By MONTE DUTTON

The Furman Paladins have had their ups and downs, highs and lows, and wins and losses in an exciting, if erratic, ongoing defense of their Southern Conference championship in men’s basketball.

Knock on wood. Or, at least, dribble across it and bury a three.

Prospects have never seemed better this season than right now, as Furman (16-13, 10-6 SoCon) visits Western Carolina (20-9, 9-7) for a 7 p.m., ESPNU-televised game at Liston B. Ramsey Regional Center in Cullowhee, N.C. The campuses are 96 miles apart via the most efficient driving route.

“This group was 6-9 at one point,” noted head coach Bob Richey on Monday. “A lot of people wrote this group off, and this group has won 10 of 14 since that point.

“They have put themselves in position, where nobody in this league knows who’s going to win the tournament, but everybody knows that we’ve got a shot at it.

“That’s where you’ve got to be at the end of the [season]. This team had every reason to pack this thing up early, and if we had listened to all the noise and all the bantering, guess what we would’ve done?”

Presumably, “pack this thing up early,” which they didn’t.

“We’ve had guys emerge, guys grow, and growth is not always easy,” Richey said. “Growth comes a lot of times in bad situations. This team does not quit.

“This is the most proud I’ve been of a team in (his) seven seasons. … What I’ve got to do as a leader is continue to teach them that the biggest thing to take from sports to life is the ability to respond.”

First things first, of course. Every coach knows that games cannot be played two at a time. Furman isn’t going to open the Southern Conference Tournament, where they are likely to play the Catamounts again, until a week from Saturday, March 9, at Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, the SoCon promised land.

Next is Western, which Furman defeated at Timmons Arena, 65-62, on Jan. 20. The regular-season finale on Saturday, which also brings down the Timmons curtain until 2025-26, is against upwardly mobile Mercer (14-15, 7-9), which has knocked off three of the SoCon’s top four teams – Samford, UNC Greensboro and Furman – on its home floor and visits the fourth, Chattanooga, on Wednesday.

The path to the tournament title has not gotten any easier, but the road is less rocky than the one the Paladins have traveled to this point.

Furman lost by near-miracles at Princeton and Tulane and by shock to Division II Anderson at home. They played several early SoCon games with the first-, second- and third-leading scorers, and briefly all three, out with injuries. Alex Williams returned on Saturday after serving a three-game suspension.

At long last, all the Spacely Sprockets and Cogswell Cogs – you’re welcome for the obscure Jetsons reference – are in working order. The Paladins look powerful under the hood figuratively and literally on the court. Defense has improved dramatically. The ball is moving and finding the hands of good shooters taking quality shots. Furman has won four of its last five, and the loss, 74-72 at Samford last week, was an otherwise stirring performance gone horribly wrong in the final 45 seconds.

In conference play, Furman is 7-1 at home but only 3-5 on the road. Western is 5-3 at home and 4-4 away from Cullowhee.

In Vonterius Woolbright, a senior from Albany, Ga., the Catamounts have an imposing presence inside with the versatility to score and rebound in a range of skillful ways. Five players scored in double figures – Woolbright had only 11 – in Saturday’s 84-51 win at league doormat VMI.

Woolbright leads the Catamounts and the SoCon with averages of 21.9 points and 12.1 rebounds. Tre Jackson averages 13.4 points, Russell Jones Jr. 12.4 and D.J. Campbell 12.0.

Western Carolina averages 76 points and gives up 68. Furman scores 79 and allows 75.

Three Paladins – Marcus Foster (18.0), J.P. Pegues (17.3) and Williams (14.0) – score in double figures, with PJay Smith (9.9) headed there. Foster leads in rebounds (7.5), Pegues in assists (123), Williams in three-point shooting (.406), Carter Whitt (39) in steals and freshman Cooper Bowser in blocks (20).

With two games to go in the regular season, Furman holds sole possession of fourth place in the league standings. The Paladins trail Chattanooga and UNC Greensboro by one game while maintaining a one-game edge on the Catamounts.

The midweek road trip marks the 86^th all-time meeting between the Paladins and Catamounts, with Furman holding a 55-30 series lead. The Paladins have won three straight versus the Catamounts and 16 of the last 17 meetings.

In the first clash, Pegues drained a three from the top of the key with 0.8 seconds remaining to lift Furman to a 65-62 victory. Pegues led Furman with 17 points, Foster posted 14 points and nine rebounds, and Alex Williams secured a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Western Carolina’s lone victory in the last 17 meetings, a 79-67 decision last season in Cullowhee, snapped a six-game Paladin winning streak at Ramsey Center.

“Our team’s really showing some growth in this last stretch,” Richey said. “If you look at us from the ETSU game in Johnson City to now, look at it analytically and compare the numbers of where we are to where we were, it’s very clear that this is our best ball of the [season].”

I can’t express my gratitude enough for your contributions.

Blue, Green, Purple & Red cannot solely be funded by advertising. There’s not enough room. If you like the coverage, please donate whatever you consider appropriate via Venmo at DHK Sports. If you choose, make a monthly donation via Patreon. The Laurens County site is here. The Furman site is here.

Support the advertisers. They are all fine people who appreciate my attempts to restore coverage of local sports.

In the off chance you’d like to read my novels and other books, they’re available on Amazon and many prominent bookseller sites.

Photo galleries are posted on Instagram @furmanatt and @laurenscountysports.

Thanks for your support.