No. 23 Furman tops Charleston Southern to remain unbeaten

Greenville, S.C. — Noah Gurley paced five Paladins in double figures with a career-high 17 points as 23rd-ranked Furman topped Charleston Southern, 77-69, Tuesday evening at Timmons Arena.

The victory improved Furman to 11-0 and extended its regular season winning streak to 17 straight games dating back to last season. With their 18th victory in their last 19 games overall, the Paladins became the first Division I team in the country to reach 11 wins and fashioned Furman’s first 11-game winning streak since the 1978-79 season.

After leading 37-34 at the break, a three-point play from Clay Mounce and triples from Alex Hunter and Andrew Brown keyed a 10-2 run to up the Paladin lead to 49-40 with under 15 minutes to play. Dontrell Shuler’s jumper helped the Bucs trim the Furman lead back to two at 54-52 with under 10 minutes remaining by capping a 10-3 spurt for Charleston Southern.

Brown connected on a pair of free throws to ignite an 11-2 run that included four straight points from Tre Clark and ended with a three-pointer by Hunter with 7:08 to go to give the Paladins a 65-54 advantage. Charleston Southern got no closer than seven points the rest of the way.

Gurley finished 6-for-11 from the field to lead all scorers, while Brown and Hunter each drained four three-pointers to post 16 points apiece. Senior Matt Rafferty contributed with 14 points, 14 rebounds, six assists, four steals and three blocks. Clark finished with a career-best 11 points and recorded four steals.

Furman limited Charleston Southern to just 36.4% shooting in the second half and connected on 56.5% of its own shots over the final 20 minutes to finish at 47.5% from the field. The Paladins converted on 12-of-27 shots from beyond the arc and tallied 22 points off 17 Buccaneer turnovers.

Duncan LeXander and Deontaye Buskey led Charleston Southern with 13 points apiece, while Christian Keeling added 12 points and 10 boards.

The 23rd-ranked Paladins host UNCW on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Timmons Arena before visiting LSU for the non-conference finale on December 21.