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North Dakota State Edges Furman With Late Free Throws, 60-58
Nov. 22, 2006
Fargo, N.D. - North Dakota State's Mike Nelson converted three free throws and Ben Woodside added another in the final 2:15 to lift the Bison to a 60-58 come-from-behind victory over Furman in men's basketball action Wednesday evening at the Bison Sports Arena.
Trailing by two points with 2:13 remaining, Nelson drew a foul from Furman's Gerad Punch and buried both free throw to tie the game for the third time since the five minute mark. Following an offensive rebound, Woodside was fouled by Eric Webb. The sophomore sunk the back end of the two-shot fouled to put the Bison ahead 59-58 with 1:27 left.
After Furman failed to score on its next two possessions, Nelson netted the front end of a two-shot opportunity with eight seconds remaining to stretch the lead to two. Furman grabbed Nelson's miss on the second free throw. Jadee Jones penetrated down the right side, missed a shot and saw his tip-in attempt go wide as time expired. The Paladins, who led by as many as 11 points in the second half, failed to score in the 2:23.
Senior Andre Smith led the Bison with 24 points, 15 in the second half, and 11 rebounds. Brett Winkleman added 13 and Nelson chipped in 12 as North Dakota State out shot Furman from the field 46% (23-50) to 33.9% (21-62).
"I hope we learn from this experience," said Furman coach Jeff Jackson. " We need to become a more consistent and mentally tougher team. We had a few good looks there at the end of the game. Sometimes they go down and sometimes they don't."
Moussa Diagne guided Furman with a career-high 27 points. The senior from Senegal was 10-for-15 from the field, including 2-for-3 beyond the arc. He connected on all five of his free throw attempts in 28 minutes of action.
Webb also reached double figures with 11 points, but shot just 1-for-6 from three-point range. Leading scorer Robby Bostain totaled just nine points on 2-for-13 shooting from the field.
Furman was out-rebounded 42-34 and scored only six second chance points despite grabbing 16 offensive rebounds.
The Paladins jumped out to a 33-24 halftime lead despite shooting 36.4% from the field and making 2-of-10 three-point attempts. Stanley Jones made a short jumper to start the half and give the Paladins a 35-24 lead, but NDSU went on a 13-2 run to tie the game at 37-37 with 13:39 left. The Bison (2-2) shot 53.8% (14-26) in the final 20 minutes while limiting Furman to 31% (9-29).
Furman, now 3-2 on the season, returns to action next Tuesday when it visits Vanderbilt in Memorial Gym at 8:00 p.m. ET.
