January 7, 2003


SECOND HALF SWOON DOOMS FURMAN,
PALADINS LOSE TO GEORGIA SOUTHERN 71-64

Box Score

STATESBORO, GA. -- Furman led by as many as 21 points in the first half, but a second half shooting swoon proved costly as the Paladins dropped their third straight game with a 71-64 loss to Georgia Southern in Southern Conference basketball action Tuesday night in front of 1,855 fans at Hanner Fieldhouse.

Jean Francois tallied a game high 23 points and 12 rebounds, and Frank Bennett added 16 points and nine boards to pace Georgia Southern (8-4, 1-0 SoCon).

Furman (6-10, 0-2 SoCon), which connected on 7-of-11 3-pointers in the first half but went 0-for-8 from beyond the arc and shot 24.3 percent from the field over the game's final 20 minutes, was paced by Karim Souchu's 21 points and 10 rebounds.

Furman used deft perimeter shooting in the first five minutes of the game to grab a 17-1 lead following a 3-pointer by Jason Patterson, and later extended its advantage to as many as 21 points when Tony Carter drained a 3-pointer to give the Paladins a 37-16 lead with 8:03 left in the first half.

Georgia Southern closed with a 14-6 run to trim the Paladin lead to 44-30 at intermission.

The Eagles wasted little time in the second half to make it a game, using a 9-0 run on the three baskets by Jean Francois and a 3-pointer by Kordel Gibson at the 17:49 juncture to narrow the Paladin spread to five points at 44-39.

After a Nick Sanders basket put Furman ahead 53-44 with 13:49 left, the Eagles answered with an 11-2 spurt to draw even at 55-55 following a fastbreak layup by Julius Jenkins with 8:20 left.

The Eagles took their first lead of the contest at 59-58 on a pair of free throws by Francois with 3:45 remaining, and later used another pair of Francois free throws at the 2:53 mark to take a 61-60 lead, which it would not relinquish.

"I think the change in our offense helped us in the first half, but in the second half we feel into the trap of taking too many quick shots and not making them work defensively," said Furman head coach Larry Davis. "We used a couple of timeouts early to try to settle them down, but we just didn't bounce back, and they hurt us a good bit on the offensive boards in the second half."

After shooting just 27.3 percent from the field over the game's first 20 minutes, Georgia Southern found the mark on 53.3 percent of its second half field goal attempts. Furman, meanwhile, went cold in the second half, scoring only 20 points and connecting on only 9-of-37 field goal tries (24.3 percent). For the game Furman shot 35.2 percent from the field.

The Eagles enjoyed a decided advantage at the charity stripe, making good on 18-of-27 free throws compared to the Paladins' 7-of-12 performance from the line.

Georgia Southern claimed a 49-4 advantage on the boards.

Furman returns to action on Saturday when it hosts Wofford at Timmons Arena in a 2:00 p.m. game.