By MONTE DUTTON

Cullowhee was awful on Saturday.

Instead of rounding into shape for the Ingles SoCon Men’s Basketball Champions, Furman fell into a latter-half trap that was unexpected but common of the regular season’s final day.

Four of the top seven schools lost, including top-seeded East Tennessee State (to Mercer), Wofford (to The Citadel) and Samford (to UNC Greensboro).

None tumbled as precipitously as the Paladins, who fell 86-67 in Cullowhee to a Western Carolina team that closed with six victories in a row.

Furman (19-12, 10-8 SoCon), which had outrebounded Citadel 50-20 three nights earlier, fell 40-26 on the boards to the Catamounts. On the offensive end, it was 20-4.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t have our team ready to box out, and we didn’t play as physical as we needed to play,” Furman head coach Bob Richey said on post-game radio. “We got off to a great start. [WCU] turned the game by getting a lot of offensive rebounds.

“They got 17 in Greenville. We talked about it for two days. You’ve got to do it, and you’ve got to give them credit. They’re the best rebounding team in the league, and they hang their hats on that. … We were pretty putrid on the backboards, and we’ve got to be better there.”

Tahlan Pettway scored 23 points to lead Western Carolina (14-15, 10-8), which otherwise would have had to face a play-in game in Asheville. The top six seeds are separated by three games.

Cooper Bowser led the Paladins offense with 17 points on 8/10 shooting while Eddrin Bronson came off the bench to post 16. Alex Wilkins added 14 points and Asa Thomas led the team with seven rebounds.
Pettway, a freshman from Worcester, Mass., was one of five Catamounts to finish in double figures. Samuel Dada contributed a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Trailing 37-30 at halftime, Furman opened the second half on a 9-5 run and cut its deficit down to 42-39 just over four minutes in after Bronson’s three-point play. Bronson later answered a Western Carolina triple with a three-pointer of his own to keep the Paladins within five, 47-42, at the 14:15 mark. Furman kept it a three-possession contest over the next seven minutes with Charles Johnston making it a 56-50 ballgame with 10:15 to go with a dunk.

The Catamounts outscored the Paladins 21-14 over the game’s final 7:18 and built their lead to 86-63 with just under two minutes remaining.
Furman opened the game on a 10-2 run and led by as many as nine, 14-5, at the 13:40 mark on Bowser’s dunk. Western Carolina tied the score at 16-16 when the Paladins answered with a 10-4 run, covering a stretch of almost four minutes, to go back in front, 26-20, on Thomas’ three-pointer. The Catamounts closed out the half on a 17-4 run to lead 37-30 at the break.
The Paladins wasted a .547 (29/53) shooting percentage and led 46-40 in points in the paint and 23-12 in bench points.
Furman is the No. 6 seed and faces Samford in the quarterfinal round of the tournament on Saturday, March 7, at 6 p.m.“Those guys can win the tournament,” Richey said of the Catamounts. “We’ve got a whole bunch of teams [that] can. I just told the team in the locker room. This is going to be the biggest toss-up Southern Conference tournament I’ve ever seen.”

Take a look at the stats here.

The Furman women, meanwhile, are seeded fourth.

Clare Coyle scored 16 points and added 11 rebounds, and Furman used a decisive third quarter to overwhelm Wofford, 64-42, in Greenville.

Furman (17-12, 9-5 SoCon) faces No. 5 seed Mercer (17-12, 7-7 SoCon) on Thursday in a 5:45 p.m. first-round matchup at Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville.

The Paladins and Bears split the regular-season series.

 The win over Wofford (16-10, 10-4) completed a season sweep of the Terriers and improved Furman to 32-2 all-time against Wofford in Greenville.

The Paladins, who led 29-26 at halftime, outscored the Terriers 18-9 in the third quarter to take command behind Coyle, who tallied eight of her 16 points in the decisive frame that Furman finished with a 9-0 run, capped by a Brooklyn King three-pointer in the closing seconds for a 47-35 advantage.

Furman continued its dominance in the fourth quarter, scoring the first 14 points of the period to extend its run to 23-0 over a seven-minute span for a 61-35 lead following an Alyssa Ervin jumper at the 5:55 mark.

The Paladins shot .500 from the field (16/32) in the second half while limiting Wofford to only .207 (6/29). Furman finished the contest shooting .446 from the field (29/65) to Wofford’s .291 (16/55).

The Paladins claimed a 46-34 rebounding advantage and posted a decisive 44-18 margin in points in the paint.

Turnovers, a problem for the Paladins in recent losses to Mercer and Samford, proved not to be an issue against Wofford as Furman committed only 12 miscues while forcing the Terriers into 16.

Coyle’s 16 points came on 8/12 shooting, and her 13 rebounds gave the sophomore her league-best 12^th double-double of season.

Three players — Alyssa Ervin, Raina McGowens, and Sophia Pearl — followed Coyle with 13 points apiece.  Pearl’s effort was notable as she replaced starting point guard Chantelle Stuart, who exited the game early with an ankle injury. Pearl added seven rebounds and four assists in 36 minutes.

Molly Masingale led Wofford with 13 points.

Wofford’s 42 points was the second lowest tally by a Furman SoCon foe this year (38 by Western Carolina), and the 22-point margin of victory was the largest by the Paladins versus the Terriers since the 2013-14 campaign (82-58 win in Greenville).

Take a look at the stats here.

Indoor track and field finished runner-up Saturday at the SoCon Championship at the Corps Physical Training Facility in Lexington, Va.

