Furman’s PJay Smith Jr. is a finalist for the Lou Henson Award, which is given annually to the top mid-major men’s basketball player in the country.

Smith, a native of LaVergne, Tenn., averaged 18 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game this season while guiding the Paladins to a 25-9 record and an appearance in the Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Championship finals. Named first team all-tournament this past weekend, he poured in 25.3 points, grabbed 5.3 rebounds, and dished out 6.3 assists per game in three contests in Asheville, including scoring 27 points in Monday’s championship loss versus Wofford.

The Paladins’ point guard ranks fifth in the nation in three-point makes per game (3.44), sixth in total three-point baskets (110) and 25^th in three-point shooting percentage (.421). He led the SoCon in free throw percentage at .864 and made good on all 25 of his trips to the charity stripe in the postseason to run his streak of consecutive made free throws to 43.

In two seasons with the Paladins after transferring from NCAA Division II Lee University, Smith scored 904 points, pulled down 244 rebounds, and totaled 186 assists. He earned first team All-SoCon honors as a senior this season while ranking second in the league in scoring.

The Lou Henson Award honors former Illinois and New Mexico State head coach, Lou Henson, who won 775 games in 41 seasons on the sideline. The recipient of the annual award is determined by a 10-member voting committee, which consists of current and former head coaches, as well as two senior staff members of collegeinsider.com. This season’s award will be announced in San Antonio, TX, site of the men’s Division I Basketball Championship.

Furman graduate guard Tate Walters and senior forward Jada Session have been named to the women’s basketball Southern Conference All-Tournament Team.
Both players were second-team selections.
Walters scored a combined 29 points in the Paladins’ two tournament contests, including 10 points in a 64-58 quarterfinal round win over East Tennessee State and 19 in Friday’s 63-55 loss to Chattanooga. Session, meanwhile, tallied a double double with 13 points and 11 rebounds in the victory over ETSU, while tallying seven points and 10 rebounds versus Chattanooga.

The all-tournament scroll was the third for Walters, who landed first-team honors in 2022 and second team in 2024. Session’s pick was the first of her career.
Walters, a 5-foot-9, Buford, Ga., product, paced Furman in scoring (12.5 ppg) and assists (119) this season and finished with 1,268 points, good for 14th in program history, and with 453 assists, second all-time.
She twice earned All-SoCon honors and was a multiple SoCon Academic Honor Roll and SoCon All-Academic Team selection. She captured the league’s Ann Lashley Inspiration Award in 2024 and successfully battling back from a torn Achilles tendon injury that sidelined her for the 2022-23 campaign.

Session, a 6-foot-1 native of Locust Grove, Ga., also enjoyed a solid career as a Paladin, scoring 902 points and claiming 677 rebounds, the 10th most in Furman history. A 2023-24 All-SoCon pick, she missed the first 10 games of the 2024-25 season due to injury but proved to be a major contributor upon her return, averaging 10.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game over the Paladins’ final 22 contests.
Walters earned her undergraduate degree in communications from Furman in the spring of 2023 and will soon be accorded a master’s degree in strategic design. Session is a psychology major who will graduate this spring.

Senior Will Morlan (-2) shot a 71 to tie for 10th to lead the Paladin men’s golf team Tuesday in the final round of the Seminole Intercollegiate, which was hosted by Florida State at the par 70, 6,816-yard Glen Arven Country Club in Thomasville, Ga.
A native of Alpharetta, Ga., Morlan teed off on the back nine and birdied No. 13 to turn at even par. He added additional birdies on No. 2 and No. 7 on the front to finish in a three-way tie for tenth place. Luke Clanton (-15) of Florida State won the individual title by five strokes with a three-round total of 64-66-65=195.

Senior Trey Diehl (+5) also carded a 71 on Monday. He posted birdies on No. 11 and No. 14 to tie for 34th, while junior Harris Barth (+6) fired a 1-under 69 to pace Furman in round three. Barth played a virtually flawless round with birdies on No. 4 and No. 7, tying for 42nd.
Host Florida State (-23) won the tournament by 12 strokes over Troy (-11). Augusta (-6) and North Alabama (-6) tied for third, followed by Florida Gulf Coast (-3) in fifth place. The Paladins (+21) finished 10th.
Furman will compete at The General Hackler in Myrtle Beach on March 16-18.

