Auburn is ranked 11^th in the country entering men’s basketball season. The Tigers’ 83-62 victory over Furman was no surprise.

It was, however, a charity exhibition at Bon Secours Wellness Arena on Sunday afternoon, so it didn’t matter much.

J.P. Pegues returned. That mattered. In 11 first-half minutes, he neither scored a point nor handed out an assist. He grabbed four rebounds. He missed two shots, one a three-pointer. In the full game, he had two points, six rebounds and an assist.

Johni Broome totaled 18 points and 14 rebounds to lead five Tigers in double figures in front of a crowd of 4,017.

Auburn led at halftime, 36-29. Both teams shot atrociously, which may have meant both defended ferociously. Either way, the Tigers hit 10/25 (.286) field goals and the Paladins 8/23 (.348). The three-point percentages were .214 and .308, respectively. Auburn won the boards, 24-19.

Charles Johnston, the 6-11 junior from Sydney, Australia, and Cal State Monterey, easily led the Paladins with 10 first-half points, ending up with 12.

The Tigers, who shot 57 percent from the field in the second half, used a 17-1 run midway through the final period to turn a 57-48 lead into a 74-49 advantage on Jahki Howard’s basket with 6:07 to play.

Auburn outscored the Paladins 50-22 in the paint and turned 20 offensive rebounds into 19 second-chance points on the afternoon. Broome connected on 6/15 field goal attempts and all six of his free throws to lead the Tigers in scoring while Tahaad Pettiford and Chad Baker-Mazara added 13 points apiece. Chaney Johnson and Howard rounded out Auburn’s double-figure scorers with 10 each.

Graduate transfer Nick Anderson paced the Paladins with 19 points on 4/8 shooting behind the arc. Junior Ben VanderWal tallied 14 and pulled down six rebounds.

Furman grabbed a 27-26 lead on Johnston’s triple with 2:33 left in the first half before Auburn finished on a 10-2 run. Nick Anderson drilled back-to-back threes to pull the Paladins within five at 46-41 with 14:42 remaining, but the Tigers outscored Furman 29-8 over the next nine minutes to secure the victory.

Auburn shot .429 for the game and connected on 19/25 foul shots. Furman made good on .362 of its field goal attempts and 22/31 free throws.

The Paladins open the regular season on Monday, Nov. 4, at the Well when they host Columbia International for a 7 p.m. tip.

Take a look at the stats here.

Furman returns nine players from last season’s squad, including four who had at least 10 starts.

If the above phrasing sounds a bit suspect, the Paladins lost four of their top five scorers – Pegues, Marcus Foster, Alex Williams and Carter Whitt – to the transfer protocol.

Picked fifth in preseason polling of the Southern Conference’s head coaches, the Paladins welcome the return of preseason All-SoCon selection PJay Smith Jr., along with forwards Garrett Hien, Tyrese Hughey and Ben VanderWal.

Over the past seven seasons under head coach Bob Richey, Furman has posted a 156-70 overall record, an 88-35 SoCon mark and five 20-win seasons. The Paladins claimed the 2023 SoCon regular season and tournament titles before shocking No. 4 seed Virginia in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. Last season’s team was 17-16 and finished in a tie for fourth place in the SoCon at 10-8.

Bon Secours Wellness Arena is the site of most home games while Timmons Arena is undergoing a $40 million renovation. Furman sports a 9-9 all-time record at the Well, with three straight victories.

Sophomore Audrey Ryu (-2) tied for fifth Sunday to lead the Furman women’s golf team in the final round of the 22nd Annual Landfall Tradition, hosted by UNC Wilmington at Dye Course at the Country Club of Landfall in Wilmington.

A native of Dublin, Ohio, Ryu finished four strokes behind individual medalists Lauren Olivares Leon (-6) of N.C. State and Lottie Woad (-6) of Florida State, who each posted three-round totals of 210.  

No. 11 Florida State (-2) won the tournament by one stroke over No. 20 Duke (-2).  No. 13 North Carolina (+1) finished third, and No. 18 Ole Miss (+2) took fourth place. Furman (+37) finished 15th. 

The Landfall Tradition concludes the 2024 fall season for the Paladins.  Furman will open the spring season at the Lady Puerto Rico Classic, Feb., 2-4, in Rio Grande, P.R.

Furman and East Tennessee State played to a 1-1 draw in Southern Conference men’s soccer action Saturday night at Summers-Taylor Stadium in Johnson City.

With the deadlock, ETSU moved to 5-5-4 on the year and maintained its lead in the SoCon regular season title race with a 3-0-1 league mark. Furman, 7-3-3 overall, fell into a second-place tie with UNCG at 2-1-1.

The Paladins gained the upper hand in the first half on freshman Wilfer Bustamante’s goal in the 26^th minute. Lloyd Wamu Snell delivered a throw in that was won by Slade Starnes and flicked on to Bustamante for the finish.

The Bucs rallied in the second half when Gabriel Ramos found the back of the net off a Louie Salkeld assist at the 57:09 mark.

Furman attempted five shots over the final 32 minutes but could not challenge ETSU goalkeeper Marc Kouadio. The Bucs put two late shots on goal only to be denied by Furman’s Aaron Salinas.

The SoCon regular-season title and seeding for the SoCon Men’s Soccer Championship will be decided on the final match day of the regular season next Saturday. Furman hosts Mercer, ETSU visits UNCG and Wofford takes on VMI. ETSU can clinch the title and No. 1 seed with a win or tie in Greensboro, N.C. The Spartans can take the regular season championship and No. 1 seed with a win over the Bucs.

The Paladins can earn a share of the crown with a victory over Mercer and ETSU loss, but cannot earn the No. 1 seed.

Makayla Bays and Reese Rhodes both finished with double-doubles on Friday evening to lift East Tennessee State to a 3-1 (25-20, 15-25, 14-25, 22-25) victory over Furman Paladins at Alley Gymnasium.
Furman drops to 8-10 overall and 2-5 in the SoCon. East Tennessee State improves to 12-8 and 4-4.
Ashley Stein guided the Paladins offensively with nine kills while Izzy Castelloe provided eight and Ava Augustson seven. Emily Navarro and Quinn Morrissey combined for 25 assists and 16 digs. Kennedy Seekford tied for a match high with 15 digs.

Furman travels to Johnson City, Tenn., on Tuesday to face East Tennessee State at 6 p.m.

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