By MONTE DUTTON
The Citadel’s 77-75 victory over Furman wasn’t a matter of the last man standing on Wednesday night in Charleston. For the second time in four days, it was a matter of the most men left.
For the third season in a row, the Paladins and Bulldogs went overtime at McAlister Fieldhouse. This time Citadel won.
A Ben Vander Wall two-hand slam gave Furman (13-7, 4-3 SoCon) a 19-point, second-half lead that wasn’t enough. Wofford had won 74-70 on Saturday, overcoming a 13-point deficit.
“Those are games we’ve got to win,” said head coach Bob Richey on radio. “To be honest, we didn’t play hard enough. That’s my responsibility.”
Furman got two players, Mason Smith and Collin O’Neal, back from the injuries, and Richey was hearing no excuses regarding his shorthanded roster. The nine who played should have been enough.
Sola Adebisi posted a game-high 22 points to lead the Bulldogs.
The Paladins (13-7, 4-3 SoCon) held a 55-36 lead with under 10:30 to play in regulation when Christian Moore drained back-to-back threes to ignite a Bulldogs rally. Furman still maintained a 60-46 advantage with over seven minutes left, but converted just one field goal attempt in a stretch of nearly six minutes as The Citadel trimmed the margin to 60-56 on the strength of a 10-0 run.
Cole Bowser’s basket gave the Paladins a 67-64 edge with 1:10 to go and Furman got a stop on The Citadel’s next possession. After Furman failed to convert on its possession with under one minute left, Adebisi scored in the paint with under 10 seconds to go and drew a foul. He sank his free throw to even the game at 67-67 and Alex Wilkins’ floater came up short as time expired.
A Ben Vander Wal basket and two free throws from Wilkins helped the Paladins gain a 75-74 lead in overtime with 1:21 remaining. After Adebisi hit 1/2 at the line to tie the game, Charles Johnston had an open three-pointer from the top of the key, but the potential go-ahead shot with 35 seconds to go was short. The Citadel, with the last possession, got the ball in the hands of Adebisi, who drove to the basket and was fouled by Bowser with 3.3 seconds on the clock. He converted on both free throws and Wilkins’ desperation shot from half court missed to the right at the buzzer.
Adebisi connected 9/10 shots from the floor and 4/5 free throws to pace all scorers with 22 points, also adding eight rebounds. Braxton Williams hit all seven of his free-throw attempts to add 18 points and Moore finished with 14 points after going scoreless in the first half.
Citadel shot just .421 from the floor, 6/28 from behind the arc, but made good on 23/30 free throws.
Johnston notched his eighth double-double of the season with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Wilkins also scored 15 points for the Paladins while matching a career-high with nine assists. Vander Wal and Abijah Franklin added 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Furman shot .431 from the field despite connecting on just 6/29 three-point tries.
The Paladins return to action on Friday at 3 p.m. when they travel to Greensboro, N.C., to face the UNC Greensboro Spartans at Bodford Arena on the UNCG campus. The game was originally scheduled for Saturday but was moved up a day with inclement weather set to hit the Carolinas this weekend.
Take a look at the stats here.
Suddenly the red-hot basketball team at Furman is the women.
Alyssa Ervin scored 17 of her game high 20 points in the second half to power Furman past Mercer, 60-49, in Southern Conference women’s basketball at Hawkins Arena on Thusday.
The victory was the third straight and sixth in the last seven games for Furman (12-8, 4-1 SoCon), which also notched its third consecutive win over Mercer (12-7, 2-2).
Ervin hit 5/10 shots, including a three-pointer, and knocked down 6/8 free throws in the second half. She had three of Furman’s 12 steals and grabbed five rebounds.
Chantelle Stuart scored 14 points to join Ervin in double figures. Clare Coyle claimed a career-high 18 rebounds and contributing eight points. Another Paladin, Raina McGowens, set a career high with 11 rebounds.
The board work by Coyle and McGowens helped Furman post a 50-40 rebounding edge, which contributed to the Paladins’ 30-20 advantage in points in the paint.
Furman only trailed once, in the game’s first minute, and built a 14-point third-quarter lead on a 15-6 run for a 42-28 advantage following an Ervin layup with 2:46 remaining in the period. Mercer closed the frame on a 9-0 run to trim the Paladins’ edge to 42-37 heading to the fourth quarter.
