No. 23 Furman tops Charleston Southern, stays unbeaten
GREENVILLE, S.C. — Noah Gurley scored 17 points, Alex Hunter and Andrew Brown had 16 points apiece and No. 23 Furman pulled away late to beat Charleston Southern 77-69 on Tuesday night in its first-ever home game as a Top 25 team.
The Paladins (11-0) have been one of college basketball’s biggest surprises with their school-record run to start the season — a stretch that included defeating defending national champs Villanova and a second Final Four team from last year in Loyola-Chicago.
But Furman struggled to break away from the Buccaneers (4-5) until the final nine minutes.
Charleston Southern trailed 54-52 on Dontrell Shuler’s layup with less than 10 minutes left. After that, the Paladins went on a 14-4 run to move in front. Tre Clark had four points during the surge and when Noah Gurley nailed a 3-pointer with 5:51 to go, Furman was up 68-56.
Charleston Southern could not respond and college basketball’s feel-good story of the season remained on track.
The Paladins won despite a scoreless night from leading scorer Jordan Lyons (20.2 points per game), who missed all seven of his shots.
Matt Rafferty had 14 points and 14 rebounds for Furman.
Deontaye Buskey and Duncan LeXander had 13 points each for Charleston Southern.
Furman, which joined the AP Top 25 last week for the first time in school history, had to wait another week — and make it through road wins at Elon and South Carolina Upstate — before it could celebrate its achievement on its home court. And it looked like the Paladins would have plenty to cheer about after they used a 17-8 run midway through the opening period to build a 26-18 lead.
But Furman went cold after that, missing seven straight shots as the Buccaneers of the Big South Conference tightened things up.
PENN 78, NO. 17 VILLANOVA 75
In Philadelphia, AJ Brodeur scored 16 points as Penn beat No. 17 Villanova, the Quakers’ first win over the Wildcats since 2002. Penn fans stormed the court after Villanova’s Phil Booth missed the tying 3-point attempt and set off a regular-season celebration not seen in Philly in years. And with Wildcats games Joseph’s, good against had La reason Salle won Big and — a 5 city-record the rivals the national Quakers. Temple, 25 champion straight Saint Penn’s student section started rocking the bleachers with minutes left, and the Quakers avoided a late scare and delivered the latest memorable moment at the Palestra. Penn coach Steve Donahue, who led Cornell to the Sweet 16 in 2010, may have another blooming Ivy League power. Penn last beat Villanova at the Palestra on Dec. 5, 2001 and hadn’t beat them at all since Dec. 10, 2002. The Wildcats hadn’t lost a city series game since Temple beat Nova 76-61 on Dec. 5, 2012.