Charleston, S.C. – Andrew Lawrence keyed a 10-0 College of Charleston run in the final 2:30 as the Cougars erased a five-point deficit to down Furman, 60-56, in Southern Conference men's basketball action before a crowd of 3,885 on Saturday afternoon at TD Arena in Charleston, S.C.

Furman (3-10, 0-2 SoCon) built its largest lead of the night, 54-49 on Bryant Irwin's free throw with 2:34 to play.  Willis Hall answered for the Cougars with a three-pointer just 12 seconds later from the right wing and Lawrence followed back-to-back empty possessions for the Paladins by connecting on 2-of-4 free throws to knot the contest at 54-54 with 1:08 remaining.

After Stephen Croone failed to convert on a driving layup with under 50 seconds to play, Lawrence grabbed the rebound and drained a triple on the other end to put Charleston in front 57-54 with 26 second left in regulation.  Lawrence blocked Kendrec Ferrara's trey on the Paladins' next possession to set up a pair of Anthony Stitt free throws.  Croone raced down the court for a layup with under two seconds left, but Nori Johnson converted 1-of-2 free throws on the other end with 0.6 seconds left to cap the game.

"It was a good basketball game - a good conference basketball game," said Paladin coach Jeff Jackson.  "I thought both teams really competed.  I thought their experience down the end won out.  For us, the important thing is that we continue to improve and that we continue to move forward.  We played quite a bit of the game with four freshmen on the floor.  It's a growing process with this team."

College of Charleston (10-4, 2-0 SoCon) jumped out to a 19-6 lead in the first half by holding the Paladins to only three field goals in the game's opening 11:30.  Furman closed the period on a 16-8 spurt, including back-to-back baskets from Croone, to trim the margin to 27-22 at halftime.

The Paladins trailed 40-35 with under 11 minutes to go when Colin Reddick netted 10 straight points, capped by a one-handed jam, to put Furman in front 45-42 with 7:22 left.  Reddick, who connected on 10-of-18 field goal attempts and scored a career-high 25 points to go with a team-high nine rebounds, added two more baskets down the stretch as the Paladins extended their advantage to five points prior to Lawrence sparking the Cougar comeback.

Stitt led Charleston with 14 points while Lawrence added 13 points and Anthony Thomas totaled 10 points.  Hall pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds to help the Cougars to a 40-38 edge on the glass.  Charleston shot just 34.6% from the field, but converted on 18-of-26 trips to the foul line.

Croone followed Reddick's 25 points with 11 of his own .  The freshman from Covington, Ga., added a career-best seven rebounds and dished out four assists.

Furman shot 37.9% from the floor despite making only 1-of-11 three-point attempts.  The Paladins, who netted 17 points off 17 CofC turnovers, connected on 11-of-19 free throws.

After concluding its five-game road trip, Furman returns to Timmons Arena to host the Davidson Wildcats next Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

Saturday's 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.