Greenville, S.C. – Junior PJay Smith Jr. netted a season-high 20 points and Furman shot over 61% in the second half on its way to an 86-78 victory over South Carolina State on Tuesday night at Timmons Arena.
 
Smith drained a career-best six three-point attempts to pace six Paladins in double figures. Marcus Foster scored 16 points while Garrett Hien and Alex Williams netted 12 apiece. JP Pegues and Carter Whitt rounded out Furman's double figure scorers with 11 and 10, respectively.
 
South Carolina State jumped out to a 24-14 lead and held a 33-24 advantage with under four minutes left in the first half when Smith connected on back-to-back triples to key an 11-3 Paladin run to trim the margin to 36-35 at the break. Furman turned up the defensive intensity in the second half and went on a 27-12 run, capped by another pair of back-to-back triples from Smith, to take a 62-48 lead with 9:53 remaining. The Paladins maintained at least an eight-point advantage the rest of the way.
 
Furman shot 51.6% from the field, including a 19-for-31 effort over the final 20 minutes. The Paladins outscored South Carolina State 46-40 in the paint and got 34 combined points off the bench from Williams, Hien, and Whitt.
 
Davion Everett connected on 9-of-11 field goal attempts and 5-of-7 trips to the foul line to pace the Bulldogs with 23 points. Wilson Dubinsky posted 12 points and Jordan Simpson finished with 10. 
 
The Bulldogs (2-6) shot 45.5% from the floor, including 7-of-17 from three-point range. SC State pulled down 13 offensive rebounds to score 16 second-chance points.
 
Furman (4-3) is back on the road on Saturday when it travels to face unbeaten Princeton. Tip-off at Jadwin Gym is set for 2 p.m. and the game will be streamed live on ESPN+. There will be no Furman radio broadcast.