By MONTE DUTTON

Unfortunately, the week-in and week-out progress of the Furman men’s basketball program has carried with it a disquieting pattern. The Paladins have been unable to hold leads in the latter halves of Southern Conference games.

They win some. They lose some.     

East Tennessee State rallied from a 15-point deficit in the second half to force overtime and edge Furman, 75-71, on Wednesday night at Freedom Hall in Johnson City.

Furman (16-8, 7-4 SoCon) has lost to Wofford, Citadel and the Buccaneers, the last two in overtime, after holding double-digit, second-half leads. The Paladins have endured and survived nagging injuries and illnesses, but as the stretch drive to the conference tournament runs its course, maintain an habitual inability to put opponents away.

Western Carolina also beat Furman in overtime, 80-77 on Jan. 3, but the Paladins came from behind in that game.

A win over the Bucs could have tied the Paladins for first place. The loss put ETSU (17-7, 9-2) two games up on Furman, one clear of Wofford and 1-1/2 ahead of Mercer, which visits Chattanooga on Thursday.

Furman shot .625 from the field and fashioned an 18-10 rebounding edge over the opening 20 minutes to grab a 35-23 lead at the half. ETSU went more than five minutes without a basket as Furman went on a 14-4 run to build its lead.

The Paladins opened the second half on a 7-2 spurt to extend the margin to 42-27 and continued to lead by 12 points at 53-41 when the Buccaneers’ Blake Barkley netted eight points in a 12-0 run to even the game at 53-53. Trailing 57-56 with under four minutes left, the Furman defense stepped up to hold ETSU scoreless for over three minutes as Alex Wilkins and Cooper Bowser powered a 5-0 run to give the Paladins a 61-57 lead. The Bucs answered with a 1/2 trip to the foul line and a game-tying three-pointer by Jaylen Smith with 15 seconds to play. Following the ETSU timeout, Wilkins penetrated into the lane but had the ball poked away as time expired.

After the teams traded threes to open the overtime period Cam Morris converted on a layup and followed Smith’s triple with another basket at the rim to give the Bucs a 71-64 advantage. Wilkins responded with a basket to halt the run, and the Furman defense strung several stops to together before Ben Vander Wal went 1/2 at the line and scored in the paint to trim the deficit to 71-69 with 32 seconds to go. Barkley and Smith, however, each connected on a pair of free throws to secure the victory for ETSU.

Furman was guilty of 21 turnovers on the night that led directly to 23 ETSU points. The Buccaneers outscored Furman 18-2 in transition. Barkley led the way with 15 points while Jordan McCullum and Brian Taylor scored 14 points apiece. Smith went 3/3 from behind the arc to add 13 for the Bucs, who shot .433 from the field and finished 16/22 at the free-throw stripe.

Wilkins, Furman’s brilliant, impetuous freshman point guard, led Furman with 19 points on 8/14 shooting but committed 11 turnovers and had only two assists. Cooper Bowser scored 18 points by going 8/10 from the field. Charles Johnston and Tom House finished with 11 points apiece.

 The Paladins shot .527 from the floor but hit just 7/26 triples and 6/10 free throws.

Furman returns home on Sunday to host UNC Greensboro at 1 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN2.

Take a look at the stats here.

Four high-school players joined Clay Hendrix’s football program on National Signing Day. 

The four additions join the nine prep recruits the Paladins added in December’s early signing period. The four latest signees are defensive end Robert Lange, Jr., from Greensboro, N.C. (Northwest Guilford), defensive back Ethan Washington of Missouri City, Texas (Ridge Point), and wide receivers Jerrod Williams, Jr., from Oklahoma City, Okla. (Heritage Hall) and Vernon Stephens of Jacksonville, Fla. (Nease).

Also announced as program additions were long snapper Seth Henry of Knoxville, Tenn. (Bearden) and running back Max Duckwall from Mariemont, Ohio.

Two Furman women’s doubles teams are ranked in the first spring Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Division I poll.

Freshmen Sasha Dimitrov and Lillie Murphy are ranked 18th nationally with a 6-3 record after spring wins over Iowa and Austin Peay.  The Paladin duo went 4-2 in the fall with victories over Kentucky and Mississippi State at the Debbie Southern Furman Fall Classic, then beat Old Dominion and Notre Dame at Clemson’s Duckworth Duels.

Murphy and freshman Elle Warren, who competed at the NCAA Doubles Championship in the fall, are ranked 39th nationally with an 8-3 record.  Murphy and Warren won the Southern Conference Fall Championship, then finished third at the ITA Masters Championship to qualify for the national championship.  The Furman duo recorded key wins over Pepperdine, Delaware, Ball State and Wichita State in fall competition.

Audrey Ryu is Southern Conference Women’s Golfer of the Week. The 2025 SoCon Championship medalist posted a five-under-par 211, tying for eighth in the 101-player field at the Puerto Rico Classic, hosted by Purdue, finishing five strokes behind the three co-medalists.  

The Paladins travel to Jacksonville, Fla., on Feb. 23–24 for the Momentum Transportation UNF Collegiate.  

Brayden Seymour is men’s indoor track athlete of the week. The native of Oviedo, Fla., was the top collegiate finisher in the mile after crossing the line with a PR of 3:59.55, marking his first sub-4:00 performance.  He placed third overall and leads the SoCon this season in the event. 

Men’s tennis begins a 10-match road trip Thursday afternoon when it travels to Chapel Hill, N.C., for a 3 p.m. contest against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Chewning Tennis Center.
The Paladins (1-3) claimed their first win of the season last Friday with a 7-0 sweep of North Greenville at Mickel Tennis Center.
The Paladins are facing North Carolina for the 31^st time in program history with the Tar Heels owning a 29-1 advantage in the all-time series. North Carolina topped Furman, 6-1, in the last meeting on February 26, 2024, in Chapel Hill.
The Paladins head to Conway next weekend, Feb. 13-14, to face Coastal Carolina and William & Mary.

I’ll be out and about again soon. I’m living in a small camper-trailer, and it seems like I’m a character in one of those old movies about city folks moving to the country. Let’s just say I’m still in transition.

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