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Furman Muscles Past Wofford 67-59
Feb. 13, 2006
Greenville, S.C. - Eric Webb scored 15 points and Furman converted 27-of-31 free throw attempts on its way to a 67-59 victory over the Wofford Terriers in Southern Conference men's basketball action in front of 2,210 at Timmons Arena Monday evening.
Clinging to a 57-55 lead with 2:41 left, Furman sank eight straight free throws, including four from Robby Bostain, over a two minute span to open up a 65-55 margin and put the game out of reach. The Paladins, who shot just 39.1% (18-46) from the field, made good on 16-of-19 trips to the charity stripe in the final 20 minutes to hold on to the eight-point margin (32-24) they held at the break.
"I was really proud of how we bounced back tonight after an emotional loss to Charleston on Saturday," said Furman coach Larry Davis. "Our perimeter defense was solid tonight and we were able to get to the free throw line and make our shots down the stretch."
After seeing Wofford cut Furman's halftime advantage to four with buckets from Howard Wilkerson and Tyler Berg to open the second half, Bostain and Eric Webb buried treys to key a 10-4 Furman run and increase the lead to 44-32 with 12:35 remaining.
Berg connected on a short jumper and Matt Estep and Drew Gibson followed with baskets to slice the Furman margin to six at 51-45 with 7:33 left. While holding Furman scorless from the nine minute mark to 4:37 remaining, Wilkerson sunk two free throws and scored on a pass from Berg to pull within two points with five minutes to go. After trading pairs on three trips down the court, Furman's foul shots sealed the victory.
Bostain tallied 14 points and Gerad Punch added a career-high 13 to join Webb in double figures. Punch, Bostain and Alex Opacic, who had a career-best six rebounds, helped Furman to a 33-23 edge on the boards. The Paladins connected on just 4-of-18 three-point attempts, but junior Eric Webb netted two treys to move past Anthony Thomas into first in Furman history with 201 career three-point baskets.
Wilkerson totaled a game-high 23 points and eight rebounds to pace the Terriers. Berg added 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field and 6-of-6 from the foul line. Wofford shot 46.9% (23-49) from the floor and made 10-of-13 free throws. The Terriers shot just 17.6% (3-18) from three-point range.
The Paladins opened up an early 22-10 cushion with a 10-0 run midway through the first half. After a Howard Wilkerson jumper trimmed the Paladin lead to 12-10, Furman used baskets from Stanley Jones and Jadee Jones along with six free throws to build a double digit lead before taking the eight-point lead into halftime.
Wofford (10-15, 5-7 SoCon) returns home to host the Georgia Southern Eagles on Saturday while Furman (14-10, 7-5 SoCon) visits Davidson on Saturday for a 2:00 p.m. contest to be televised live on Fox Sports Net.
