By MONTE DUTTON

When a team gets off to a fast start, it cultivates a sense of destiny. No amount of adversity is too difficult to overcome.
On Saturday at Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Furman lost leading scorer PJay Smith Jr. to a shoulder injury in the first half, sat out Charles Johnston to rest a balky knee for the Southern Conference schedule and trailed for most of the game, but the Paladins found a way to defeat South Carolina State, 68-64, in men’s basketball.
Cooper Bowser, a 6-11 sophomore from Woodbridge, Va., led the way with 16 points. Nick Anderson and Eddrin Bronson each added 11.

It looked as if the team said, collectively, They’re giving us hell, fellas, but we’re gonna figure something out.
“Last year’s team won 17 games, but you know what? This year’s team has learned a lot from last year’s team,” Furman head coach Bob Richey said. “We didn’t feel like we had the connection, the chemistry, the care for one another that we need to be a great team.
“We were a talented team. We weren’t really as connected a team as this one.”
The Bulldogs were, and are, primed for an upset. S.C. State has had near-upsets in three of its past four games. The Bulldogs upended Charleston Southern, 82-63 on Monday night. Before that, they fell to No. 22 Xavier, 71-68, and defending SoCon champion Samford, 88-81.

“I knew this was going to be a hard game,” said Richey. “We’re sitting in the middle of finals. This was a hard date. We didn’t want to make excuses, but we knew this was a fight and talked about it before.
“I think this group, based on their trust and their care, I think they believe.”
Furman (10-1) rallied from a five-point deficit in the final 3:30. It marked the third straight game in which Furman claimed the win after trailing by at least five points in the second half.

With the Paladins trailing 58-53 and under four minutes to play, Tom House made the first of two foul shots before Ben VanderWal grabbed an offensive board on his second attempt. House drew a three-shot foul and converted on all three attempts to trim the South Carolina State advantage to one point at 58-57.
After the Bulldogs came up empty on their next possession and Furman and South Carolina State traded turnovers, Nick Anderson scored on a driving layup to give the Paladins the lead with 2:18 to go, their first lead since holding a 12-10 advantage with under 12:30 left in the first half.

Omar Croskey put South Carolina State back in front with a layup, but Anderson responded with a 3-pointer to give Furman a 62-60 lead with 1:24 left. Davion Everett’s jump in the paint knotted the game once again, but Furman grabbed the lead for good on its next possession on House’s basket at the rim with 35.5 seconds remaining.
Furman’s defense denied the Bulldogs the next time down the floor, and Davis Molnar and Anderson combined to connect on 4/4 free throws in the final 11 seconds to seal the victory.

The Paladins shot .600 (15/25) from the field in the second half and .512 from the floor for the game while holding a 34-30 edge on the glass. Furman’s defense limited South Carolina State to .383 shooting, .357 over the final 20 minutes.
Bowser went 7/7 from the field to pace the Paladins with 16 points while Anderson and Eddrin Bronson added 11 apiece. Ben Vander Wal pulled down a team-high nine rebounds and Bowser matched a career-best with four blocked shots.

Four fouls hung over Bowser in the stretch drive.
“Coach (Richey) told me, ‘we need you in there,’ ‘we can’t have you foul out,’ ‘we need you at the end’,” Bowser said.
Drayton Jones led South Carolina State (5-7) with 15 points. Croskey scored 13 while Everett posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards.

South Carolina State held the Paladins to 7/18 shooting in the first half and used an 18-5 run midway through the opening 20 minutes to build a 26-17 lead. Furman trimmed the margin to three points, but the Bulldogs held the Paladins without a field goal over the final 3:20 of the half to take a 33-26 lead into the locker room.
“They took us out of what we were doing a little bit,” said House, who had nine points, an assist and a steal. “We had to find different things, whether attacking the press … or using different sets that need that pressure.
“They played a very tough style of basketball.”

Furman won in spite of abysmal three-point shooting. The Paladins splashed 4/18 (.235). Smith popped the only one he tried but wasn’t around in the second half. Bronson hit a third (2/6), which was the Bulldogs’ norm (6/18).
Furman closes out its non-conference home schedule on Wednesday at 7 p.m. when it hosts Montreat at Bob Jones University’s Davis Field House. Afterwards, the Paladins do not play another home game until Jan. 11 when Wofford visits the Well.
The Paladins’ first three SoCon games are on the road.

Take a look at the stats here.
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