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Wofford Downs Furman In Regular Season Finale, 76-67
Feb. 25, 2007
Spartanburg, S.C. - Wofford shot 61.5% from the field, including 5-of-9 beyond the arc in the second half, to down Furman in the regular season finale for both clubs 76-67 Sunday afternoon at Benjamin Johnson Arena.
The Terriers used 11-1 and 14-3 second half spurts to open up a 60-42 margin and cruise to just its second victory over the Paladins in the last nine meetings. Junior Salters led the Terries with 19 points while Shane Nichols netted 18 and Tyler Whatley added 14.
After leading by only one early in the second half, Nichols scored five straight points to trigger the 11-1 run and Wofford a 42-31 advantage. Furman trimmed the lead back to 46-39 with under 12 minutes left, but the Terriers used three straight treys to key a 14-4 run and open up a 60-42 lead with 7:17 remaining.
Wofford hit 16-of-26 field goal attempts over the final 20 minutes to finish at 57.4% from the floor for the game. Despite being out-rebounded 30-22, Wofford converted 13-of-21 free throws while Furman hit 9-of-12 at the foul line.
Furman hit 10-of-17 treys, but committed 11 turnovers to Wofford's seven. Freshman Tony Anderson buried four second half treys to tally a team-high 16 points. Gerad Punch scored 12 points and added seven rebounds while Moussa Diagne chipped in 10 points. The Paladins suffered two droughts of more than four minutes without a field goal during the second half.
The loss drops Furman to 14-15 overall and 8-10 in the Southern Conference. Wofford improves to 10-19 overall and 5-13 in the league.
Wofford will open Southern Conference Tournament play as the ninth seed and face eighth-seeded Chattanooga on Wednesday at 3 p.m.. Fifth-seeded Furman will battle fourth-seeded UNC Greensboro in the quarterfinals on Thursday at approximately 4:15 p.m.
