Greenville, S.C. – Marcus Foster and
JP Pegues netted 20 points apiece to lead Furman to an 82-67 victory over Wofford in Southern Conference men's basketball action in front of a sellout crowd on Saturday afternoon at Timmons Arena.
The victory, Furman's fourth in its last five games and fifth in its last six meetings versus Wofford, improved the Paladins to 16-13 overall and 10-6 in league play. The Terriers slipped to 15-14 overall and 8-8 in the SoCon.
Furman connected on over 51% of its shots in the first half to build a 44-39 halftime advantage despite the Terriers hitting 8-of-14 three-point attempts over the opening 20 minutes. The Paladins began the second half on a 13-5 run, thanks to back-to-back triple from Foster, to lead 57-44 at the first media timeout of the second half.
After Furman stretched its lead to as many as 16 points, Wofford rallied to trim the margin to 71-62 with 4:08 remaining following a 7-0 spurt. The Paladins, however, got threes on consecutive possessions from Foster and PJay Smith immediately after the media timeout and Furman held Wofford without a field goal for a stretch of 3:42 to finish off the victory.
Foster drilled 5-of-11 three-point attempts and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds for the Paladins while Pegues went 8-of-17 from the floor and 3-for-3 at the foul line. Smith converted on 4-of-6 three-point tries to score 13 points and
Ben VanderWal added 11 to go with two steals and two blocked shots.
Furman shot 46.7% from the floor, including 36.4% from three-point range, and made good on 14-of-20 trips to the charity stripe. The Paladins committed a season-low three turnovers while scoring 11 points on 12 Wofford miscues.
The Terriers grabbed 13 offensive rebounds to tally 18 second chance points and post a 39-33 edge on the glass, but Furman held the visitors to just 43.9% shooting, including 35.7% over the final 20 minutes. Jackson Sivills, Dillon Bailey, and Chase Cormier each tallied 11 points apiece for the Terriers. Kyler Filiwich pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.
Furman travels to Western Carolina for a 7 p.m. tip-off on Wednesday at the Ramsey Center. The game will air live on ESPNU. The Paladins are back in Timmons Arena to host Mercer in the regular season finale next Saturday, March 2, at 2 p.m.
