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Furman Clips Chattanooga, Ends Six-Game Road Slide, 68-61
Jan. 30, 2007
Chattanooga, Tenn. - Gerad Punch led Furman with 14 points and the Paladins withstood a furious Chattanooga rally in the final nine minutes to down the Mocs 68-61 in Southern Conference men's basketball action at the McKenzie Arena Monday evening.
With the victory, Furman snapped a six-game road losing streak and four-game SoCon road skid to improve to 11-11 overall and 5-6 in the league. Chattanooga fell to 9-14 overall and 2-9 in the conference.
Furman held a seemingly comfortable 57-39 advantage with under nine minutes left when Keddric Mays ignited the UTC rally with a three-pointer. Khalil Hartwell converted a three-point play and Mays buried another trey to trim the lead to nine. Mays then sunk two foul shots and a driving layup to slice the lead to 57-52 with 5:09 remaining.
Moussa Diagne and Robby Bostain converted layups on consecutive possessions, but a Ricky Hood three-pointer and four straight free throws from Marcus Watts moved the Mocs to within two at 61-59 with 2:30 left. Gerad Punch upped the lead to four with a driving layup from the left baseline and, after UTC failed on two three-point attempts, Furman sunk 5-of-6 foul shots in the final 40 seconds to hold on for the seven-point win.
Diagne netted 13 points and Webb and Bostain scored 10 each to join Punch in double figures. Punch added four rebounds, four assists and four steals while Bostain dished out seven assists and Webb totaled six assists.
Mays led the Mocs with 21 points including three 3-pointers. Nicchaeus Doaks and Hood each added eight points.
Furman used a 9-0 run which featured a pair of three-pointers from Eric Webb and one from Punch to take a 33-24 lead with 4:25 before intermission. The lead remained nine at the break, but the Paladins pushed the cushion to 18 midway through the second half on the strength of treys from Diagne, Jadee Jones and Webb.
The Paladins shot 56.8% from field for the contest, including 9-of-20 beyond the arc. Furman made good on 9-of-11 attempts at the charity stripe. Chattanooga shot 48.9% from the floor, but just 5-of-16 from long range and 12-of-18 at the foul line. The Mocs held a 25-23 rebounding edge.
After losing its first 19 trips to McKenzie Arena, the Paladins have secured three wins in their last four trips to Chattanooga. Monday's victory gave the Paladins their first two-game season sweep of the Mocs since 2001-02.
Following a stretch of five games in nine days, Furman takes a much needed breather before hosting SoCon North Division leading Appalachian State on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. The game will be televised live on CSS.
