February 8, 2003
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON’S THREE-POINT BARRAGE SINKS FURMAN, 64-53
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Thomas Mobley and Troy Wheless scored 16 points apiece and keyed a hot second half three-point shooting performance to lead the College of Charleston to a 64-53 win over Furman in Southern Conference basketball action in front of 3,273 fans at Timmons Arena Saturday afternoon.
Mobley, a junior forward from Charlotte, N.C., canned all four of his three-point attempts in the second half to pace the College of Charleston (18-5, 8-2 SoCon) to an 8-for-14 three-point shooting performance (57.1 percent) over the game’s final 20 minutes on the way to its seventh straight victory. For the game the Cougars converted 11-of-27 three-pointers (40.7 percent).
Karim Souchu scored a game high 29 points for Furman (9-16, 3-8), but his teammates could combine for only 24 in the Paladins’ ninth loss in their last 12 games.
“I thought we came out in the second half and controlled the tempo,” said College of Charleston head coach Tom Herrion, who with the victory became the winningest first-year head coach in Cougar history. “The strength of our team is our depth and our balance and they were evident today. Any and every road win is significant in our conference, and this is a big win for us.”
“They had a stretch in the second half where they made six threes in 12 possessions, and we couldn’t overcome that,” said Furman head coach Larry Davis. “I liked our effort today as opposed to our loss at The Citadel on Monday and I thought several of their made threes were contested, but they (CofC) just jumped up and shot them in. You have to give them credit for that because I thought we did a good job of taking away their inside game, which they hurt us with earlier this season in Charleston (59-52 loss on Jan. 20). That put the pressure on their perimeter guys, and they delivered.”
Tony Mitchell joined Mobley and Wheless in double figures with 15 points as the Cougars shot 49.0 percent from the field. Furman, meanwhile, connected on 43.5 percent of its field goal attempts and made only 4-of-13 three-point tries (30.8 percent). The Cougars claimed a slight edge in rebounding, 29-27, despite a game high eight boards by the Paladins’ Kenny Zeigler.
Leading 25-21 at intermission, the College of Charleston used a 9-2 spurt to stretch its margin to 40-30 following a a fast break layup by Mitchell at the 13:26 mark.
Furman answered with an 8-0 run to slice the Cougar advantage to 40-38 with a Zeigler free throw at the 9:17 juncture, but the College of Charleston quickly recovered with three consecutive Mobley three-pointers over the next 1:50 to grab a 49-41 advantage with 7:27 left.
The Paladins twice cut the Cougar advantage to six points, but after Guilherme Da Luz canned a pair of three throws at the 5:51 mark to make it 51-45, Wheless and Mobley combined for back-to-back treys to give the Cougars a comfortable 57-45 lead with 4:55 to go.
The victory marked Charleston’s 11th in 12 games versus Furman since the Cougars joined in the Southern Conference in 1998.
The College of Charleston returns to action on Monday when it hosts cross town Southern Conference rival at John Kresse Arena in a 7:00 p.m. game. Furman will entertain Georgia Southern at Timmons Arena on Tuesday, with tipoff scheduled for 7:00 p.m.