Spartanburg, S.C. – Alex Hunter's career high 24-point performance guided four Paladins in double figures on Saturday afternoon as Furman defeated the USC Upstate Spartans, 87-77, in men's basketball action from the G.B. Hodge Center.

Furman improves to 4-2 on the season while USC Upstate drops to 2-4 overall.

Hunter led all players with a game high 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting and connected on 6-of-9 3-pointers. Jalen Slawson contributed 18 points after shooting 8-of-11 from the field while adding four rebounds, three assists and three steals. Mike Bothwell poured in 11 points. Making his first start of the season, Marcus Foster registered a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds on 6-of-8 shooting. Garrett Hien tied his career best of five assists.

Nick Alves was one of four Spartans to score in double digits after scoring a team high 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting. Jordan Gainey had 13 points while Bryson Mozone and Dalvin White both recorded 11. Josh Aldrich led the team with six rebounds and White dished out five assists.

Hunter scored 20 of his 24 points in the first half after knocking down 7-of-9 field goals and 6-of-7 behind the 3-point line. He began the game making four 3-pointers as the Paladins opened on a 23-7 run. Hunter's fourth 3-pointer of the game with 13:33 remaining extended Furman's lead to 16 points. USC Upstate responded with a 16-6 run over the next four minutes to get to within six points, 29-23. The Paladins then came back with 16-4 run of their own and took a 45-27 lead with 3:26 to go when Slawson connected on a 3-pointer.

After the Spartans cut their deficit down to 45-32 at the 2:15 mark, Furman closed out the first half scoring the final seven points. Hunter recorded five of the points with Slawson adding a jumper just before time ran out. The field goal by Slawson with eight seconds remaining sent the Paladins into halftime leading 52-32.

Furman maintained its double-digit lead throughout the second half and led by at least 20 points for most of the period. A pair of free throws by Hien with 9:36 to go gave the Paladins their largest lead of the game at 78-53. Bothwell followed two minutes later with a 3-pointer and layup after two offensive rebounds to put Furman in front by 24 points, 83-59, at the 7:01 mark.

Bothwell's driving layup with 4:29 remaining pushed the Paladins' lead back to 87-67.

USC Upstate staged a late rally by scoring the last 10 points over the final four minutes of the game. Mozone and White both had 3-pointers to highlight the run for the Spartans. White's triple with 21 seconds left put the final score at 87-77.

Furman concluded the game shooting 55.0 percent (33-of-60) overall and 46.4 percent (13-of-28) from 3-point range. USC Upstate was 31-of-61 (50.8 percent) from the field and 9-of-18 (50.0 percent) behind the 3-point line.

The Paladins held an 18-12 advantage in second chance points and 13-11 in fast break points. Furman scored 40 of its 87 points in the paint.

The Paladins remain on the road against a Big South opponent on Tuesday, November 30 traveling to High Point for a 7 p.m. contest.