"Why do they [write] for their money? Why do they [work] for short pay? They ain't getting nowhere and they're losing their share. They must have gone crazy back there." — Michael Burton (paraphrased)
Garrett Hien, Nick Anderson (7) work in tandem (Monte Dutton photo). Click here. Furman men's basketball earned an at-large bid to the National Invitation Tournament and will travel to face the No. 2-seeded North Texas Mean Green on Wednesday in Denton.Tip-off is slated for 8 p.m. EDT at UNT Coliseum and the first-round matchup will …
Continue reading Paladins target a Mean shade of Green in NIT
By MONTE DUTTON Click here. One aspect of sports – in most every one except NASCAR, where races are increasingly contrived – is that close games and matches are becoming rare.Once I was at a trade show in Pennsylvania and said to a favorite race driver, “A man’s got to drive like hell to lose …
PJay Smith (Monte Dutton photo) Click here. Furman’s PJay Smith Jr. is a finalist for the Lou Henson Award, which is given annually to the top mid-major men’s basketball player in the country. Smith, a native of LaVergne, Tenn., averaged 18 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game this season while guiding the Paladins …
Luke Young (file photo) Click here. Clinton continues to heat up with the weather, winning its third baseball game in a row on Wednesday night, 11-4, at Ninety Six.Catcher Luke Young singled in the third and sixth innings and homered to left in the fourth,The Red Devils got on the board in the second on …
Continue reading There must be Ninety Six ways to win a ballgame
Bryanna Belton (photo courtesy John Clayton) Click here. The third time was the charm for the Shamrocks on Tuesday evening at Florence Center.Eau Claire, which fell in its two Region 3-2A games against Clinton, prevailed in the one that determined the Upstate championship, 41-30.The Shamrocks frustrated any Red Devil hopes of a fourth-quarter comeback by …
John Gardner's Red Devils look for a third victory over Eau Claire (Monte Dutton photo). Click here. Inevitably, when one team – any team – sweeps another in a season and plays it again in playoffs, the same cliché is going to invoked.It’s hard to beat a team three times.When region rivals play the second …
Continue reading For Clinton girls, it’s a different kind of three
By MONTE DUTTON The Terriers couldn't contain PJay Smith (Monte Dutton photos). Click here. A trip to Spartanburg is seldom easy for the Furman Paladins, whether it’s basketball, football or club rugby.As head men’s basketball coach Bob Richey said later, “We knew [Wofford wasn’t] going away.”The final 1.1 seconds of the Paladins’ 78-75 victory over …
By MONTE DUTTON Tyler Huff as a Paladin (Furman photo) Click here. The transfer protocol creates a lot of cultural exchange.Even if an athlete remains at one school for his entire career, he knows athletes … everywhere.Tyler Huff, who spent three years quarterbacking at Presbyterian and two at Furman, was fantastic in Friday’s 30-27 Jacksonville …
Continue reading County Signs: Mobility has a different meaning
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. One gathering I miss when football ends is going every other Thursday to the Laurens County Touchdown Club. I almost always get there early. I get to almost everything early except bed. I like to mingle and interact. I’m the same way at ballgames. I chat with …
Continue reading County Signs: Where everyone scores touchdowns
By MONTE DUTTON Luke Clark (Furman photo) Click here. Eleven players on the current Furman football roster are listed as either seniors or graduates. The Paladins return 30 who earned letters and lose 37. Three starters are back on both offense, plus kicker Ian Williams. Yet Furman, which was 10-3 in each of the past …
Nightrider's Lament 