November 28, 2001
SOUCHU'S 31 POINTS POWERS
FURMAN PAST METHODIST 87-65
GREENVILLE -- Karim Souchu scored a career high 31 points and Anthony Thomas tied a career high with 23 points to lead Furman (3-1) to an 87-65 win over visiting Methodist (1-4) Wednesday night at Timmons Arena.
Coming off the bench for the third straight game, Souchu, in only 25 minutes of action, canned 13-of-19 shots, including 4-of-8 3-pointers, to surpass his previous career high of 28 points, which he registered in an 87-85 overtime loss to Georgia Southern last year. In the process, the 6-foot-7 junior from Paris, France, also became the 33rd player in Furman history to score at least 1,000 points.
Thomas' performance ‹ his second straight 23-point outing ‹ included a 7-of-8 3-point shooting effort, which tied a Furman single game 3-point shooting percentage record first set by Shawn Reid in a win over The Citadel during the 1987-88 season.
In addition to Souchu and Thomas, Furman got outstanding play from sophomore point guard Guilherme Da Luz, who tallied 15 points, 12 assists, six rebounds, and five steals. The 12 assists marked the second highest total of his career and third highest single game tally by a Paladin.
Methodist, which was paced by David Carr's 23 points, led Furman 34-30 at halftime, but the Paladins quickly took control in the second half, using a 17-3 run over the first four minutes to grab a 47-37 advantage following a layup by Da Luz with 15:38 left.
After the Monarchs' Ron Brown hit two free throw at the 12:08 mark to make it 51-43, the Paladins answered with an 18-5 spurt, highlighted by two 3-pointers, a layup, and an assist by Souchu, over the next four minutes to grab a 69-48 advantage.
Hot shooting keyed Furman's second half explosion as the Paladins converted 71.9 percent of their field goal attempts (23-of-32) over the final 20 minutes. For the game, Furman shot 60.3 percent from the field (35-of-58), including 57.1 percent from 3-point range (12-of-21).
Furman returns to action on Saturday when it hosts Campbell at Timmons Arena in a 7:00 p.m. game. The Paladins defeated the Camels 78-75 in Buies Creek on Saturday.
Methodist takes on Mary Washington College Saturday in Fredricksburg, Va.