Greenville, S.C. – Noah Gurley tallied 21 points and Furman rallied from a 10-point second half deficit to upend The Citadel, 72-63, in the home finale for the Paladins on Wednesday night at Timmons Arena.
 
The victory improved the Paladins to 16-7 overall and 10-4 in Southern Conference play, while The Citadel dipped to 12-11 overall and 5-11 in the league. Furman can secure the SoCon regular season title and No. 1 seed in the upcoming SoCon Men's Basketball Championship with a victory in Saturday night's regular season finale at Wofford.
 
After the Bulldogs carried a 32-31 lead into halftime, The Citadel opened the second half on an 11-2 run to grab a 43-33 lead on Kaiden Rice's three-pointer with 16:09 to play. Furman answered a few possessions later with a run of its own. Trailing 47-38 with under 14 minutes remaining, Furman's Mike Bothwell started a 13-2 run with back-to-back baskets and closed the run with consecutive scores to give the Paladins a 51-49 lead at the 10:37 mark.
 
The Citadel battled back to take a 54-53 advantage with 9:22 left, but Jonny Lawrence connected on two triples and Gurley also connected beyond the arc to ignite an 11-2 run that put the Paladins in front 64-55 on Bothwell's jumper in the paint with 6:24 to play. Stephen Clark and Hayden Brown scored on consecutive possessions for the Bulldogs to trim the lead to five points before a Gurley layup, Alex Hunter drive to the rim and Gurley slam put the game away.
 
Furman shot 54.5% on the night, including 63% from the field in the second half. The Paladins outscored The Citadel 44-38 in the paint and managed a 37-30 edge on the glass.
 
Gurley made good on 9-of-16 shots to score his game-high 21 points, while adding nine rebounds and five blocked shots. Bothwell and Hunter scored 14 points apiece on a combined 12-of-17 shooting. Clay Mounce, playing his final regular season game at Timmons Arena, and Lawrence contributed nine points each. Jalen Slawson added eight boards and seven assists.
 
The Citadel shot 41.3% from the floor, but was held to a 4-for-17 shooting night from three-point range. Brown paced the Bulldogs with 18 points. Rice and Clark tallied 16 and 14 points, respectively.
 
Furman concludes the regular season on Saturday when it faces Wofford in the Ingles SoCon Game of the Week at Richardson Indoor Stadium in Spartanburg, S.C. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. and the game will be streamed live on ESPN+ and available on Nexstar affiliates, including WYCW 62 in the Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville market. Fans can listen to the "Voice of the Paladins", Dan Scott, deliver the play-by-play call on ESPN Upstate at 97.7 FM/1330 AM in Greenville, 97.1 FM/ 950 AM in Spartanburg, and thru the Radio.com app.