The Furman men’s tennis team saw its comeback bid in singles fall short Tuesday afternoon as the Paladins dropped a 4-3 decision in Southern Conference play to the Samford Bulldogs at Mickel Tennis Center.
Furman falls to 5-8 overall and 2-1 in the SoCon. With the win, Samford improves to 12-4 on the season and 3-0 in conference play.
The Bulldogs swept all three doubles matches the claim the point and take an early 1-0 lead over the Paladins. In the No. 3 match, Sebastian Harrison and Vitorio Sardinha topped Nicolas Dispas and Nico Snyder, 6-1, before Santiago Arredondo and Sandeep Mohandoss clinched the point at No. 2 with their 6-3 win versus Cole Burnam and Connor Laymon. Darcy Nicholls and J.B. Pickard closed out doubles with a 6-3 victory against Matt Kandel and Elijah Poritzky at No. 1.
In the deciding match at No. 5, Harrison clinched the contest for the Bulldogs with his 6-4, 7-5 win against Dispas.
The Paladins are back on the road Saturday afternoon when they travel to Orangeburg for a 1 p.m. matchup at South Carolina State.

Furman’s Jess Dawson is Southern Conference women’s tennis player of the week.
Dawson won both of her match ups against Austin Peay in a 5-2 team win on Tuesday, March 4. At the No. 2 doubles position, Dawson and Macy Hitchcock defeated Sophia Baranov and Luca Bohlen, 6-1. At the No. 2 singles court, the Hull, East Yorkshire, native beat Denise Torrealba in straight sets, 6-0, 6-4.
Furman (10-2, 2-0), which is ranked 50th nationally in the most recent ITA poll, will entertain Yale on Sunday, March 16.
Furman freshman attack Lily Toole is Big South Lacrosse Freshman of the Week.
A native of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., Toole tied for first on the team last week with 10 points as the Paladins went 1-1, highlighted by an 18-12 victory over Detroit Mercy on March 5. The win tied Furman’s best start in program history with the 2015 team at five consecutive victories. Toole ranked second on the team with eight goals while dishing out two assists and added one ground ball and one caused turnover. She tied her career high of five points in both contests.

In the win versus Detroit Mercy, Toole netted a hat trick while setting a career high with two assists. She then tied her career best five goals in a road game at Marylan Baltimore County on March 9.

Only six games into the season, her 21 goals are eighth-most by a freshman in program history.
Katana Nelson scored a game-high six goals to lead the UMBC Retrievers to a 13-11 victory over the Furman women’s lacrosse team Sunday afternoon at UMBC Stadium.
Furman drops its first contest of the season and falls to 5-1 overall. UMBC improves to 7-1.
The Retrievers outscored the Paladins 3-1 in the fourth quarter to secure the 13-11 victory. UMBC scored three straight goals over a stretch of 3:30 to break the tie and lead 13-10. Nelson’s final goal gave the Retrievers a three-goal lead with 4:30 remaining in the game. Roser netted Furman’s final goal with 2:32 to go.

Furman is back in action on Saturday, March 15 when it heads to Tempe, Ariz., for a 2 p.m. EDT draw against Arizona State.
The Furman softball team went 1-1 against the Youngstown State Penguins and Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs Saturday on the final day of the Furman Round Robin at Pepsi Stadium.
Furman started the day falling 5-0 to Youngstown State before holding off Gardner-Webb 5-4 in the finale.
The Paladins move to 9-18 on the season while Youngstown State improves to 4-18 overall and Gardner-Webb is 14-11.

Gardner-Webb loaded the bases twice in the fifth and seventh innings but were limited to just one run from Furman pitchers Angelina Ricciardi and Emme Buzhardt.

Goldwait had a 3/4 outing at the plate for the Paladins with two RBI and one run scored. Three different players also compiled an RBI and seven recorded at least one hit.
I really have no excuse for watching all these basketball games. It’s not like I didn’t already watch a day’s worth of them in Johnson City, Tenn., and three days’ worth in Asheville, N.C.
Truth is I’m worn out. I’m coughing, sneezing and my surgically repaired abdomen is queasy. I was so proud of making it through that road trip. Now I’m paying for it. Gosh, it was fun. I’d probably be fine if Furman had won.
I’m weary, but I’m looking forward to hanging out at the Laurens County ballyards.

The written word is in decline. More and more folks get their information from what they see and hear. Just my luck. I’m a writer.
If you’ve still got some desire to read my fiction – and some non-fiction – a lot of it is available on Amazon and other bookseller sites.

Longer Songs is a collection of short stories, all based on songs I’ve written.

I wrote a modern western about two cowboys returning home to Texas at the end of World War II. It’s called Cowboys Come Home.
Thanks for putting up with me.