the Paladins were forced to foul again.

Quentin Millora-Brown missed his one-and-one chance with under eight seconds left and Furman pushed the ball to Pegues on the right wing. The junior created space and nailed the game-tying triple with 0.8 left to force overtime.

After the Bulldogs and Paladins traded a pair of free throws in overtime, PJay Smith drained a three to put Furman in front. The Citadel made 1/2 at the line on the next possession before Marcus Foster converted a three-point play in the paint with 1:54 on the clock to up the Furman lead to 80-75.

The Paladins’ bench outscored The Citadel 33-2 and Furman managed a 17-7 advantage on points off turnovers.

A.J. Smith and Morgan finished with 24 points apiece for the Bulldogs, but Morgan tallied just two free throws over the final 25 minutes after scoring 22 first-half points. Keynan Davis scored 15 points and Millora-Brown posted 12.

The Citadel (9-13, 1-8) hit five threes in the first half and shot .594 to build a 42-24 lead before Furman hit two triples to cut the margin to 42-30 at the break. The Bulldogs shot .476 from the field and .368 from behind the arc but connected on just 2/11 threes after halftime.

A pair of triples by Smith and a Ben VanderWal three helped Furman trim the deficit to single digits in the second half. Furman took its first lead with under eight minutes to go on a Carter Whitt layup and the schools traded the advantage five times before Pegues’ game-tying three at the end of regulation.

The win marked Furman’s 15^th over The Citadel in the last 17 meetings.

“We led for three minutes and 48 seconds,” Richey said. “Sometimes that’s how you have to win. We haven’t been at our best on the road, and we had to answer that bell.

Furman returns home on Sunday to celebrate “Hall of Fame Weekend” when it hosts UNC Greensboro in a nationally televised showdown at Timmons Arena. Sunday’s tip-off is at 2 p.m. and the game will air live on ESPNU.

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