COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON HOLDS OFF FURMAN 54-51
GREENVILLE -- Senior center Jody Lumpkin converted a go-ahead layup with 18 seconds remaining to break a 50-50 tie and lift College of Charleston to a 54-51 win over Furman in Southern Conference action Wednesday evening at Timmons Arena.
After Furman guard Guilherme Da Luz tied the game at 50-50 on a driving layup with 0:47 left, the Cougars worked the ball around until Leighton Bowie passed to Lumpkin, who spun baseline and converted the basket over Furman's Kenny Zeigler.
Furman
had a chance to tie the game but Da Luz knocked down only one of two free throws
with 12 seconds left to make it 52-51, and the Cougars answered with a pair
of free throws from Jeff Bolton with 11 second remaining for the game's final
points.
With the win College of Charleston improves to 10-2 on the season and 2-0 in conference play. Furman, which has dropped three straight, falls to 5-5 overall and 0-1 in league action.
"You have to give Furman a great deal of credit, they were down nine points and could have folded but they came at us with very pesky, upbeat play behind Souchu and Da Luz," said College of Charleston head coach John Kresse. "We had shots and some situations to increase the lead in the second half but it didn't happen, but I'm very happy after losing to North Carolina to come back and win on the road against an opponent in the our same division in the Southern Conference."
"Jody Lumpkin's a big time player and they finally got the ball to him and he made the play," said Furman head coach Larry Davis. "I thought we had a good game plan and we played hard and got ourselves in position to win the game, but some missed free throws really cost us and Lumpkin made the key bucket in the closing seconds."
Lumpkin paced College of Charleston with 16 points and nine rebounds, and Bolton added 15 points. Furman got 15 points from Karim Souch and 13 points and a career high 11 rebounds from Da Luz.
Leading 20-16 at intermission, College of Charleston maintained its advantage for much of the second half, stretching it to as many as nine points at 45-36 following a layup by Lumpkin with 7:20 left. Furman, however, battled back, using a 14-5 run over the next six-plus minutes to knot the game with Da Luz's layup with less than a minute to play.
The College of Charleston shot only 41.8 percent from the field (23-of-55), and Furman struggled as well, converting only 37.5 percent of its field goal attempts (18-of-48). The Paladins outrebounded the Cougars 35-30, but Furman converted only 11-of-18 free throws (61.1 percent) and committed 15 turnovers.
The win was the College's six straight over Furman since the Cougars joined the Southern Conference and nearly identical to last year's result, a 56-51 Cougar victory in Timmons Arena.
Furman returns to action this Saturday when it takes on Wofford in Spartanburg in a 7:00 p.m. game. The College of Charleston hosts Georgia Southern in Charelston this Saturday in a 4:00 p.m. game.