By MONTE DUTTON

A talented group of Paladins showed some potential in Thursday’s 73-72 victory over Richmond in the opening game of the Terry’s Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational in Kissimmee, Fla.

Furman will be back on ESPN2 on Friday at 3 p.m., taking on Illinois State (5-2) in the finals. The Redbirds defeated Charlotte (3-4), 79-69.

Led by Alex Wilkins’ 26 points, Furman (4-3) inched above .500 and knocked Richmond (5-1) from the ranks of the early unbeaten. The Paladins led almost the entire game, but the Spiders had several chances to take the lead in the final seconds.

Wilkins, a freshman guard from Mattapan, Mass., was 10/19 from the floor. Asa Thomas, a sophomore transfer from Clemson and Lake Forest, Ill., product, added 20 points. Both passed out three assists. Thomas was 7/15 from the field and 5/12 from beyond the arc.

If not for free throws, Furman would likely have won with ease. Richmond charitably provided 21 opportunities; Furman charitably missed 12 of them. The Spiders hit 15-17 (.882) free throws.

As a team, the Paladins shot .519 (28/54) overall and .320 (8/25) via triples. Another factor in Richmond’s comeback was Furman’s .143 (2/4) three-point percentage in the second half.

After confounding the Spiders with a 1-3-1 zone, head coach Bob Richey switched to a man-to-man to preserve the edge.

Richmond outrebounded Furman, 35-34, led by Chris Walz’s 10. Jayden Daughtry scored 12 points, followed by Will Johnston and Mikkel Tyne with 10 each.

Cooper Bowser was the Paladins’ third double-figures scorer with 10 points.

With Richmond trailing 73-65 and under three minutes to play, Will Johnston reeled off five straight points with a second-chance three-pointer and a fastbreak layup to cut the margin to 73-70. After a Furman turnover, Collin Tanner grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on the putback to pull the Spiders within a point with 1:13 to go.

Two more turnovers gave Richmond a chance to take its first lead since the opening minute, but the Paladins forced a shot-clock violation following the first miscue, and a blocked shot at the rim by Thomas was followed by a Furman timeout. Richmond’s Aiden Argabright missed a jumper coming out of the timeout and Mike Walz could not convert from the middle of the lane on the offensive rebound before Thomas grabbed the loose ball as time expired to secure the Paladin victory.

The win marked Furman’s first against a current Atlantic-10 Conference opponent since scoring back-to-back wins over Loyola Chicago during the 2019 and 2020 seasons.

Furman withstood the final Richmond spurt by holding the Spiders to 1/7 shooting to close the game.

The Spiders finished shooting .407 but were limited to .323 shooting in the second half and a 3/14 effort behind the arc.

Take a look at the stats here.

I have a sporting aversion to the word “the.” I find its use pretentious and mildly offensive. This is the chief reason I annually root for Michigan against Ohio State. The Ohio State University turns me off.

I’m so happy, as an alum, that it’s Timmons Arena, not The Timmons Arena. I’m so happy, as a sportswriter, not to use the the.

Presbyterian College calls its basketball arena The Templeton Center. Why?

As a Furman man, it’s one more reason to despise The Citadel.

I respect Citadel. I respect Ohio State. I just don’t like ‘em.

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