February 11, 2003
DA LUZ’S 24 HELPS FURMAN TRIM GEORGIA SOUTHERN 77-69
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Guilherme Da Luz scored a season high 24 points and Karim Souchu added 22 points to lead Furman to a 77-69 win over Georgia Southern in Southern Conference men’s basketball action Tuesday night at Timmons Arena.
Da Luz, a senior point guard from Sao Paulo, Brazil, also tallied a game high eight assists, seven rebounds, and three steals in 36 minutes of action to help Furman (10-16, 4-8 SoCon) to only the fourth win in its last 12 games.
Georgia Southern (12-10, 5-6 SoCon), which got a career high 24 points and game high 10 rebounds from Frank Bennett, fell for the fourth time in its last five contests.
“No player on our team has worked harder this year than Guilherme Da Luz, so it was nice to see him get rewarded with a game like this tonight,” said Furman head coach Larry Davis. “He shot the ball well, and when he does that, especially from three-point range, it really settles us down offensively. He also hit some key free throws down the stretch after Georgia Southern made their run, and that helped calm us down and win the game.”
“We’ve relied on comebacks all year — probably too much — and tonight we were in that position again but we were too inconsistent to get the job done,” said Georgia Southern head coach Jeff Price, whose team remained in fourth place in the Southern Conference South Division, one and a half games ahead of Furman.
Furman, which shot 48.1 percent from the field (26x54), blistered the nets from three-point range, converting 9-of-17 treys (52.9 percent). Da Luz made 6-of-10 field goals, 3-of-5 three-pointers, and went 9-of-11 at the free throw line to improve from 25th to 23rd on the Paladins’ career scoring chart (1,192 points). His eight assists also moved him into fourth place on the Southern Conference’s all-time assists ledger (639), ahead of Appalachian State’s Tyson Patterson (638).
Souchu’s 22 points upped his career total to 1,882 points, leaving him just three points shy of Jerry Smith (1,885 points, 1961-63) as Furman’s fourth all-time leading scorer.
The Southern Conference’s field goal percentage leader entering the game, Georgia Southern was held to 41.5 percent from the field (27x65) and only 5-of-19 from three-point range (26.3 percent). Senior guard Julius Jenkins, the league’s leading scorer (23.8 ppg), was held to a season low 10 points in 39 minutes of action.
Furman grabbed the upperhand midway through the first half, using a 10-0 spurt to forge ahead 33-24 following a pair of Karim Souchu free throws with 4:01 left.
Able to stretch its advantage to 12 points by halftime, Furman led 48-41 just over five minutes into the second half when it fashioned a 16-2 run on the strength of five three-pointers, to take what appeared to be a commanding 64-43 lead following a trey by Jason Patterson at the 10:29 juncture.
Georgia Southern, which overcame a 21-point deficit to beat the Paladins 71-64 in Statesboro on Jan. 7, seemed poised to complete a similar comeback after a 19-2 run, highlighted by fastbreak layup by Julius Jenkins with 4:58 left, made it a 66-62 game. But Furman blunted the Eagle rally with buckets from Souchu and Maleye Ndoye and with solid work at the free throw line by Da Luz, who scored the Paladins’ last six points at the line to preserve the victory.
Furman, which is off this Saturday, returns to action next Monday when it hosts The Citadel at Timmons Arena in a 7:00 p.m. game. Georgia Southern will host Wofford at Hanner Fieldhouse this Saturday, with tipoff slated for 7:30 p.m.