January 11, 2003


WOFFORD SLIPS PAST FURMAN 60-59

Box Score

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Byron Fields drained two free throws with 24 seconds left in the game to lift Wofford to a 60-59 win over Furman in Southern Conference men’s basketball action Saturday afternoon at Timmons Arena.

Fields, a freshman guard from Cincinnati, Ohio, was sent to the line following a perimeter foul by Furman’s Guilherme Da Luz and with the Paladins leading 59-58.

Da Luz had earlier missed a driving shot down the lane with 35 seconds left in the game. After taking the lead, Wofford (5-7, 1-1 SoCon) survived three shots by Furman in the final eight seconds to hold on the win. The loss was the fourth straight for Furman (6-11, 0-3 SoCon).

“While I didn’t like the way we looked today, the effort was there,” said Wofford head coach Mike Young. “Free throw shooting was the difference. Anytime you shoot 91 percent from the line, you give yourself a chance to win. This was a big road win.”

Paced by senior guard Mike Lenzly, who converted all 10 of his free throws for a team high 17 points, Wofford connected on 20-of-22 free throws, including its last 10. Furman got a game high 26 points from senior forward Karim Souchu, who moved from 10th to eighth on the Paladins’ career scoring charts with 1,699 points.

The Terriers trailed 57-53 before Mike Lenzly converted three free throws after being fouled by Furman’s Jason Patterson on a three-point shot with 1:48 remaining.

Kenny Zeigler’s layup following his own miss with 1:42 left gave Furman a 59-56 lead, but Wofford answered by claiming three consecutive offensive rebounds off missed shots before Sam Daniels convereted a layup with 1:00 to go to make it 59-58.

Furman then turned to Da Luz, but his short jump shot missed and was rebounded by Daniels with 35 seconds left.

The Paladins trailed for much of the game, including 31-20 with five minutes left in the first half before rallying to cut the Terrier lead to 33-31 at intermission.

Karim Souchu’s layup with 14:24 knotted the contest at 37-37, but the Terriers came back with a three-pointer by Lee Nixon, a layup by Howard Wilkerson, and a free throw by Nixon to grab a 43-37 advantage.

The Terriers led 48-41 with 9:54 to go before a pair of Souchu three-pointers drew Furman to within one at 48-47 at the 7:33 juncture.

Furman tied the game at 50-50 with a pair of Da Luz free throws with 5:31 left, and later got two Zeigler free throws and a Da Luz bucket for a 55-50 advantage with 3:48 left. But Wofford answered with a three-pointer by Lenzly 19 seconds later to make it 55-53.

A Da Luz layup at the 2:10 mark put Furman up 57-53 before Lenzly delivered three consecutive free throws with 1:48 left to pull the Terriers to within one, setting up the dramatic finish.

Furman outshot Wofford, converting 40.8 percent of its shots to the Terriers’ 32.1 percent, and the Paladins forged a 40-31 rebounding advantage on the strength of Zeigler’s 15 boards, which matched a career high. But Furman turned the ball over 21 times, including 15 times in the first half.

Furman returns to action on Monday when it hosts Western Carolina in a 7:00 p.m. game. Wofford tips off against The Citadel on Monday night in Charleston in a 7:15 game.