By MONTE DUTTON

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – A college basketball tournament has much in common with a living organism. Mostly new sets of fans file in and out, the Harrah’s Cherokee Center forever breathing with new life.
Sitting at my seat, often cracking wise with colleague John Hooper, I thought of an adventure movie, where an animated trail tracks a voyage, a line passing around Cape Horn, stopping at ports and archipelagos, encountering friendly and warlike natives.
Pep bands and cheerleaders take their shifts with the teams they represent, soundtracking the glee and sorrow.
One of the harder tasks in college basketball is holding a lead against Samford.

The Bulldogs are relentless. The press and trap and take their pursuit as far as the officials allow. Bucky McMillan’s teams work the corner like Greg Maddux with the hard heart of Bob Gibson.
Furman’s 95-78 victory over the Bulldogs on Saturday night was the Paladins’ third straight over the defending Southern Conference champions. I’m not too fond of the word “three-peat” because Furman (24-8) only repeated twice.
But, you know, it ain’t easy.

Nick Anderson (Furman photo)

Nick Anderson, Tom House and PJay Smith Jr. combined to score 71 points on 16/25 shooting from 3-point range to propel No. 5 seed Furman over fourth-seeded Samford (22-10) in the quarterfinal round of the Ingles SoCon Men’s Basketball Championship Saturday night.
Next the Paladins battle top seed Chattanooga, the only upper seed that won on Saturday. That’s at 4 p.m. No. 7 seed Virginia Military takes No. 6 Wofford in the second semifinal at 6:30 or thereabouts.
“I don’t think the seeds matter in this thing,” said Furman head coach Bob Richey. “It’s just a lot of talk, and fortunately, we have a group that just refused to listen.”

Samford, which, even while losing, engineered massive comebacks in its two regular-season losses to Furman, never led this one. One of the four ties was 0-0.
McMillan swore he wasn’t even that upset.
“I told my players in the locker room, ‘This is not a game that we lost,’ he said. “[Furman] just won it. They made great plays and great shots.”
No one who watched the SoCon season was overly surprised by the alleged upsets. VMI handed UNC Greensboro a first-round loss for the fourth straight year. Wofford, which lost to Furman by a point at the buzzer a week earlier, took care of business against East Tennessee State.

The Paladins roared to their fifth straight victory. Every time Samford posed a threat, Furman had an answer. It was impressive. The Bulldogs ask some well-crafted questions.
Furman led 65-62 with under 10 minutes remaining when Anderson’s triple ignited a 10-2 run to help the Paladins open a 75-64 advantage. That presaged a 13-4 spurt, capped by House’s sixth triple with 2:18 to play, to push the cushion to 88-69.

Often, no lead is safe against Samford. This one was.
Anderson paced the Paladins with 26 points on 6/9 shooting behind the arc while Smith added 24 points to go with four boards and a game-high nine assists. House drilled six of his seven three-point tries to amass 21 points, and Ben Vander Wal led all players with 10 rebounds.
“My teammates were able to find me tonight,” Anderson said, “and, thankfully, the shots just went in.

“I came out in the first half just knowing this could be my last game, last ride, so leave no doubt. … PJay and House, they’re both just killers. Everybody’s got confidence in them. Yeah, we played good.”
Everyone who touched the floor played well. Cooper Bowser was a malign presence in the lane, blocking four shots. Eight scored. Nine played. All nine had rebounds.

The Paladins shot .592 from the field and zeroed in on 17/29 three-point attempts to post its highest shooting percentage (.586) from long range versus an NCAA Division I opponent this season. The 17 three-point baskets were the most ever for the Paladins in postseason play.
No one was going to stop Furman on this night. The next test is against the SoCon’s great stalwart. Furman conquered the 2024 champion Saturday and was itself the ’23 titlist. The Mocs won in ’22 on the overtime bomb that lives in purple infamy.

While Furman defeated Samford three times, it lost both regular-season meetings to Chattanooga and split with Wofford and VMI. The prospects of Sunday and Monday would be more frightening if they weren’t so exciting.
Josh Holloway led Samford with 21 points while Jaden Brownell and Trey Fort added 16 and 11, respectively. The Bulldogs shot .468 from the field and 12/15 at the foul line but converted just 8/24 triples.
Furman led for 38:25 of the 40 minutes en route to its 12th victory in the last 15 series meetings. Furman reached the SoCon semifinals for the fourth consecutive year and recorded 24 victories for the fourth time in program history.

“We’ve been counted out … probably mid-January … and we’re one of four left, and I don’t guarantee anything, but, man, these guys fought tonight,” said Richey.
Furman has become the SoCon’s irresistible force. Chattanooga, also 24-8, is its immovable object. The Mocs of Dan Earl have won a mere 12 straight games. Their workmanlike 76-61 destruction of Mercer was not unlike Furman’s triumph.

“All across the board, everything worked,” Richey said. “Adversity requires your best. A lot of times, when you get broken, you have to find your best, and that’s why adversity can be a great teacher. These guys just never quit.”
Take a look at the stats here.
Recovery Man was as spent as the teams. I can walk but not far. I wandered aimlessly in search of my truck in the parking garage. Maybe I’ll leave bread crumbs today.

Words can ill express my appreciation for the assistance I’ve been getting from lifelong friends and acquaintances in regard to my health struggles. I am deeply touched at the concern of people I’ve known for most of my life.
The coming months will bring more change, and I don’t know yet what shape it will take.

From time to time, I have thought it a shame that people don’t often know what others think of them while they are alive. I’ve had a rough go of it recently, but I know that others respect, appreciate and support me.
Thanks for reading my stories, overlooking my flaws and indulging our differences.
My books, most of them fiction, are available at Amazon and on other bookseller sites. I’ve written two novels about stock-car racing, Lightning in a Bottle, and the sequel, Life Gets Complicated, both about fictional young driver Barrie Jarman.
Thanks for putting up with me.