The Paladin men scored 129 points, the highest indoor championship point total in program history, and brought home a trophy for the first time since 1976, when Furman won the men’s SoCon indoor meet. 

“I am very proud of both of the programs,” said Robert Gary, Furman men’s track and field head coach, following the meet.  “We had some wonderful individual performances.  The men really put it together, scoring a record number of points and earning a trophy for the first time in 50 years.”

Furman won four events on Saturday, after taking first in three events on Friday’s opening day.  

The Furman men won gold in the mile for the 10^th straight year.  The Paladins captured the top four spots and six out of the top seven slots in the event.  Graduate student Bryn Woodall led all runners with a time of 4:03.70, while junior Brayden Seymour took second at 4:05.46.  Graduate student Albert Velikonja finished third with a time of 4:08.57, followed by sophomore Tripp Roemer in fourth at 4:08.59. 

The Paladin women swept the podium in the mile.  Senior Camryn Wennersten recorded a time of 4:40.24 to win the event, while sophomore Jais Ward finished second with a time of 4:45.02.  Freshman Annie Miller took third at 4:47.18, and freshman Kate Bannigan turned in a fifth-place finish at 5:00.00. 

In the men’s 5,000m, all six Paladin runners finished among the top seven.  Junior Chris Knight took gold with a time of 14:14.59, and junior Owen Shifflett claimed silver at 14:17.53.  Senior Luke Taylor and sophomore Rives Boltwood tied for third after crossing the line in tandem in 14:17.77.  Freshman Ty Jones finished sixth with a time of 14:25.51 followed by junior Trevor Coggin in seventh in 14:28.28. 

Freshman Tessa Walter posted a time of 16:37.92 to win the women’s 5,000m, giving the Paladins their 10^th straight victory in the event. 

The Paladins received eight SoCon All-Freshman Team citations on day two of the meet.  Leland Bishop was honored in the 400m, Wallace in the 800m, Youngblood in the mile, and Jones in the 5,000m for the men.  On the women’s side, Miller was honored in both the 800m and the mile, Bannigan earned accolades in the mile, and Walter was featured on the team in the 5,000m. 

Samford won both the women’s and men’s meets for the seventh consecutive year.  The Bulldogs scored 228.5 points on the men’s side, followed by Furman in second and Western Carolina in third with 123.5 points.  On the women’s side, Samford scored 151 points, followed by Western Carolina with 133 points for second place.  Wofford finished third with 128.5 points, and Furman was fourth with 94 points.

Seton Hall downed Furman, 6-3, in the opening game of the day at the Paladin Invitational and West Georgia edged the Paladins, 6-4, in the second game Saturday at Pepsi Stadium

The Pirates jumped out to a 6-1 lead and held on to top Furman in the first of Saturday’s five games. Seton Hall (4-7) took advantage of a pair of misplayed balls in right field to score three runs over the first two innings. Naya Martinez, who tripled and homered for the Pirates while driving in three runs, hammered a solo shot in the third to push the margin to 4-0. The Pirates added two more runs with the help of three Furman errors in the fifth to extend the margin to 6-1.

Kate Stoltzfus laced a two-run single to right field to cut the Pirate lead to 6-3 in the bottom of the sixth, but Seton Hall’s Sami Wakeley retired the Paladins in order in the seventh inning to close out the game.

In game two of the day, West Georgia (6-14) erupted for four runs in the top of the seventh inning to break a 2-2 tie and escaped a Furman rally in the bottom of the frame to claim a 6-4 decision.

Trailing 2-1 in the top of the sixth, UWG worked a leadoff walk and Jenna Samuel followed with a single. After a double steal, Madison McDonald delivered a sacrifice fly to drive in the tying run. West Georgia wiggled out of a jam in the bottom of the sixth before putting up a four-spot in the seventh.

The Paladins close out the weekend hosting Winthrop on Sunday at noon.

Freshman Kristyn Embler tossed a complete-game, two-hit shutout to lead Furman softball to a 3-0 victory over George Mason on the opening Friday.

After surrendering a leadoff double, Embler held the Patriots without a base hit until Madi Sobota reached safely on a two-out single in the top of the sixth inning. With the tying run at the plate, the Harrisburg, N.C., native got Alyssa Hopkins to pop out to second baseman Ansley Chiang to end the threat. Embler (2-5) retired George Mason (5-6) in order in the seventh, including a game-ending strikeout of Meghan Gray, to earn her first career win. She recorded five strikeouts while allowing two walks.

Frederick and Burroughs each collected two hits in the Furman victory.

Men’s tennis was defeated by the Charlotte 49ers, 4-0, in non-conference action Friday.

Furman drops to 2-8 on the season while Charlotte improves to 7-1 overall.
The 49ers captured the doubles point to open the contest with wins at No. 1 and No. 2. Ivan Dreycopp and Andres Medus topped Evan Duggal and Landon Ecarma in the No. 2 match, 6-4, and Emilio Sanchez Bronzetti and Massimo Pizzigoni clinched the point at No. 1 with their 7-5 victory against Nicolas Dispas and Nico Snyder. 
In the No. 3 contest, Alex Han and Finn Pollard secured their team leading third win of the year following a 6-4 triumph versus Brett Gloria and Danny Yassine.
Charlotte followed in singles play with three consecutive victories at Nos. 2, 3 and 4.
Furman begins Southern Conference play on Wednesday, traveling to UNC Greensboro for a 1 p.m. match with the Spartans.

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