Asheville N.C. – Senior
Tom House scored a team-high 20 points off the bench to lead No. 6 seed Furman to an 86-81 victory over third-seeded Samford on Saturday evening in the quarterfinal round of the Ingles Southern Conference Men's Basketball Championship at Harrah's Cherokee Center - Asheville.
The Paladins (20-12) advance to face No. 7 seed UNC Greensboro (14-18) in the semifinal round on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPNU, and fans can listen to
Dan Scott and Tom Van Hoy call the action 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 audio and live statistics are available at FurmanPaladins.com.
Tied 46-46 at the break, Furman built a seven-point lead in the second half before Samford sliced the margin to 66-65 with 7:21 left on a 6-0 run. The Paladins responded by holding Samford scoreless for over four minutes as House netted five points during a 9-0 Furman run that extended the lead to 75-65 on the Dayton, Ohio, native's three with 3:14 to go. Samford answered with a 5-1 spurt, but House drew a foul on a three-point shot and converted on all three trips to the charity stripe to push the lead back to nine points with under a minute left.
House ended up going 7-for-7 from the line in the final 50 seconds and Furman went 10-of-11 at the line as a team in the final minute to claim its third win over Samford this season.
Furman shot 46.1% from the field, including 11-for-21 beyond the arc, and connected on 17-of-21 free throw attempts to reach the semifinal round for the fifth consecutive season. The victory also secured Furman's 15
th 20-win season and seventh 20-win campaign in head coach
Bob Richey's nine seasons. The Paladins bench outscored Samford 48-6. Furman managed a 32-20 edge in points in the paint and scored 15 second chance points off 10 offensive rebounds while compiling a 36-31 advantage on the glass.
House went 5-of-8 from the field and 7-for-7 from the foul line to lead the Paladins in scoring.
Alex Wilkins scored 19 points on 8-fo-r14 shooting,
Cooper Bowser totaled 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting, and
Cole Bowser added 10 points and seven rebounds.
Guard Jadin Booth, the SoCon Player of the Year, paced Samford with 34 points on 8-of-15 shooting from three-point range. Dylan Faulkner scored 12 points while Keaton and Cade Norris posted 11 points apiece. The Bulldogs shot 49.1% from the field and hit 13-of-29 three-point tries.
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