February 1, 2003
SOUCHU’S 23 LEADS FURMAN PAST VMI 61-56
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Karim Souchu scored 23 points and keyed a late second half rally to propel Furman to a 61-56 win over VMI in Southern Conference basketball action Saturday afternoon at Timmons Arena.
With Furman (9-14, 3-6 SoCon) trailing 51-46 with just under five minutes to go, Souchu, a senior All-Southern Conference forward from Paris, France, converted a three-pointer, two layups and a pair of free throws for nine points in a 10-0 run to give the Paladins a lead they would never relinquish.
VMI (6-13, 1-7 SoCon), which got a game high 27 points from Radee Skipworth, suffered its eighth loss in its last nine games.
“I have to give a lot of credit to VMI because they lost their star player (Jason Conley) but they haven’t quit,” said Furman head coach Larry Davis. “They battled us right down to the wire, and some of their other players have stepped up, like (Radee) Skipworth. He was outstanding today. That said, this is a good win for us because we toughed it out when we could have folded. We found a way to get stops and some key buckets and win the game. We didn’t panic and everybody kept doing their job in the crunch. That was key.”
With the game tied 31-31 at intermission, Furman scored eight of the second half’s first 10 points to take a 39-33 lead following a layup by Souchu at the 16:25 mark.
VMI answered with an 8-0 spurt to grab a 41-39 lead on a three-pointer by Levar Joseph at the 13:52 juncture.
After going up 46-43 on a three-pointer by Souchu with 8:52 left, the Paladins went scoreless for almost five minutes while VMI fashioned another 8-0 run to take a 51-46 advantage following a 12-foot jump shot by Ben Rand.
From that point, however, Furman took over behind Souchu, whose three-pointer at the 4:06 mark ended Furman’s scoring drought and pulled the Paladins to within two points at 51-49.
Less than a minute later a Souchu layup knotted the contest at 51-51.
After a Tony Carter free throw gave Furman a 52-51 lead at the 2:40 juncture, Kenny Zeigler blocked a Tim Allmond layup, collected the rebound, and passed it ahead to Souchu, who converted a layup in traffic for a 54-51 Paladin lead with 2:04 left.
Souchu later added two free throws at the 1:16 mark to complete the decisive 10-0 run for a 56-51 advantage.
Zeigler joined Souchu in double figures with 13 points and a game high nine rebounds, thereby helping the Paladins forge a 39-30 advantage on the glass.
VMI outshot Furman, connecting on 47.1 percent of field goal attempts (24x51) to the Paladins’ 37.5 percent (21x56), but Furman outscored the Keydets by 10 points at the free throw line, making good on 14-of-20 attempts to VMI’s four free throws on nine attempts.
Souchu’s 23-point performance pushed his career scoring total to 1,813 points, thus making him one of only five players in Furman basketball history to score more than 1,800 points in a career.
Saturday’s 87th meeting between Furman and VMI also represented the final Southern Conference regular season contest between the two longtime league rivals. A member of the SoCon since 1925, VMI is leaving the league at the end of the school year for the Big South Conference.
Furman returns to action on Monday night when it takes on The Citadel in Charleston in a 7:15 p.m. game. VMI plays East Tennessee State Tuesday night in Johnson City. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.