By MONTE DUTTON

ASHEVILLE, N.C.  – The basketball teams I follow can play with anybody, and anybody can play with them.

Man, oh, man, did Furman and Samford ever play with each other.

Don’t take that the wrong way.

The shooting was out of Pleasantville. The plot was out of Brigadoon.

It’s been a while since I saw a better game. I saw a fine one that ended in the wee hours of the same day. In Johnson City, Tenn., where Presbyterian upset Radford in overtime, 91-85. The Blue Hose put up another fight on Saturday, while I was back at one of my favorite places, Harrah’s Cherokee Center, watching the Paladins win, 86-81.

Winthrop won that one, 73-71. By all reports, PC was gallant in defeat, but there’s no place I’d rather be than Asheville in March.

Lord, at the threes. Watching the game was like being in “the situation room,” missiles raining down at targets, only this was good, clean fun. No talk of regime change. Wholesome. Fifty missiles went up. Twenty-four hit their targets. Samford’s Jadin Booth scored 34 points, greatly augmented by 8/15 accuracy from beyond thunderdome.

Furman (20-12) went 11/21 from way out there. Seven Paladins tried ‘em. Six hit ‘em. It has not always been so.

“It was two really good teams going back and forth, guys making big-time plays,” said Bob Richey. “When you get to March, that’s what it’s all about.

“Our team showed tremendous fight. We had three freshmen out there at some points, and two of them (Cole Bowser and Abijah Franklin) were guarding the player of the year in the league, and they just battled.”

“I just want to thank Coach Richey for putting me out there,” said the younger Bowser. “I went out there and did the best I could, believing in God, believing in my teammates and teammates believing in me.”

This year’s SoCon tournament – history professors once taught me “FUFN” (first usage, full name) so it’s Ingles Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Championship – is as wide-open as a chili cook-off. The winner on Monday night is likely to be who’s hot. Samford (18-14) and Furman were both hot, yet the Paladins mainly controlled the game, leading for 31 minutes, 4 seconds of a possible 40.

Tom House – 5/8 shots, 3/4 triples, 7/7 free throws – led Furman with 20 points. Alex Wilkins’ line of 8/14, 3/4, 0/1 produced 19. Cooper Bowser was 6/12 from the floor and 2/3 at the line, with 14 points and six rebounds. Younger brother Cole went 2/2 from deep and 4/4 at the line, scoring 10 and making three steals. Charles Johnston scored five but rebounded 10.

As readers may have surmised from the balance noted above, the Furman bench outscored the Bulldog reserves, 48-6. The Paladins also had more rebounds (36-31), points in the paint (32-20) and fewer turnovers (9-11).

Samford’s Jadin Booth, however, was a force of nature. He equaled a House and one Bowser with his 34. A grad student from Omaha, Neb., Booth went 10/17 overall, 8/15 from way out there and 6/7 at the free-throw line. Dylan Faulkner scored 12 points. Keaton and Cade Norris, siblings of Hilliard, Ohio, renown, each added 11.

Somehow, Furman defeated Samford three times. The Paladins split with UNC Greensboro (15-18), which sent Wofford home Saturday by a score of 75-72.

As hardfought as it was, the coaches could not have been more sportsmanlike.

“Sometimes, if you deserve to win, you don’t,” said Samford’s Lennie Acuff. “Our spacing, our execution, our effort, they were great. I was sad when it was over, but it was an unbelievably fun game. I don’t take that for granted. We fell a little short. I tip my cap to [Furman’s] character.”

“We knew we were going to have our hands full,” said Richey. “I thought it was just unbelievable.”

Check out the stats here.

Many thanks to the advertisers who keep wellpilgrim.com going. If you’d like to join that number, contact me. Supplies are limited. The site is also supported by reader contributions. If you’re interested, you can make modest monthly payments on my Patreon page or a one-time contribution via Venmo (@DHKSports).

Or, if you’d like to make a contribution by check or cash, my mailing address is: Monte Dutton, P.O. 221, Clinton, S.C.  29325 (hutdut@outlook.com).

It means a lot to me that you enjoy what I write.

Most of my books are available at Amazon. Two of my novels, Cowboys Come Home and Lightning in a Bottle, are available in audio versions.