Greenville, S.C. – Senior Bobby Austin buried back-to-back three-pointers in the final two minutes to give Furman the lead, and junior Charlie Reddick drained all five of his three-point attempts to pace five players in double figures with 20 points as the Paladins clipped Georgia Southern, 81-74, in Southern Conference men's basketball action on Thursday night at Timmons Arena.

Furman's 64.3% (27-42) shooting performance from the field and 66.7% (12-18) effort from three-point range marked the best shooting night for the Paladins during the head coach Jeff Jackson era and best overall since the Paladins connected on 70.8% of their field goal attempts and 67.7% of their three-point tries in a 126-33 win over Virginia Intermont on December 29, 2004. 

With a 3-for-3 performance from three-point range, Austin extended his school record run of consecutive three-point makes to 10, dating back to Furman's January 14, victory over Wofford when the Cincinnati, Ohio, native delivered the game-winning trey in the final seconds.

After Georgia Southern erased an 18-point Furman lead and gained a 71-70 advantage on Marvin Baynham's jumper with 2:59 to play, Austin delivered the late game magic for the second time in as many home games.  He nailed a trey to give Furman the lead with 1:27 left, and following a Stephen Croone steal, the senior drained another trey on an assist from Reddick to up the margin to 76-71 with 39 seconds remaining.

Charlie Reddick converted a pair of free throws following a GSU miss and Colin Reddick rebound to increase the lead to 78-71, and Croone and Austin combined to hit 3-of-4 free throws in the final 15 seconds to give the Paladins the victory.

Furman (6-13, 3-5 SoCon) shot a school record 72% (18-25) from the field in the first half and built a 46-28 advantage, but Georgia Southern's C.J. Reed buried a triple from just inside half court as the period expired to ignite the Eagles (9-13, 3-6 SoCon).  Trailing by 11 at 68-57 with 7:30 left, GSU had five players contribute points during a 12-0 run that gave the Eagles a 69-68 lead on Tre Bussey's free throws with 5:05 to play.  The lead changed hands twice over the next 2:06 before Austin's treys gave Furman the lead for good.

Charlie Reddick, 6-for-6 from the field, paced the Paladins with a game-high 20 points while Austin tallied 17 points on 5-of-6 shooting.  Colin Reddick hit 5-of-8 shots from the floor to notch 12 points before fouling out in the final minutes.  Croone and Bryant Irwin added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

The Paladins connected on 15-of-22 free throws on the record shooting night, but turned the ball over 18 times and allowed the Eagles to tally 12 steals and 26 points off turnovers.  Georgia Southern managed a 25-24 rebounding edge and shot 53.1% from the floor, but the Eagles connected on only 17-of-28 free throw attempts.

Reed led Georgia Southern with 20 points while Eric Ferguson added 14 points.

Furman continues its four-game homestand on Saturday when it hosts The Citadel Bulldogs in a 4 p.m. contest.  The SoCon showdown, which will be televised live by CSS, follows a 1:30 p.m. tip between the Furman women's basketball team and Chattanooga.

Tickets for all home games are available at the Timmons Arena Box Office and online at www.FurmanPaladins.com.  The All-Inclusive Ticket, "IT", costs $12 for a lower level reserved seat and $8 for an upper level general admission seat.  The ticket entitles fans to unlimited trips to the Timmons Arena concession stands for hamburgers, hot dogs, nachos, popcorn and sodas. 

Each Paladin game will be aired live on 103.3 WOLT-FM and 96.3 WGOG-FM with Dan Scott providing play-by-play and Ron Smith handling color commentator duties.  

Fans can follow live statistics of the game and listen to the live steaming broadcast thru Stretch Audio by logging onto www.FurmanPaladins.com.