FURMAN ROLLS OVER WESTERN CAROLINA 67-47
GREENVILLE -- Karim Souchu scored 20 points and added a career high six steals and five assists to lead Furman to a 67-47 Southern Conference win over visiting Western Carolina Monday night in front of 1,952 fans at Timmons Arena.
With the win Furman (8-10, 3-5 SoCon) snapped a four-game losing skid and claimed only its second home conference win in six games this season. The loss was the 11th consecutive road defeat this season for Western Carolina (4-18, 2-7 SoCon), which came into the game following impressive home victories over VMI and Georgia Southern. The Catamounts were paced by Willie Freeman's 14 points.
Holding a slim 47-45 advantage with just under five minutes to play, Furman got back-to-back three-pointers from Anthony Thomas to go up 53-45 before Marcus Dilligard canned a jump shot to make it 55-45 with 2:39 remaining in the game. Souchu then finished off the 13-0 Furman run with a steal and dunk at the 2:26 juncture and a three-point play with 1:10 left.
"Our execution was much, much better tonight down the stretch," said Furman head coach Larry Davis. "After a timeout Anthony (Thomas) hit a big three following a dribble penetration and kick out, and we wanted to get him another open look so we ran another zone play that we have, got him the ball, and he knocked it down. That was probably the difference tonight as opposed to the other night against Wofford. Tonight we made shots and then we turned up the defense and broke them at the end. We needed this one."
"The big thing is we couldn't make shots," said first-year Western Carolina head coach Steve Shurina. "That happens, but I'm very disappointed with the way we played the last five minutes of the game. We caved in and just stood there and watched them dunk. That's an embarrassment because we played pretty well for 35 minutes and actually had a lead (38-36) midway through the second half."
Souchu's game high 20 points marked the 16th time in 18 games this season the Paladin sophomore has paced Furman in scoring. Souchu's six steals were the second highest single game total in Furman history. He was followed in the scoring column by Kenny Zeigler with 14 points, Anthony Thomas with 12 points, and Guilherme Da Luz with 10 points. Da Luz also equaled a career high with 11 rebounds to go along with a seven assists.
Furman registered a season high 10 blocks in the game, getting a career high five each from Zeigler and 6-foot-10 freshman Marijan Pojatina. Furman's defense hounded Western Carolina into 20 turnovers and limited the Catamounts to 29.6 percent shooting (16-of-54).
Furman returns to action on Saturday when it takes on Davidson in Davidson in a game televised by Fox SportSouth beginning at noon. Western Carolina plays at East Tennessee on Saturday in a 3:00 game.