By MONTE DUTTON

A nice man working the Columbia College-Presbyterian men’s basketball game – noon on Education Day at Clinton’s Templeton Center on Wednesday – befriended me. We had a chat in the parking lot, where he was guarding the staff lot near the back door.
I usually like the men and women who work “events.”
As I walked toward the door, he asked me if I was from Boston because I was wearing a Red Sox hoody. I answered when I opened my mouth but explained that my old man’s hero was Ted Williams and I grew up with Carl Yastrzemski.

My dad was fond of the phrase “they ever was.” The Splendid Splinter,” to him, was “the greatest hero they ever was.” Several times a day, he heard “the funniest thing they ever was.” Jimmy Dutton loved Williams, Johnny Unitas, telling tales, auctioneering and vodka. He loved his wife and family, too, but he sure was hard on his two sons. His two daughters could get away with anything.
Anyway, I knew the Blue Hose would thump the Koalas, fielding a men’s team for the first time. I mainly drove over to take photos, mostly for file purposes. PC led 16-2 and 23-5 and wound up winning, 97-57. I’d seen enough by halftime. He was in from the cold by then, standing in the wings, and I stopped to chat on the way out.

He said he’d worked the Princeton-Furman game and added that he thought the Blue Hose were better than the Paladins. I told him I watched Furman-Princeton on TV, on account of a dead battery that cost $200 to replace, and I did not agree.
“I think Princeton is a whole lot better than Columbia College,” I said.
What he didn’t know was that I went to Furman and was bound to belabor the point.

Niveya Henley scored 19 points to propel Furman to its fifth consecutive victory with a 68-50 triumph over UNC Asheville in women’s basketball on Wednesday evening at Kimmel Arena in Asheville.
The triumph improves Furman to 9-3 on the season and marked the Paladins’ eighth straight triumph over UNC Asheville, which falls to 1-8 with the loss.
Henley, a junior guard, connected on 7/14 shots from the field, including 3/6 from 3-point range, as well as a pair of free throws, to front Furman’s attack. She also contributed nine rebounds, four assists, and a steal in 28 minutes of action.
Kate Johnson followed with 12 points and 10 rebounds for her fourth double double of the season, and Jada Session contributed 11 points and five boards over 18 minutes in only her second game back from an injury that sidelined her in the preseason and for the Paladins’ first 10 games.

Henley scored seven of Furman’s 16 first quarter points to help the Paladins grab a 16-6 lead after one period, and she tallied eight points in the third quarter, aided by a pair of 3-pointers, as Furman built a 55-31 advantage.
UNC Asheville scored the first 12 points of the fourth quarter while Paladin head coach Pierre Curtis went deep into his bench.
Furman connected on 24/58 shots (.414) in the game and matched its season rebounding differential with a 44-33 edge over the Bulldogs.
Both teams committed 22 turnovers.
Lalmani Simmons tied Henley for game-high scoring honors with 19 points.
The Paladins take a break for final exams before returning to action next Wednesday when they travel to Seattle, Wash., to face Boise State in the University of Washington Husky Classic. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. EST.

Take a look at the stats here.

Women’s basketball assistant coach Dr. Ashley Johnson has been selected to participate in the 2025 Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Next Generation Institute.
Now in its third year, the Next Generation Institute is a high-level education program for experienced assistant coaches who aspire to become head coaches at the NCAA Division I, II and III levels. The curriculum focuses on the CEO attributes needed to lead a program and be a problem-solver in today’s ever-changing landscape of higher education and the enterprise of intercollegiate athletics.

Furman head coach Pierre Curtis was selected to the Institute’s charter class in 2022.
A former collegiate star at LSU, Johnson was a team co-captain during her junior and senior seasons. She helped lead the Tigers to a 125-21 record, three SEC regular season championships and four consecutive Final Four appearances. She earned her bachelor’s degree in marketing with a minor in sports studies and later completed her Master of Business Administration, both from LSU.

Furman goalkeeper Aaron Salinas has been selected to the United Soccer Coaches All-South Region third team.
Salinas, a native of Grand Prairie, Texas, guided the Paladins to a 9-4-6 record, Southern Conference Tournament title, and NCAA second-round appearance, earning SoCon Goalkeeper of the Year honors. The sophomore started all 19 matches in goal for the Paladins while fashioning a 1.03 goals-against average.

The men’s soccer coaching staff is United Soccer Coaches South Region Staff of the Year.
Head coach Doug Allison and his staff, which includes associate head coach Bret Boulware, associate head coach/recruiting coordinator Brandon Tucker and volunteer assistant coach Charlie Arndt, guided the Paladins to a 9-4-6 record and the Southern Conference Tournament title. The Paladin staff also includes assistant director of sports performance Joe Novotasky, athletic trainer Jeremy Page and administrative assistant Shannon Dobbin.
Allison, who completed his 30th season as Furman head coach, ranks 11th among active Division I men’s head coaches with 349 career victories and has guided the Paladins to 11 SoCon regular season titles, 10 tournament crowns, and 10 NCAA Tournament bids.
Three home tournaments at Pepsi Stadium and 10 games against 2024 NCAA Tournament teams highlight the Furman softball schedule.

The Paladins are set to play 27 games at Pepsi Stadium this season, including games against NCAA Tournament participants USC Upstate, Charlotte and Chattanooga. Furman opens its season hosting South Carolina State, UT Martin, Stonehill, and Evansville in the Paladin Invitational Feb. 6-9 before facing Lipscomb, Harvard and Georgia Southern in Statesboro, Ga., the following weekend.
Take a look at the schedule here.

The SoCon Softball Championship is scheduled to take place May 7-10 in Spartanburg.
Furman’s Dylan Schubert and Kaylie Armitage are Southern Conference men’s and women’s indoor track athletes of the week.
The Paladin duo competed at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener at Boston University on Saturday.
A senior from Loveland, Colo,. Schubert finished fifth with a time of 13:17.89, crushing the former Furman record of 13:29.95, which he set last season. Schubert’s time ranks fifth nationally.

Armitage, a senior from Exeter, R.I., competed in the 3,000 meters, where she won her heat and placed 32nd overall with a personal-best time of 9:14.06.

“Every mile or so a sign proclaimed that Christ was coming soon, and I thought, well, man, He’d sure be disappointed if He did.” – Tom T. Hall, “Trip to Hyden”
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Times are changing. I am aware of how irrelevant what I do for a living has become and thus how unimportant my efforts are. The readers appreciate them, but there aren’t enough of them. I doubt there ever will be again.
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Most of the protagonists in my novels are combinations of memories and observations. Duh. I am fascinated by likeable rogues. I knew a lot of them in NASCAR. The result is my only two novels that are related to each other, Lightning in a Bottle and Life Gets Complicated, both published in 2017.
Photo galleries are posted on Instagram @furmanatt and @laurenscountysports.
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