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Furman Throttles Chattanooga 73-65
Feb. 26, 2005
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- Moussa Diagne scored 19 points and Robby Bostain pulled off a double-double to power Furman to a 73-65 victory over Chattanooga Saturday afternoon at McKenzie Arena, spoiling the Mocs Senior Day celebration.
Chattanooga (17-10 overall, 10-6 SoCon), the North Division regular season champion, only led once in the game at 2-0 as Furman (16-12, 9-7 SoCon) scorched the nets with 52.0 percent shooting.
The victory was the second for Furman in Chattanooga in the Paladins' last three appearances at the Roundhouse and gave the program its first winning SoCon season since the 1991-92 campaign.
"This was a tremendous test for our team today, having lost three tough games in our last four outings, but I was proud of the way our guys kept their heads up and played hard," said Furman head coach Larry Davis. "I thought the way Quan Prowell and his teammates handled his return was superb. It was a total team effort."
Diagne went 8-for-10 from the floor and hit both of his 3-point attempts. Bostain claimed a career high 14 rebounds and matched a career high seven steals to go with 11 points to help the Paladins outrebound UTC 32-29. He also tallied a team high five assists.
Furman's Quan Prowell, who registered his first action since being declared academically inelegible on Jan. 5 and missing the last 15 games, scored 15 points and was 3-for-6 on 3-pointers.
Furman drained 10-of-24 3-pointers in the contest.
The Paladins built their lead to double-digits (20-10) on Gerad Punch's trey less than seven minutes into the game. UTC scored six straight points and got within a deuce (27-25) on A.J. Mastins triple with 5:40 to go before halftime. Furman, however, answered with nine straight points, including six by Eric Webb to take a 40-31 lead into the locker room.
UTC got within 46-43 in the second half on Alphonso Pughs layup with 12:55 left, but Furman countered with another 9-0 spurt. UTC got no closer than seven points the rest of the way.
The Mocs' balanced offensive attack was led by Chris Browns 15 points and nine rebounds. Charles Anderson and Mastin both scored eight and Ricky Hood seven.
Even though the game was essentially over, UTC head coach John Shulman called timeout with 19 second remaining to give the team a psychology lesson.
"I wanted to take a moment and let them see what this feels like what Furman did to us on our home court and on Senior Night for Chris and Mindaugas,the coach said."
Despite the loss, UTC will be the North Division top seed and receive a first-round bye in the Southern Conference Tournament, which gets underway next Tuesday at McKenzie Arena.
Furman will be the South Division's No. 4 seed and will meet the North Division No. 5 seed on Wednesday at 6 p.m. A Furman first-round win would pit the Paladins in a rematch against UTC on Thursday.
