ZEIGLER'S 22 LEADS FURMAN PAST CHARLESTON SOUTHERN 69-59
GREENVILLE -- Kenny Zeigler scored 22 points and claimed a game high 10 rebounds to lead Furman to a 69-59 win over Charleston Southern Wednesday night at Timmons Arena.
Zeigler, a sophomore forward from Lithonia, Ga., converted 8-of-9 field goals and 5-of-8 free throws for his 22 points and also collected a block and two steals in 33 minutes of action for Furman (3-1). Zeigler's 22 points marked the second highest total of his career and was followed by teammated Karim Souchu's 19 points. Charleston Southern (0-5) was paced by Nick Mitchell and Quentin Mitchell with 11 points each.
"I told my assistants a couple of days ago that we have to get Kenny Zeigler going for us to be a good basketball team, and thank goodness tonight he got going because we didn't exactly play very well overall," said Furman head coach Larry Davis. "In the first half we rushed things too much and had too many turnovers, but I thought we did a pretty good job defensively early in the second half and that helped us get ahead."
"You have to give credit to Furman, they did a better job over 40 minutes than we did," said Charleston Southern head coach Jim Platt, whose team entered Wednesday night's game having dropped decisions to College of Charleston, N.C. State, Georgia Tech, and Stetson. "It was a three-point ball game at the half, and we don't make two plays at the start of the second half. That put us behind the eight ball the rest of the way. In fairness to our kids, we've probably been through as difficult a start to a season as any program anywhere, but I think these things even out along the way."
In a game that featured 41 turnovers, including 24 by Charleston Charleston, it was a pair of Buccaneer miscues in the first two minutes of the second half that allowed Furman to stretch a 29-26 lead at intermission to a 37-28 advantage following a steal and layup by Karim Souchu with 17:56 left.
After Charleston Southern sliced the Paladin advantage to 37-32 with a layup by Niko Pejovic and dunk by Nick Mitchell, Furman answered with a decisive 14-2 run over the next five minutes to take a 51-34 lead following a steal and layup by Marcus Dilligard with 12:22 remaining.
Aided by a pair of 3-point buckets by Quentin Gilmore, the Buccaneers chipped away at Furman's lead and got to within seven points at 60-53 following a 3-pointer by James Seegers with 3:37 left, but the Paladins converted seven of eight free throw attempts over the final three minutes to keep the Buccaneers at bay.
Furman shot a paltry 42.9 percent from the field, but the Paladins outrebounded Charleston Southern 34-28, claiming 13 offensive rebounds to the Buccaneers' seven. Furman also converted 18-of-25 free throws in the contest while Charleston Southern made good on only 8-of-12 free throw opportunities.
Furman returns to action on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. against Bethune-Cookman in Daytona Beach, Fla. Charleston Southern, meanwhile, hosts Brewton-Parker on Saturday.