By MONTE DUTTON

It’s funny how everything changes overnight.

Wofford erased a 13-point deficit in the final 10 minutes to edge Furman, 74-70, in the first of two regular-season meetings between the teams Saturday at Timmons Arena.

The “bottomless injuries” special haunted the Paladins, who gave up a 17-0 run that transformed a 59-46 lead into a four-point deficit.

Bran Sumpter’s basket with 3:16 remaining gave the Terriers the lead. Alex Wilkins converted  pair of free throws and drained a jumper from the baseline on the next possession to end Furman’s drought and tie the game, but Nils Machowski answered for Wofford with a go-ahead triple and Khamare Holmes scored off a Paladin turnover to up the Terrier advantage to 68-63 with 1:07 to go.

Chace Watley answered a pair of Furman scores with a basket and two free throws to give Wofford a 72-67 edge before the Paladins’ Abijah Franklin responded with a three-pointer to trim the margin to 72-70 with 11 seconds left. Machowski sealed the verdict by sinking two free throws after being fouled on the inbounds pass.

Yet another Paladin went down to injury. Mason Smith left after scoring five points in four minutes on the court.  

Holmes and Machowski tallied 20 points apiece to lead Wofford while Watley scored 15 points and Sumpter contributed 10 points and 14 rebounds. The Terriers rallied from a 37-30 halftime deficit by shooting .567 over the final 20 minutes to finish 29/58 from the field. Wofford outscored the Paladins 44-26 in the paint and totaled 18 points off 12 Furman turnovers.

The Paladins shot .439 from the floor but connected on just 8/29 three-point tries. Down to six scholarship players in the second half, Wilkins and Franklin, a pair of freshmen, led Furman with 19 and 14 points, respectively. Ben Vander Wal added 10 points and freshman Cole Bowser pulled down a team-best eight rebounds.

The loss snapped Furman’s three-game winning streak and dropped the Paladins to 13-6 overall and 4-2 in Southern Conference play. Wofford improved to 12-7 overall and 4-2.

Furman opens a two-game road trip on Wednesday with a 7 p.m. tip-off versus The Citadel in Charleston, S.C., before visiting UNC Greensboro on Friday at 3 p.m. The game has been moved up from Saturday due to a forecast of inclement weather.

The Paladins next take the floor at Timmons Arena against Samford on Thursday, Jan. 29, at 5 p.m.

Take a look at the stats here.

Furman moves from one rival to another on Wednesday night, visiting Citadel. What’s more, the Bulldogs are coming around at precisely the wrong time for the Paladins to visit McAlister Fieldhouse.

Tip-off is 7 p.m. and the renewal of the SoCon’s most-played rivalry will be streamed live on ESPN+. Fans can also listen to Dan Scott and Tom Van Hoy call the action on The Fan Upstate at 97.7 FM and 1330 AM in Greenville, 97.1 FM and 1490 AM in Spartanburg, and via the Audacy app.

Wednesday’s game marks the 224^th meeting between the Paladins and Bulldogs with Furman holding a 135-88 series advantage. The Paladins have prevailed in each of the last four meetings, including a pair of overtime decisions in their two most recent visits to Charleston. Last season, Nick Anderson scored 23 points and Ben Vander Wal converted on four overtime free throws to help the Paladins pull out a 67-63 victory in Charleston. Furman rolled to an 85-42 win over the Bulldogs in the most recent meeting in February at Bon Secours Wellness Arena behind 19 points apiece from PJay Smith Jr. and Tom House.

Citadel is coming off a road win over VMI on Saturday and enters Wednesday night’s game at 5-14 overall and 2-4 in SoCon play.

Kyle Jolly is the football team’s new offensive line coach.
Jolly, who last year served as an offensive line assistant, succeeds Matt McCutchan.

Prior to coming to Furman last year, Jolly served as head football coach at Sickles (Fla.) High School for two years (2022-23) and offensive coordinator at King (Fla.) High School in 2021.
Jolly boasts Southern Conference coaching experience through a two-year stint (2019-20) at VMI, where he served as offensive line coach/run game coordinator. In his two seasons in Lexington, he helped the Keydets post an 11-9 record, highlighted by a 6-2 Southern Conference championship campaign in 2020, VMI’s first winning season since 1981 and first league title since 1977. 

In addition to the league crown, the Keydets’ 5-0 start in 2020 was the program’s best since 1960, and its national ranking and FCS playoff appearance that year both represented first-time accomplishments for the Keydets.
Jolly’s tenure at VMI followed a one-year stop at Concord University as offensive line coach, where he helped the Mountain Lions post dramatic improvement in scoring, first downs, rushing yards and total offense.
Prior to Concord, Jolly served as a graduate assistant coach on offense at Washington for two seasons (2016-17) and at Old Dominion for three years, where he also coached tight ends.
As a three-year starter at the University of North Carolina, Jolly earned starts in 38 consecutive games at left tackle and played against West Virginia University in the 2008 Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte. 
He and his wife, Jasmine, have two sons.

