Asheville, N.C. – No. 5 seed Furman rallied from a five-point deficit in the final 1:15 of regulation to force overtime on its way to an 80-77 victory over No. 1 seed Chattanooga in the semifinal round of the Southern Conference Men's Basketball Championship Sunday afternoon at the Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville, N.C.
 
With its 25^th victory of the season, Furman (25-8) secured its third trip to the SoCon championship game in the last four years and will face either No. 7 seed VMI or No. 6 seed Wofford in Monday's league finals at 7 p.m. on ESPN. Tournament tickets are available by clicking here.
 
Back-to-back three-pointers from Chattanooga's Honor Huff erased Furman's 65-64 lead and gave the Mocs a 70-65 edge with 1:33 to go in regulation. On the Paladins' next possession, PJay Smith Jr. answered with a triple and Furman called timeout with 1:10 remaining. Furman forced a turnover on the following possession and Smith knotted the game at 70-70 with a pull-up jumper from the left side with 27.5 seconds on the clock. The Mocs got the final opportunity to claim a win in regulation, but sophomore Cooper Bowser rejected Trey Bonham's driving layup on the right side of the lane with two seconds left to force overtime.
 
Nick Anderson's jumper in the lane put Furman in front 74-72 in overtime and Bowser converted on 1-of-2 trips to the foul line on the following Paladin possession to extend the lead to 75-72 with 2:51 to go. After Bash Wieland trimmed the Furman lead to one point and the teams traded turnovers, Anderson drew a foul with 34 seconds left and made both shots at the charity stripe to restore the three-point lead. 
 
Garrison Keeslar found Wieland cutting to the basket for two points to bring the Mocs within 77-76. Chattanooga fouled Smith, who finished both free throw attempts with 16 seconds left, and Eddrin Bronson stole Chattanooga's inbounds pass. The redshirt-freshman fed the ball to Anderson and the graduate student drew a foul with 12 seconds to go before draining both free throws to up the margin to 80-76.
 
Bonham raced down the floor and drew a two-shot foul. He made the first free throw to cut the Paladin lead to 80-77. After both teams exhausted 30-second timeouts, the Chattanooga guard intentionally missed the second free throw attempt and the rebound was deflected out of bounds. Following a video review, the Mocs got possession and lobbed a pass out top to Bonham, who missed wide on his desperation three-pointer as time expired. 
 
Smith paced Furman with 25 points on 5-of-8 shooting behind the arc and a perfect 6-for-6 effort at the foul line. He added a game-high eight rebounds and four assists. Anderson finished 8-of-15 from the field, including 4-of-8 behind the arc to tally 23 points while Garrett Hien added 10 points. Charles Johnston gave Furman a second-half boost with nine points and five rebounds in less than nine minutes of play.
 
The Paladins shot 47.4% from the floor and connected on 12-of-28 three-point attempts. Furman managed a 37-34 edge on the boards and hit 8-of-10 free throws in overtime to finish 14-for-21 at the line.
Huff poured in a game-high 28 points on 8-or-11 shooting from three-point range while Wieland and Bonham contributed 16 and 14 points, respectively. The Mocs, who shot 43.8%, made 11-of-25 three-point attempts and 10-of-12 free throw attempts.
 
The semifinal win marked the fifth overtime contest for Furman in the last five years at the SoCon Championship. The Paladins improved to 6-5 all-time versus the Mocs in postseason play.
 
Fans can listen to Sunday's championship game 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 broadcast, live audio, and live statistics are available at FurmanPaladins.com.