Nashville, Tenn. – Furman's
PJay Smith Jr. drained a go-ahead three-pointer with 2.3 seconds left to lift Furman to a 76-74 road victory over Belmont on Friday night at the Curb Event Center in Nashville, Tenn.
Trailing 74-71 with under 30 seconds to play, Smith penetrated down the left side of the lane and scooped a shot off the glass to cut the deficit to one point. The Paladins fouled Belmont's Isaiah Walker with 15 seconds to go and the guard missed the front end of a one-and one opportunity. After Furman advanced the ball into the frontcourt and drew a foul with under seven seconds to play, the Paladins inbounded the ball to
Nick Anderson who made a quick pass to Smith. The senior used a screen from
Tom House at the top of the key and buried the winning shot to send the Paladins to their third consecutive win over the Bruins.
Smith, who grew up less than 15 miles from the Belmont campus in LaVergne, Tenn., connected on 5-of-8 three-point attempts on the night to pace the Paladins with 21 points. Anderson hit five first-half threes to score 17 points, and forward
Garrett Hien added 15 points, six rebounds, and six assists. Sophomore
Cooper Bowser pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds and swatted four Belmont shots in the victory.
Furman led 42-34 at the half and maintained a 52-43 advantage with under 14:30 left in the game when the Bruins went on a 15-3 run to grab a 58-55 lead with 9:35 to go. Belmont extended its lead to 69-63 with less than five minutes to play before
Eddrin Bronson dunked,
Davis Molnar finished a three-point play at the foul line, and House knocked down a triple from the left wing to give Furman a 71-69 advantage.
The Bruins' Brody Peebles, who poured in a game-high 26 points, netted the next five to put Belmont (1-1) on top before Smith scored the final five points to propel Furman to its first victory over the Bruins in Nashville.
The Paladins out-rebounded the Bruins 34-27 and shot 47.5% from the floor, including a 16-for-35 performance from behind the arc. Belmont held a commanding 54-18 scoring edge in the paint, but Furman outscored the home team by 33 points from three-point range and got 23 points from its bench.
Furman (2-0) returns to Ben Secours Wellness Arena to host the Jacksonville Dolphins on Monday at 7 p.m. Monday's game will be streamed on ESPN+ and the contest can be heard on The Fan Upstate at 97.7 FM and 1330 AM in Greenville, 97.1 FM and 1490 AM in Spartanburg, and via the Audacy app. Links for the live stream, audio, and live statistics will be available at FurmanPaladins.com.