Nine transfers are joining Clay Hendrix’s team.

Eight of the nine additions are currently enrolled in classes and are joined by three prep December signees/early enrollees. The combined group of 11 January enrollees will take part in the Paladins’ spring practice, with dates to be announced.

The nine additions are quarterback Connor Ackerley (Western New Mexico), defensive end Elihu Lipscomb (Wingate), offensive lineman Parker Peterson (Memphis), tight end Nick Segarra (Ohio), wide receiver Luke Shields (Tennessee Tech), safety Joshua Tarver (Yale), cornerback Trae Williams (Air Force Prep), defensive back Michael Woods (Northwood) and wide receiver Dwartney Wortham (UCF).

 Shields will join the program this summer.

The three prep December signees now enrolled in classes include quarterbacks Banks Bouton (Greenville, S.C./Gaffney HS) and Trey Smith (Roswell, Ga./Roswell HS), and tight end/long snapper Cameron James (Gainesville, Ga./Gainesville HS).

Sophomore Joe Womack established a Paladin indoor track and field record in the men’s 400 meters Saturday in the final day of the Vanderbilt Invitational.

Womack, a native of Cartersville, Ga., posted a time of 49.69 in the event, breaking the former standard of 50.30, which Cole Warren set in 2023.  Both Womack, who finished 25th, and freshman Leland Bishop, who crossed the line in 49.88 for 26th place, eclipsed Warren’s former record.

Junior Chris Knight won the mile with a time of 4:01.79, while graduate student Albert Velikonja placed seventh at 4:07.82.  Also for the men, graduate student Bryn Woodall finished seventh with a time of 1:52.87 in the 800m.

On the women’s side, senior Sierra Bower turned in a mile time of 4:46.28 to take fourth place, while freshman Tessa Walter was eighth in the event with a time of 4:50.13. In the 800m, sophomore Claire Cook finished fifth with a time of 2:10.10.

Junior Brayden Seymour set a Furman record in the men’s 1,000 meters to lead the Paladin indoor track and field teams in the opening day.

A native of Oviedo, Fla., Seymour won the event with a time of 2:21.91, knocking four seconds off the previous record of 2:25.14, which was set by Aaron Wier in February of 2022.  The Paladins placed all seven runners in the top 20 in the event, with graduate student Bryn Woodall taking fourth place at 2:22.75 and freshman Jack Wallace finishing ninth at 2:26.75.

On the women’s side, sophomore Katie Sobieraj was the runner up in the 5,000m after crossing the line in 17:58.85, while sophomore Joiner Evans finished fourth at 18:18.32.  In the women’s 1,000m, freshman Annie Miller placed second with a time of 2:48.34 to lead seven Paladins among the top 17.  Freshman Tessa Walter was fourth (2:48.71), and senior Sierra Bower placed eighth (2:51.89).

The Furman women’s distance medley relay team of senior Camryn Wennersten, sophomore Claire Cook, sophomore Delaney Vickers, and sophomore Jais Ward posted a time of 11:24.01 to take second place.  

Men’s tennis dropped its opening two matches of the season Saturday afternoon to the Ole Miss Rebels in non-conference action from the William F. Galtney Indoor Tennis Center.
The Rebels started the doubleheader with a 4-0 win in the opener followed by another 4-0 victory in the finale. Furman fell to the Alabama Crimson Tide, 7-0, on Sunday afternoon from the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility.
Furman drops to 0-3 on the season while Alabama improves to 1-0 overall.
Women’s tennis downed Presbyterian, 6-1, and fell to Iowa, 4-1, Saturday in the Paladins’ opening day at the Mickel Tennis Center.

Against the Blue Hose, Furman won the doubles point and captured five of six singles points.  At flight two doubles, freshmen Bianca Ceroni and Elle Warren defeated Grace Katzman and Roxy Valdes, 6-1, while junior Macy Hitchcock and freshman Molly Robinson blanked Mary Ellen Longmire and Sof Rodrigo Hidalgo, 6-0, at number three.

In the season opener versus Iowa on Saturday morning, Furman won the top two doubles contests to claim the opening point.  Dimitrov and Murphy topped Daianne Hayashida and Mia Mack, 6-1, at flight one, and Ceroni and Warren posted a 6-2 victory over Pia Kranholdt and Emma Tothova at flight two.  The Hawkeys scored in the first four singles flights to win the match, 4-1, but Murphy forced a third set at flight two before falling, 7-6(2), 2-6, 6-4, to Mack.

Much is going on. I’m moving, though not far away for now.  Things should lighten a tad by next week. For now, I apologize for losing in a game of catch-up. I’ll soon have more time to devote to my modest craft.

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