Mercer’s Stephanie Utomi’s driving layup a minute into the final period pulled the Bears to within 44-42, but an 8-0 run by Furman, spiced by a 3-pointer and layup by freshman guard Sophia Pearl and finished off by a McGowens free throw at the 6:30 mark, checked Mercer’s rally.
Utomi led the Bears with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Both teams struggled with shooting as Furman connected.339 from the field (21/62) while Mercer hit on just 17/60 attempts (.283).
Take a look at the stats here.
Ervin is Southern Conference Player of the Week in women’s basketball.
A 5-11 sophomore guard, Ervin keyed Furman to SoCon wins over reigning regular season and tournament champion UNCG (69-56) and Western Carolina (69-38) by scoring 41 points (20.5 ppg), spiced by 6/13 shooting from three-point range, and contributing 11 rebounds, five steals, three blocks and a steal in the two victories.
The Galax, Va., native and Elon transfer is in her first season at Furman, averaging 13.1 points and 3.1 rebounds. She is the Paladins’ top free-throw shooter (.758).
On the strength of the men’s soccer run to the NCAA College Cup, Furman finished the fall season ranked 78th nationally among all Division I athletic programs in the Learfield Directors’ Cup standings.
Coming off last year’s 96th place finish among 303 Division I schools, based on points scored for NCAA Tournament qualification, Furman ranked first in the fall season among Southern Conference institutions, ahead of Mercer (117th), and both Samford and Wofford (T154th).
Furman has paced SoCon schools in Learfield Directors’ Cup competition seven times over the last nine years and was the league front runner in March of 2020 when the COVID pandemic halted competition.
Paladin Athletics ranked third among state institutions this past fall, trailing only Clemson (64th) and South Carolina (77th).
North Carolina emerged from fall competition ranked No. 1, with Stanford, Virginia, BYU, and Notre Dame rounding out the top five.
Lillie Murphy Is Southern Conference women’s tennis player of the week, as selected by the league office.
A native of Knoxville, Tenn., Murphy went 2-0 in doubles at flight one and 2-1 in singles at flight two to lead the Paladins to victories over Presbyterian and Austin Peay. On Saturday, she teamed with freshman Sasha Dimitrov for a 6-1 doubles win over Iowa then topped Presbyterian’s Roxy Valdes, 6-2, 6-1, in singles. Against the Governors on Monday, Murphy and Dimitrov posted a 6-2 win in doubles, and Murphy claimed a 6-2, 6-2, win over Luca Bohlen in singles.
Freshman Bianca Ceroni defeated Pauline Bruns, 6-0, 7-5, at flight five singles to clinch the match and lead Furman past Austin Peay, 5-2, Monday.
The Paladins won the top two doubles matches to take the opening point. Freshmen Lillie Murphy and Sasha Dimitrov recorded a 6-2 advantage over Luca Bohlen and Yi-Ching Huang at number one, and Ceroni and freshman Elle Warren defeated Bruns and Elena Thiel, 6-1, at flight two. The flight three match was unfinished with Furman junior Macy Hitchcock and freshman Molly Robinson leading Sophia Baranov and Clemence Butavand, 5-2.
In singles action, Furman quickly collected wins at flights one and two. Warren beat Baranov, 6-3, 6-4, at flight one, and Murphy blew past Bohlen, 6-2, 6-2, at number two, before the Governors (1-1) scored at flights three and four. Huang posted a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Hitchcock at number three, and Butavand held off Dimitrov, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2, at flight four to cut the deficit to 3-2.
Ceroni scored the winning point at flight five, then Robinson came from behind to defeat Thiel, 4-6, 6-3, 1-0[10-5], for the Paladins’ final point.
The women’s tennis match versus Wake Forest, originally scheduled for Saturday, will be played Friday at 6 p.m. at the Mickel Tennis Center.
The Paladins will host Davidson on Tuesday at 3 p.m. instead of on Sunday, as originally planned, and Furman’s match on Jan. 30 at Charlotte will now be played at 9 a.m. at Life Time at 11220 Golf Links Dr., Charlotte, N.C.
Furman enters Friday’s match at 2-1 overall after defeating Presbyterian, 6-1, and Austin Peay, 5-2, last weekend. The Paladins dropped a 4-1 decision to Iowa to open the season Saturday.
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