Greenville, S.C. – Fifth-year senior Jalen Slawson poured in a season-high 27 points as Furman topped Mercer, 70-67, in the Paladins' home finale Wednesday night at Timmons Arena to join teammate Mike Bothwell and former Paladin Alex Hunter as the school's all-time wins leaders with 111 career victories.
 
With its 17^th consecutive victory over the Bears, Furman (23-7, 14-3 SoCon) setup a Saturday showdown at Samford for the Southern Conference regular season title and No. 1 seed in next week's SoCon Men's Basketball Championship. Saturday's contest is set for 2 p.m. EST and will air live on CBS Sports Network.
 
Despite going 11:30 minutes without a basket in the middle of the second half, Furman never trailed over the final 33 minutes en route to the win. The Paladins led by as many as 12 late in the first half, but Mercer fashioned a 10-0 run to turn a 33-23 deficit with under a minute to go in the first half into a 33-33 tie with 18:21 remaining in the game. 
 
With Furman leading 58-56 and under three minutes to go, JP Pegues drilled a three-point look from the right wing to open a five-point advantage. After Luis Hurtado trimmed the Paladin cushion back to three, Pegues blew past his defender for a layup to increase the margin to 63-58 with two minutes left. The Nashville, Tenn., native made Mercer pay for a turnover by attacking the rim for another layup that gave him seven straight points and Furman a 65-59 edge with 46 seconds on the clock.
 
Jah Quinones answered for Mercer and added a second straight bucket in the paint following a turnover to bring Mercer within two at 65-63. After being fouled on the inbounds pass, Bothwell converted on two trips to the foul line, but the Bears' Shawn Walker Jr. scored a floater in the lane to keep the pressure on the Paladins. Pegues missed a pair of free throws and Mercer lost the basketball out of bounds before Slawson hit 1-of-2 at the line with 4.5 seconds on the clock to make the score 68-65. Following a timeout, Hurtado raced to the basket for a layup with 1.5 seconds remaining and the Bears fouled Marcus Foster on the long inbounds pass. Foster hit both free throws to put Furman ahead 70-67 with 0.9 seconds left and Mercer's halfcourt heave was off target.
 
Slawson connected on 7-of-10 shots from the field and 10-of-16 trips to the foul line for his game-high 27 points while also grabbing a game-high seven rebounds. Pegues hit on 7-of-10 trips to the line to finish with 18 points.
 
Furman, 23-of-35 at the line on the night, hit 22 second half free throw attempts and converted on 15 of its final 19 trips to the charity stripe. The Paladins were outrebounded 36-31 and outscored 36-30 in the paint but managed to hold the Bears to 44.8% shooting, including 29.4% from the arc. Furman scored 20 points off 15 Mercer miscues.
 
Walker led four Bears (12-18, 5-12 SoCon) in double figures with 15 points. Quinones scored 12 and Hurtado and Jalyn McCreary contributed 10 points apiece.
 
The victory helped Furman reach 23 wins in a season for the sixth time in program history and fifth time in the last seven seasons.
 
Saturday's regular season finale versus Samford at the Pete Hanna Center can be heard on The Fan Upstate at 97.7 FM, 1330 AM, and via the Audacy app with Dan Scott and Tom Van Hoy on the call.