Asheville, N.C. – Achor Achor tallied a game-high 28 points and 14 rebounds to lead No. 1 seed Samford to an 84-77 victory over Furman in the semifinal round of the Ingles Southern Conference Men's Basketball Championship Sunday afternoon at the Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville, N.C.
 
The Bulldogs (28-5) advance to face the winner of tonight's ETSU versus Chattanooga matchup in Monday's title game at 7 p.m. 
 
Samford closed the first half on a 14-1 run to carry a 34-28 lead into the halftime break and outscored the Paladins 14-7 over the first five minutes of the second half to extend the margin to 13 points. The Bulldogs shot 65.2% in the second half to hold off a late Furman charge and deny the Paladins a third straight trip to the championship game.
 
Achor converted on 12-of-15 field goal attempts and added three blocked shots to go with his game-high in points and rebounds. Samford outscored the Paladins 42-20 in the paint and managed a 36-34 edge on the glass behind Achor's double-double. Jaden Campbell and Rylan Jones joined Achor in double figures with 14 and 11 points, respectively.
 
The Bulldogs, who held Furman without a field goal for the final 10:43 of the first half to take control, shot 54.9% for the game and converted on 22-of-32 trips to the foul line, including 17-of-22 in the second half.
 
Junior JP Pegues hit 11-of-14 free throw attempts to pace the Paladins with 22 points while fellow junior Carter Whitt went 4-for-5 behind the arc to total 20 points. Marcus Foster, who scored the first eight points of the game to stake the Paladins to an early lead, finished with 12 points.
 
Furman (17-16) shot just 34.4% from the field. After connecting on five of their first nine three-point tries, the Paladins finished the contest at 28.9% (11-38) from long range. PJay Smith recorded three of Furman's eight steals as the Paladins forced 15 turnovers and scored 25 points off Samford miscues.