February 27, 2003
SOUCHU’S 31 LEADS FURMAN PAST
UNCG IN OT, 78-74;
PALADINS WIN FIFTH STRAIGHT
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Karim Souchu scored a game high 31 points, including eight in overtime, to lead Furman to a 78-74 win over UNC Greensboro in the Southern Conference regular season finale for both teams Thursday night at Timmons Arena.
Souchu, the reigning Southern Conference Player-of-the-Week who recorded a career high 32-point performance in a win over East Tennessee State on Monday, buried a three-pointer with 1:11 to go in overtime to give Furman (14-16, 8-8 SoCon) a 75-71 lead. He later sealed the victory with a dunk and free throw with 14 seconds left to make it 78-72. The senior forward from Paris, France, now has 1,998 points, leaving him just two points shy of becoming only the fourth player in Furman history to score 2,000 points.
UNC Greensboro (7-21, 3-13 SoCon), which led for much of the game and by as many as 15 points in the first half, was paced by senior forward James Maye, who recorded a rare triple-double with 17 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists en route to becoming UNCG’s all-time leading scorer with 1,553 points. The loss was the fourth straight for the Spartans.
The victory, Furman’s fifth consecutive triumph, marked the Paladins’ longest league winning streak since the 1990-91 season, and the program’s 8-8 conference record represents the program’s first .500 finish in league play since the 1991-92 campaign. The Paladins now await the conclusion of conference play on Saturday to learn their first round foe in the Mountain Dew Southern Tournament, scheduled for March 5-8 in North Charleston, S.C. Furman could be awarded the No. 3, No. 4, or No. 5 seed depending on the outcomes of Saturday games involving Georgia Southern and Wofford.
“Karim stepped up again, and I thought down the stretch a lot of guys stepped up and helped us win the game,” said Furman head coach Larry Davis. “Guilherme ran our offense very well when we needed it most, and Karim’s three-pointer with about a minute left in overtime was huge, as was the sidelines out of bounds play where we got the ball in his hands and he made a nice move down the lane for the dunk that finished it off. I also thought Kenny Zeigler had another big night, and Tony Carter came through for us again.
“I’m so proud of these guys. That game was kind of a like a microcosm of our season. We started off sluggish and weren’t sure of ourselves, but we kept battling and battling and finally played like we were capable of playing down the stretch and into overtime.”
“We just weren’t good enough defensively tonight,” said UNC Greensboro head coach Fran McCaffery. “We’ve struggled with defense all year, and tonight it was the same thing. We talked about it before the game and at halftime. It’s not offense; it’s defense.”
Joining Souchu in double figures for Furman were Zeigler with 16 points and a game high 12 rebounds, and Carter with 12 points and four assists. Da Luz added eight points, seven assists, and four steals and, in the process, became the first player in conference history to tally 1,000 points, 600 assists, 500 rebounds, and 200 steals. He now has 203 career thefts.
UNC Greensboro appeared set to spoil Furman’s senior night after racing out to 19-4 lead over the game’s first eight minutes, and the Spartans, who shot a blistering 65.2 percent from the field in the first half, took momentum into the locker room after Mark Mason drained a three-pointer in the final minute of play to make it 38-28.
UNCG kept Furman at bay the first seven minutes of the second half and led 47-37 following a three-pointer by Jay Joseph at the 13:16 juncture before the Paladins fashioned a 13-1 run to grab their first lead of the game at 50-48 on a three-point play by Souchu with 8:11 to go.
A Mason three-pointer with just under five minutes remaining put UNCG back in front 53-52, and the Spartans led 62-56 following a Josh Gross layup with 2:32 left.
After exchanging a pair of baskets, Furman used six straight free throws and a pair of Spartan offensive miscues in the final minute to force overtime.
Two free throws by Da Luz with 56 seconds left made it 64-60 and, after Maye’s dunk attempt rattled out with 48 seconds left, Souchu was fouled three seconds later and sent to the line, where he converted both chances to pull the Paladins to within two.
UNCG turned it over on its ensuing possession, and Souchu was again sent to the free throw line, where he sank both attempts with 34 seconds left to make it 64-64.
The Spartans’ almost won the game in regulation when Maye’s three-point attempt bounced twice off the rim before rolling off and onto the fingertips of Luke Boythe, whose tip-in occurred a split second after the horn sounded to end regulation.
In overtime Furman twice fell behind by three points and trailed 71-68 before back-to-back baskets by Da Luz, including a layup at the 2:13 juncture, put the Paladins ahead for good 72-71, thereby setting up Souchu’s dramatic three-pointer a little more than a minute later.