Greenville, S.C. -- Daniel Fowler and Kendrec Ferrara netted 14 points apiece and Furman connected on 19-of-24 free throw attempts to edge North Greenville, 64-60, in exhibition men's basketball action on Saturday afternoon at Timmons Arena.
Trailing 44-33 with under 14:30 remaining, William Gates Jr. opened a 16-0 Paladin run with a three-pointer. Devin Sibley slashed to the basket for a layup and made 1-of-2 free throws on the next possession before Larry Wideman finished on the fast break following Kris Acox's steal to trim the Crusaders lead to 44-41.
With 9:38 remaining, John Davis III banked in a jumper just inside the foul line and completed the three-point play at the charity stripe to knot the game at 44-44, and Fowler put Furman on top with 9:03 left by draining a trey off of a pass from Davis.
The lead changed hands four more times before Fowler gave the Paladins the advantage for good by converting on a pair of free throws coming out of a media timeout with 2:51 to play. Ferrara's jumper in the lane upped the margin to 60-56 with 1:14 left, but Korval McElroy made a pair of free throws for North Greenville on its next possession and the Crusaders guard headed back to the line for two shots with 14.9 seconds remaining after rebounding a Paladin miss.
McElroy missed both free throw attempts and Stephen Croone answered by going 2-for-2 on the other end to increase the Furman advantage to 62-58 with under 13 seconds left. LaShawn Alexander drew contact and went 2-for-2 at the line for North Greenville, but Davis drained both of his foul shots for the Paladins with 4.3 seconds to play to cap the victory.
Ferrara made 7-of-13 field goal attempts in 29 minutes of action while Fowler went 3-for-5 from the field and 6-for-6 at the foul line. Croone, the Southern Conference's leading returning scorer, added 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
Both teams shot 41% from the floor, but Furman outscored North Greenville 19-8 at the foul line. The Crusaders connected on 6-of-23 three-point attempts while Furman went just 3-for-13 beyond the arc.
Alexander paced NGU with 14 points and eight rebounds. Phillip Brown added 12 points, six boards and three steals.
North Greenville shot 51.7% in the first half to grab a 35-28 lead at intermission and began the second period on a 7-2 run to up the margin to 42-30 with 16 minutes to play. Furman held the visitors to only 26% shooting the rest of the way while connected on 45% of its shots over the final 16 minutes.
The Paladins open the regular season on Friday night when they host former SoCon rival College of Charleston. Tip-off at Timmons Arena is slated for 8 p.m. and the game will be streamed live on ESPN3.
Tickets for the season opener are available by calling the Furman ticket office at (864) 294-3099 or by logging onto FurmanPaladins.com.
Jordan Caskey, Furman Sports Information
