Greenville, S.C. – Redshirt-sophomore Asa Thomas poured in a career-best 25 points and freshman Alex Wilkins added 23 points and a career-high eight rebounds to lead Furman to its fifth consecutive victory with an 84-76 triumph over Charleston Southern Sunday afternoon at Timmons Arena.
 
The victory, Furman's eighth in its last nine games, improved the Paladins to 9-4. Charleston Southern dropped to 8-6 after having its three-game winning streak snapped by the Paladins.
 
Trailing by a point at the intermission, Furman roared out of the locker room to outscore the Buccaneers 31-11 as they built a 65-46 lead with 10:47 to play. Charleston Southern answered with a 27-6 spurt of its own to pull ahead 73-71 on A'lahn Sumler's basket with 3:46 to go, but Furman held the Buccaneers without a field goal until three seconds remaining to take control. 
 
Thomas hit 1-of-2 free throws to trim the margin to one point and drained a turnaround jumper from the right side with three minutes remaining to put the Paladins in front for good. The Lake Forest, Ill., fed Charles Johnston for a layup to extend the lead to five points and drained his sixth three-pointer of the night on the next offensive possession to give the Paladins a 79-73 advantage with 1:32 left. After stopping the Bucs on the next two possessions, Furman converted on 5-of-6 trips to the foul line in the final 16 seconds to close out the win.
 
Thomas went 8-of-14 from the floor, including 6-for-10 from three-point range to reach his career high while Wilkins connected on 8-of-17 shots from the field and 6-of-9 free throw attempts. The duo was joined in double figures by Ben Vander Wal, who added 13 points to go with six rebounds, and three steals.
 
The Paladins, who went 10-for-25 from behind the arc on the day and shot 44.3% from the floor, connected on 51.7% of their second half shots and made 7-of-14 three-point attempts over the final 20 minutes to outscore the Bucs 50-41 in the second half. Furman's defense held Charleston Southern to 76 points on 43.1% shooting after CSU entered the game having scored 107 points per game over its last three outings.
 
Sumler led Charleston Southern with a game-high 26 points while Jesse Hafemeister scored 14 and Jacob Taylor finished with 12. Furman limited the Bucs' leading scorer Brycen Blaine to three points. Charleston Southern entered the game making 14 triples per game but connected on just 9-of 34 threes.
 
Furman returns to action when it hosts Mercer in the Southern Conference opener for both schools on Wednesday, December 31, at noon inside Timmons Arena.
 
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