Greenville, S.C. – Junior JP Pegues buried a three-pointer from the top of the key with 0.8 seconds remaining to lift Furman to a 65-62 victory over Western Carolina in Southern Conference men's basketball action in front of a sellout crowd Saturday afternoon at Timmons Arena.
 
With its fourth consecutive victory, Furman improved to 10-9 overall and 4-2 in SoCon play. The Catamounts slid to 15-4 overall and 4-2 in the league.
 
Trailing 36-26 at the half, Western Carolina opened the second period on a 13-2 run to retake the lead. Furman missed nine consecutive shots and went just 2-for-16 from the floor from the 19:17 mark until the 9:40 mark of the second half as the Catamounts built a 53-48 margin. 
 
Down 55-51 with under five minutes to play, Furman's Alex Williams scored in the paint to cut the deficit in half. Two possessions later, Williams snagged an offensive rebound off a Marcus Foster miss and scored on the putback to even the contest with 3:22 to go. After a pair of free throws restored the Catamount advantage, Foster drained a three from the left corner to give the Paladins their first lead since the 13-minute mark.
 
Furman and Western Carolina traded baskets on the next possession with Vonterius Woolbright scoring in the paint for the Catamounts and Pegues answering with a drive down the lane. Foster knocked the ball away from Woolbright in the paint on Western Carolina's next possession and Pegues converted another layup to extend the Furman lead to 62-59 with 39 seconds left. 
 
DJ Campbell responded for WCU as Woolbright drew the defense and dished to the guard for a game-tying triple from the right wing with 17 seconds remaining. Following a Catamount timeout, Furman cleared out for Pegues to take his defender one-on-one and the Nashville, Tenn., native created space with a jab-step before draining the game-winning three with under one second on the clock. Western Carolina's long pass was tipped away by PJay Smith to secure the victory.
 
Pegues finished with a team-high 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting and dished out a team-best four assists. Foster scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds while Williams notched his first double-double of his career with 13 points and a career-high 11 rebounds.
 
The Paladins shot just 41.3% but connected on 7-of-19 three-point attempts and hit their last four shots of the game. Each team grabbed 40 rebounds and tallied 36 points in the paint, however, Furman totaled 12 offensive rebounds for the 10^th time in the last 11 contests to fashion a 14-8 edge in second-chance points.
 
Woolbright led Western Carolina with 27 points, 16 rebounds, and six assists. Campbell connected on 5-of-10 shots to add 11 points. The Catamounts were held to 40% shooting and a season-low 62 points by the Paladin defense that recorded 10 steals, including four by Carter Whitt.
 
The Paladins limited Western Carolina to 34.4% shooting and a 1-of-8 effort from three-point range in the first half to go on a 23-9 run to end the half and carry a 10-point advantage into the locker room. 
 
The home victory marked the 10^th consecutive triumph over the Catamounts at Timmons Arena and Furman's 16^th win in the last 17 series meetings overall. 
 
Furman continues its homestand on Wednesday at 7 p.m. when it hosts first-place Samford inside Timmons Arena. Tickets are available at FurmanPaladins.com.