ETSU Edges Furman In Overtime, 93-81
Johnson City, Tenn. (ETSU) — ETSU shot 60.8% from the field and T.J. Cromer netted a career-high 32 points on Senior Night to lead the Bucs to a 93-81 overtime victory over Furman in a battle for first place in the Southern Conference on Wednesday night at Freedom Hall in Johnson City, Tenn.
With the win, ETSU (23-6, 13-3 SoCon) moved a half game ahead of the Paladins (20-10, 13-4 SoCon) in the race for the SoCon regular season title. The Bucs will play at Western Carolina on Saturday night before closing the regular season at UNCG on Monday evening, while Furman will wrap up the regular season at home versus Wofford on Saturday.
After Furman’s John Davis III drained a three-pointer from the right wing with 1.3 seconds left in regulation to force overtime, the Bucs outscored the Paladins 19-7 in the extra period to claim the win. ETSU opened the overtime period on a 13-4 spurt, highlighted by back-to-back triples from Cromer and A.J. Merriweather and a three-point play by Desonta Bradford, that gave the Bucs an 87-78 advantage with 1:38 left. The home team converted on all six of their free throw attempts in the final 70 seconds to seal the victory.
Cromer connected on 11-of-17 shots from the floor, including 5-of-9 three-point tries, and made good on all five of his trips to the foul line. Tevin Glass posted a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds, while David Burrell and Bradford added 12 and 11 points, respectively.
ETSU hit 31-of-51 shots, buried 9-of-18 three-point attempts and finished 22-of-26 at the foul line. The Bucs forced 16 Furman turnovers and compiled a 26-13 edge in points off turnovers.
Furman trailed 11-7 in the early going, but the Paladins used a 28-14 run to grab a 35-25 on Daniel Fowler‘s trey with 2:31 to play in the first half. ETSU finished the period on a 9-3 run to cut the Paladin advantage to 38-34 at the halftime break.
Glass scored nine points during a 16-6 ETSU run to open the second half and give the Bucs a 50-44 lead with under 15 minutes remaining. With Furman trailing by three points and under 7:30 left, Jordan Lyons drained a three and Fowler scored four straight points during a 7-0 run to put the Paladins in front 68-64 with under five minutes to go.
Furman continued to lead 71-67 with less than 2:30 to play when ETSU used a 7-0 spurt to take the lead. Burrell’s dunk with 1:27 left put the Bucs in front and Cromer extended the lead to three on a pair of free throws with 11.4 seconds left before Davis III forced overtime with his third trey of the night.
Junior Devin Sibley paced the Paladins with 19 points, while Fowler added 17 points, seven boards and four assists. Davis III tallied 14 points and Lyons contributed 12 points.
Furman shot 49.1% from the field, including a 12-for-27 effort beyond the arc. Furman made good on 15-of-19 trips to the foul line and managed a 30-26 rebounding edge.
Furman returns home on Saturday when it entertains Wofford in the 2016-17 regular season finale at Timmons Arena. Tickets for Saturday’s game are available at the Timmons Arena Box Office or online at FurmanPaladins.com. The game has been designated as a “White Out” with all Paladin fans encouraged to wear white as they honor seniors TK Hayes and Kris Acox in their final home game.
Saturday’s game will be streamed live on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app. The audio broadcast will be available locally in Greenville on FoxSports 1440AM and worldwide by using the TuneIn Radio app. Links for the video stream, audio stream and live statistics can be found at FurmanPaladins.com.
