January 10, 2000
V MI COMEBACK TOPPLES FURMAN 71-66
GREENVILLE -- Eric Mann scored 12 of his team leading 18 points and claimed 10 of his game high 14 rebounds in the second half to help VMI erase a 12-point halftime deficit en route to a 71-66 win over host Furman in Southern Conference basketball action Wednesday night at Timmons Arena.
The victory snapped a 19-game road losing streak for VMI (5-8, 1-2 SoCon) and marked only the Keydets' fifth win in 39 games in Greenville. The loss was the second straight home defeat for Furman (6-6, 1-2 SoCon), which got a 18 points from Karim Souchu.
"I thought it was a great team effort," said VMI head coach Bart Bellairs. "Everybody who played did a great job, and especially Eric Mann. He showed tonight why he is one of the best post players in the league. People talk about stealing wins on the road, but we came in to this game expecting to win, and that's the attitude we're going to take into our next game Saturday night in Charleston."
"Obviously we didn't play a very good second half," said Furman head coach Larry Davis. "I thought they (VMI ) beat us to nearly every loose ball and they outrebounded us and got a lot of second shots. There wasn't anything tricky about it. We didn't stop them in transition, keep them off the boards, or keep the ball out of the post. It was probably our worst team defensive effort of the season, which is disappointing because we had played so well in our last game (versus Wofford). I take the blame for this loss. I just couldn't push the buttons to get us going."
In addition to Mann's 18 points, Nick Richardson added 14 points and Radee Skipworth and Daron Pressley 10 each. Kenny Zeigler tallied 15 points for Furman to go along with 12 rebounds.
Furman used a 21-10 spurt over the final eight minutes of the first half to take a 37-25 lead into halftime, but the Keydets scored the first six points of the second half to trim Furman's advantage to 37-30 following a free throw by Nick Richardson at the 18:45 mark.
A 3-pointer by Furman's Anthony Thomas at the 17:00 juncture put Furman ahead 44-32. VMI, however, countered with an impressive 20-7 run over the next eight minutes to erase the Paladin advantage and take a 52-51 lead on a jump shot by Adam Trombley with 9:36 left.
A layup by Mann with 8:00 remaining gave the Keydets a 57-54 lead and, following a bucket by Richard Little, Mann rebounded his own miss and scored the putback to give VMI a 61-54 advantage at the 6:22 mark.
Furman got to within two points at 68-66 following a driving layup by Guilherme Da Laz with 0:52 remaining, but Da Luz's short jumper in the lane that could have tied the game with 29 seconds left bounced off the front of the rim and was rebounded by Mann, who was fouled and then converted one of two free throws for a 69-66 Keydet lead.
The Paladins failed to get off a three-point shot on their next possession, and VMI's Richard Little converted two free throws with six seconds left for the game's final points.
VMI, which shot 42.6 percent from the field in the game, shot a solid 55.6 percent in the second half, converting 15-of-27 field goal attempts. Furman, meanwhile, struggled to a poor 30.0 percent shooting effort over the final 20 minutes, connecting on only 9-of-30 field goal tries to finish the game at 37.9 percent.
VMI edged Furman in rebounding 41-40 after trailing 22-19 at intermission. The Paladins committed 16 turnovers and the Keydets 12.