Greenville, S.C. – Twin brothers Charlie and Colin Reddick combined for 33 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and five steals to guide the Furman men's basketball team to a 77-68 victory over NCAA Division II Limestone College in exhibition action on Saturday afternoon at Timmons Arena.
Junior Charlie Reddick poured in a team-high 17 points on 7-for-13 shooting from the field to go with four rebounds, four assists and four steals in 30 minutes of action. Senior Colin Reddick, a 6-foot-9 forward, added 16 points, seven boards and three blocked shots. Senior Bobby Austin and redshirt freshman Keith Belfield also reached double figures for the Paladins with 15 and 13 points, respectively.
Limestone jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the opening 2:30 as the Paladins missed their first five shots, but Charlie Reddick and Austin tallied eight points apiece in the first period to pull Furman within 36-35 at the break. Reddick netted the first six points of the second half as Furman gained a lead it would not relinquish the rest of the way.
The Paladins, who shot 53.8% from the field in the second half, used an 11-0 run midway through the period to open up a 58-43 lead. The Saints trimmed the margin down to 69-64 on Joe Raga's three-point bucket with 2:28 to play before a Charlie Reddick free throw, Austin three-pointer and pair of Belfield free throws put the game out of reach at 75-64 with 1:30 remaining.
"We started off a little bit slow," said Austin. "I think everybody was just so excited to get out their and finally play the first game. We had the jitters a little bit and got going to fast. Once we slowed it down in the second half we got things going a little bit better."
Furman shot 46.4% from the floor while connected on 6-of-14 three-point attempts and 19-of-22 trips to the charity stripe in its only preseason tune-up. On the strength of nine boards from senior Bryant Irwin, Furman out-rebounded the Saints 41-38.
Senior's Charles Blue and Michael Barrett tallied 19 points apiece for Limestone while Pedro Foster added 14 points on 4-of-11 shooting beyond the arc. The Saints shot just 38.2% from the field and connected on 10-of-36 three-point attempts.
Furman opens its 2012-13 regular season next Saturday, November 10, when it hosts Ivy League member Columbia at Timmons Arena. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
Fans can follow live statistics of Saturday's game by logging onto www.FurmanPaladins.com and can access live updates via Twitter by following @FurmanPaladins.
