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Furman Basketball Falls At South Carolina, 72-48
Dec. 5, 2008
Columbia, S.C. - The University of South Carolina converted on 23-of-34 free throw attempts while holding Furman to 24% shooting from the floor in the second half to pull away for a 72-48 victory over the Paladins before 9,031 Friday evening at the Colonial Life Arena.
Devan Downey paced four Gamecocks in double figures with 19 points, including a 10-for-11 effort at the foul line, and South Carolina forced Furman into 22 turnovers to improve to 6-1 on the season. The Paladins dropped their sixth straight game to slip to 1-6.
After Furman's Jordan Miller scored on a layup to trim the South Carolina lead to 35-31 with 17:04 remaining in the game, the Gamecocks held Furman to just one field goal over the next 10:18 to open up a 59-39 lead with a 24-8 run. South Carolina buried 6-of-8 free throws in the final seven minutes to hold off the Paladins for the final 24-point margin.
The Gamecocks opened the game with seven straight points before Darryl Evans netted five of his career-high 12 points to key an eight-point run to give Furman an 8-7 lead with 13:36 left in the half. The game was tied at 23-23 with under four minutes to go before intermission when Evaldas Baniulis scored five consecutive points to ignites a 12-2 run to give South Carolina a 35-25 advantage at halftime.
Furman held the Gamecocks without a bucket four over four minutes at the start of the half to climb back within single digits.
Baniulis scored 12 points, Zam Fredrick netted 11 and Dominique Archie tallied 10 to join Downey in double figures. USC shot just 36.&% from the field and made only 5-of-15 three-point attempts, but scored 23 points at the charity stripe and recorded 11 steals. South Carolina also managed a 41-28 edge in rebounding.
Miller led Furman with 14 points and four steals to go with Evans' 12 points and three assists. Bryson Barnes added nine rebounds and two blocked shots. Furman connected on 13-of-18 free throws, but made just 16-of-48 field goal attempts and 3-of-16 shots from long range.
Furman will take almost two weeks off to prepare for Fall semester exams before hosting the University of North Florida on December 18.
