College of Charleston Edges Furman 76-72

January 14, 2002

COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON EDGES FURMAN 76-72

GREENVILLE -- Leighton Bowie equaled a career high with 23 points and claimed a game high 12 rebounds to lead the College of Charleston to a 76-72 win over Furman in Southern Conference basketball action Monday night at Timmons Arena.

Bowie, a junior forward from Port Charlotte, Fla., converted 7-of-11 field goals and 9-of-12 free throws to pace the College of Charleston (13-3, 3-2 SoCon) to its eighth straight win over Furman (8-8, 1-4 SoCon), which dropped its fourth straight contest.

Furman got a season high 25 points from junior point guard Guilherme Da Luz, who also tallied a game high 10 assists and no turnovers in 36 minutes of play for his fourth double-double of the season.

Jeff Bolton added 18 points and drained 4-of-6 3-pointers to headline a solid perimeter shooting effort for the Cougars, who found the mark on 8-of-12 treys in the contest.

"For us to score 76 points on the road and shoot the ball from the field like we did was tremendous," said College of Charleston head coach John Kresse. "We had good passing, good scoring, and enough defense to get a very big win.

"I thought Leighton Bowie and Jeff Bolton were marvelous, and Da Luz is some kind of point guard. He's like the John Stockton and Mark Jackson of the Southern Conference."

"I thought the College of Charleston played a tremendous ball game," said Furman head coach Larry Davis. "They shot the ball extremely well from 3-point range and did a nice job against our press, but I thought we hung in there and played well, too. I like the effort we gave. We'll go home from this knowing that if we play like this most nights, we're going to win a lot of games, but sometimes the other team is on, and tonight was their night."

The College of Charleston shot 52.0 percent for the game (26x50) and converted 16-of-23 free throws (69.6 percent). Furman, meanwhile, found the mark on 30-of-66 field goal attempts (45.5 percent), but the Paladins struggled at the free throw line, cashing in on only 3-of-9 opportunities (33.3 percent). The Cougars outrebounded the Paladins 39-32, and enjoyed a 27-18 advantage on the defensive boards.

Joining Bowie and Bolton in double figures for the Cougars were Troy Wheless with 11 points and Shannon Chambers with 10. Other Paladins scoring in double figures were Anthony Thomas with 14 points and Kenny Zeigler with 12 points. Karim Souchu topped the Paladins' rebounding effort with nine boards.

Furman trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half but battled back to make it a 32-30 game at intermission.

In the second half, the College of Charleston used a 10-3 spurt to grab a 42-33 lead following a 3-pointer by Troy Wheless at the 16:08 mark, but Furman answered with buckets by Kenny Zeigler and Da Luz to narrow the margin to five points with 15:15 left.

The Cougars maintained a single digit advantage for next 11 minutes of play before Bowie followed an offensive rebound by teammate A.J. Harris with a jump shot at the 3:42 mark to put the College of Charleston ahead 68-57.

Furman then used three Da Luz jump shots, including a pair of 3-pointers, and a free throw with 57 seconds remaining to complete an 11-3 run and make it a 71-68 contest before the Cougars answered with a pair of Bowie free throws with 25 seconds left to give the College a 73-68 lead.

A Da Luz layup with 14 seconds left got Furman to within three points at 73-70, but two more Bowie free throws stretched the margin back to five. After a Zeigler layup with five seconds remaining made it a 75-72 contest, the Cougars successfully inbounded the ball and Troy Wheless preserved the win by making one of two free throws with four seconds left for the game's final point.

Furman returns to action on Saturday when it hosts Appalachian State in a 7:00 p.m. game. The College of Charleston plays at VMI on Saturday, with tipoff set for 1:00 p.m.