Senior PJay Smith Jr. made preseason All-Southern Conference, and the Furman men’s basketball team was picked to finish fifth in polling of the league’s 10 head coaches.

Smith, a native of LaVergne, Tenn., averaged 10 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game while shooting .363 from three-point range in his first season with the Paladins.

The transfer from Lee University connected on six triples to score a season-high 23 points in a double-overtime loss at Tulane and scored 20 points in a non-conference win over South Carolina State. 

Samford, the defending SoCon champions, received six first-place votes and was picked to repeat as champion. Both Chattanooga and ETSU picked up two first-place votes and were selected to finish in second and third. Wofford, Furman, UNCG, Mercer, Western Carolina, The Citadel, and VMI rounded out the preseason poll.

The Paladins return three starters from a squad that posted a 17-16 overall record and finished fifth in the SoCon with a 10-8 mark.

 Furman opens its season on Sunday, Oct. 27, with a charity exhibition versus SEC power Auburn at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. The charity exhibition is included in the 2024-25 season ticket holder package.

Preseason Player of the Year
Trey Bonham, Sr., G, Chattanooga
 
Preseason All-Southern Conference
Quimari Peterson, Sr., G, ETSU

Jaden Seymour, R-Sr., F, ETSU

Pjay Smith, Sr., G, Furman

Donovan Atwell, So., G/F, UNCG
Collin Holloway, Sr., F, Samford 

Rylan Jones, Gr., G, Samford
Honor Huff, Jr., G, Chattanooga

Trey Bonham, Sr., G, Chattanooga 

Kyler Filewich, Sr., C, Wofford

Corey Tripp, Sr., G, Wofford

Tickets are sale for the charity exhibition against the nationally-ranked Auburn Tigers, set for 1 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 27.

Proceeds from the exhibition will benefit the Friends of Cleveland Park and the City of Greenville’s park restoration projects.

Furman will honor City of Greenville employees for their heroic efforts during Hurricane Helene. The storm caused flash floods, downed trees and damaged infrastructure.

The exhibition is included in the season-ticket package.  Single game tickets for the contest can be purchased for $15.

The Furman men’s basketball team opens its regular-season schedule on Monday, Nov. 4, when it welcomes Columbia International to the Well.

(Furman photo)

Defender Slade Starnes assisted both Furman goals in the opening 14 minutes to propel the Paladins to a 2-0 victory over Presbyterian on Tuesday evening at Martin Stadium in Clinton.

The Paladins (5-3-2) opened the scoring in the eighth minute when Starnes intercepted a Presbyterian pass in his own half and triggered the counter-attack with a long pass to Lloyd Wamu Snell. The Basingstoke, England, native beat his defender down the left wing and slotted a shot into the right-side netting at the 7:53 mark.

Six minutes later, Starnes won a long throw-in in the middle of the box and played a pass forward to Ivan Agyaakwah, who held off his defender before punching a shot past the PC goalkeeper while lying on the ground to double the Paladin lead at 13:03.

Furman’s defense dominated the match as the Paladins held Presbyterian to just one shot and no shots on goal. The Paladins compiled an 8-1 advantage in total shots and 5-0 margin in shots on target.

Sophomore Aaron Salinas earned the shutout in goal for Furman while Loan Marin made three saves in a losing effort for the Blue Hose (4-4-2).

Furman returns to Stone Soccer Stadium on Saturday at 7 p.m. to host the VMI Keydets for Senior Night.

Junior Harris Barth (+5) tied for sixth to lead the Paladins to a fifth-place finish Tuesday at the Qubein Cup, which was hosted by High Point at Sedgefield Golf Club in Greensboro, N.C.

A native of Atlanta, Ga., Barth notched three birdies on the front and turned at 2-under. He added a team-high fourth birdie on No. 15 to finish the day with a 72 and conclude the tournament eight strokes behind individual champion Camden Braidech (-3) of Chattanooga, who won the event by three strokes with scores of 66-71-70=207.

The Paladins placed two other players among the top 20, ijunior Clark Akers (+6), who finished 10th, and senior Will Morlan (+11), who tied for 20th.

Chattanooga (+18) won the tournament by seven strokes over runner-up Texas A&M (+25).  Nebraska (+31) took third, followed by Michigan (+32) and Furman (+37).

The Paladins conclude the fall season this weekend when they entertain 14 teams at the Furman Intercollegiate. Two rounds are slated for Saturday, beginning at 8:30 a.m. with the final round set for Sunday at 8:20.

Furman’s Reese DeJong is Southern Conference Women’s Soccer Defensive Player of the Week.

DeJong, a goalkeeper from Huntersville, N.C., notched a pair of shutouts to lead the Paladins to 1-0 victories over UNC Greensboro and ETSU. The freshman, making her first SoCon start, recorded four saves in Thursday night’s home victory over the Spartans before stopping six shots as Furman captured a 1-0 win in Johnson City, Tenn., versus the Bucs on Sunday afternoon.

Through 13 outings this season, DeJong has allowed only 12 goals in 13 matches and posted a 1.33 goals against average. She has compiled three shutouts and a 6-2-2 record in goal.

Furman returns to Stone Stadium to host Chattanooga in SoCon play on Thursday night. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

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