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Furman Clips The Citadel 63-60
Feb. 8, 2005
Charleston, S.C.--Forward Moussa Diagne scored 17 points -- all in the second half -- to lead Furman to a 63-60 victory over The Citadel in Southern Conference basketball action Monday night in front of 1,837 fans at McAlister Field House.
Furman (13-9, 6-4 SoCon) scored the final five points of the game on a Tony Carter 3-pointer and two free throws by Eric Webb to secure the victory, regular sason sweep of The Citadel, and fifth straight triumph over the Bulldogs, who dropped their fourth consecutive game.
Leading 58-50 with seven minutes remaining in the game, Furman watched the Bulldogs go on a three-minute 10-0 run to take a slim, 60-58, advantage. Junior guard Dante Terry capped off the spurt with his second 3-pointer of the night at the 3:50 mark. But the Paladins' Carter drained his only three of the night 38 seconds later to give the Paladins the lead, 61-60.
The Citadel (12-9, 4-7 SoCon) threatened to retake the lead again in the waning seconds when Kevin Hammack stole the ball at midcourt, but the junior missed a lay-up in traffic and Webb drained his foul shots with 16 seconds left to put Furman ahead 63-60. Hammack's long 3-pointer under pressure failed, and Webb secured the rebound as time expired.
"We gutted this one out, no question about it," said Furman head coach Larry Davis, whose squad captured its second league road win of the season. "Moussa really stepped up for us in the second half, and we were able to come back from nine down and win the game."
"This was just a very, very, heartbreaking, tough loss," stated Citadel coach Pat Dennis. "I hate giving this one up because I think we played hard and competed tonight."
The Bulldogs took a six-point, 36-30, advantage into the locker room at halftime, but Furman outscored the Bulldogs 33-24 in the second period. The Paladins trailed 44-35 with just over 17 minutes remaining, but, riding a wave of Diagne baskets, including five dunks, the Paladins outscored the Bulldogs 23-6 over the next 10 minutes to go ahead 58-50 on a Diagne layup.
Furman's Robby Bostain also netted double-figures as he scored 16 points. Tony Carter, who grabbed a career high 10 boards, including nine on the defensive end, led the Paladins on the glass. Nick Sanders, George Brozos and Webb also contributed seven points each.
Forwards Matt Davis and Warren McLendon both scored ten points for the Bulldogs, while sophomore J'mel Everhart and Terry added eight.
Furman will play host to Wofford this Saturday at Timmons Arena in a 4:00 p.m. game that will televised by Comcast-Charter Sports Southeast (CSS).
