Greenville, S.C. -- College of Charleston shot 52.5% from the field, including 11-for-21 from three-point range, and led wire-to-wire en route to a 75-40 victory over Furman in the men's basketball season opener for both schools on Friday night at Timmons Arena.

Senior Anthony Stitt connected on 7-of-11 field goal attempts to pace the Cougars with 19 points, while forward Adjehi Baru added 16 points and eight rebounds.  Donovan Gilmore came off of the bench to round out Charleston's trio of double figure scorers with 12 points.

The Cougars led 24-19 with under two minutes left in the first half when Baru netted back-to-back baskets to key an 8-2 CofC run that upped the margin to 32-21 at the break.  Charleston shot 60.7% from the floor after intermission and held Furman to 6-of-23 shooting in the final 20 minutes to outscore the Paladins 43-19 in the second half.

Junior Kendrec Ferrara and freshman Daniel Fowler led Furman with eight points apiece, while sophomore Kris Acox and junior Kevin Chuisseu each grabbed eight rebounds.

The Paladins shot just 24.4% (10-41) from the field and converted on 18-of-35 trips to the charity stripe in the loss.  Furman managed a 12-8 edge in second chance points, but Charleston took advantage of 16 Paladin turnovers to post a 20-2 edge in points off turnovers.

Furman played without senior guard Aaron O'Neill and leading returning scorer Stephen Croone, who were sidelined due to concussions.

The Paladins continue their season-opening three-game homestand on Wednesday evening when they host former Southern Conference foe Appalachian State at Timmons Arena.  Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.

The game will be streamed live on the SoCon Digital Network and fans can listen to the contest on the Furman IMG Sports Network on flagship station WGOG 96.3 FM and Fox Sports 1440 AM with play-by-play voice Dan Scott and color commentator Ron Smith delivering the action.  The audio broadcast will also be available by logging onto Tunein.com

Tickets for Wednesday's game and Saturday's 7:30 p.m. tilt versus UC Davis are available by calling the Furman ticket office at (864) 294-3099 or by logging onto FurmanPaladins.com.

Live statistics will be available through StatBroadcast by following the link on the men's basketball schedule or on the front page of FurmanPaladins.com.  Fans can also follow live statistics on their smart phone at PaladinsMobile.com.


Jordan Caskey, Furman Sports Information