Johnson City, Tenn. -- Lester Wilson scored a team-high 20 points to pace four Bucs in double figures as ETSU held off Furman, 66-59, in Southern Conference men's basketball action on Saturday afternoon at Freedom Hall in Johnson City, Tenn.

The loss dropped the Paladins to 7-18 overall and 4-10 in SoCon play, while ETSU upped its record to 15-10 overall and 8-7 in the league.

Furman trailed by as many as 15 points in the second half, but the Paladins rallied to within three points as freshman Devin Sibley netted a career-best 29 points and sophomore Kris Acox posted career-highs with 14 points and 17 rebounds.

The Bucs used a 12-0 run midway through the game to open up a 39-24 advantage on Wilson's three-point play with 17:43 remaining.  The Paladins faced a 14-point deficit with under 12 minutes left when Sibley completed a three-point play at the foul line and buried a trey on Furman's next possession to ignite a 12-2 run that pulled the Paladins within four at 49-45 on Acox's layup with 8:45 to play.

With 4:30 remaining, Sibley drained a three from the top of the key to trim the ETSU lead to 52-51.  Desonta Bradford scored to up the Bucs' lead to 54-51, but Acox answered with a pair of free throws to get Furman back within a point.  After Bradford drained a three to put the Bucs ahead 57-53 with 2:37 left, Kendrec Ferrara hit the front end of a two-shot foul and grabbed the rebound off of his miss on the second shot only to see a driving effort by Croone blocked.

ETSU hit its next six free throws and Furman went 0-for-2 from the floor with a turnover on its next three possessions as the Bucs sealed the victory.

A.J. Merriweather scored 18 points, Rashawn Rembert tallied 14 points and Bradford scored 12 to join Wilson in double figures.  The Bucs shot 48.8% from the field and managed 21 points off of 14 Paladin turnovers.

Sibley connected on 8-of-14 field goals and 9-of-12 free throws for his career-high 29 points. Acox was 5-of-6 from the field and 4-for-4 at the charity stripe.

The Paladins shot just 38.6%, but Furman held a 31-28 edge on the glass and 22-18 advantage in points in the paint.

Furman returns to Timmons Arena to host The Citadel Bulldogs on Thursday night.  Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. and the game will be streamed live on the SoCon Digital Network.

Thursday's game can also be heard live 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.  The audio broadcast will be available by logging onto TuneIn.com.  Links for the broadcast and live statistics will be available at FurmanPaladins.com.


Jordan Caskey, Furman Sports Information