Furman is unlikely to be picked first in the Southern Conference’s next preseason men’s basketball poll.
The Paladins’ first, second, third and fifth leading scorers have entered the NCAA transfer protocol. The four – J.P. Pegues, Marcus Foster, Alex Williams and Carter Whitt – account for 56.5 of the 2023-24 Paladins’ 79.5 points per game.
A valuable asset, Timmons Arena, is also taking a season off.
As Major Clipton said in the final scene of The Bridge on the River Kwai, “Madness! Madness!
Bob Richey, whose program has been less affected than most by transfers in past seasons, now faces a major rebuilding job. Furman (17-16, 10-8 SoCon) was the fifth seed in the conference tournament, falling to champion Samford in the semifinals.
Pegues led the Paladins in scoring (18.4), minutes played (34.1), free-throw percentage (.875) and assists (4.8). Foster averaged 17.0 points, Williams 13.2 and Whitt 7.9. Foster led in rebounds (7.5), Williams in three-point shooting (.399).
Not all was bad. Will Morlan had a hole-in-one.
Morlan aced the 14th hole at Bulls Bay Golf Club in Awendaw, where he is tied for 34th after two rounds of the tournament named for the course and hosted by the University of South Carolina.
The Alpharetta, Ga., produced finished the round at even par.
Harris Barth (+3) led Furman with a 2-under 70 and a team-high three birdies, including back to back birdies, on Nos. 12 13 on Monday. He is tied for 45th with 18 holes to play.
Matthew Watkins (-7) of New Mexico leads the tournament by one stroke after firing a 66 on Monday. He holds a two-round total of 71-66=137.
No. 19 New Mexico (-16) leads the tournament by two strokes over 37th-ranked LSU (-14). No. 31 Purdue (-6) led the field with a 272 on Tuesday to move into third place, and West Virginia (-1) sits in fourth. Host South Carolina (E) and 16th-ranked ETSU (E) are tied for fifth. Furman (+14) is tied for 12th with Kentucky.
The 54-hole tournament concludes Tuesday.
Senior Sierra Tufts held Western Carolina to one run over five innings in the circle and Chrissy Fleming beat a throw to the plate to score the winning run as Furman completed a three-game Southern Conference series sweep of the Catamounts in walk-off fashion with a 5-4 verdict on Sunday afternoon at Pepsi Stadium.
The victory, Furman’s sixth straight, improved the Paladins to 16-14 overall and 3-0 in league play. The Paladins have swept three consecutive series versus Western Carolina and won 10 straight meetings against the Catamounts. Western Carolina dropped to 7-15 overall and 0-3 in the SoCon.
Furman took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second when Alex Rose Molinar reached on an error to start the frame and scored on Ashlee Lykins two-out, RBI single up the middle. In the bottom of the fourth, Molinar and Chloe Fabio delivered singles ahead of an Ainsley Yoshizumi walk to load the bases. After the lead runner was erased on a grounder to first base, Kaitlyn Laudick worked a base on balls to force in a run. Sylvia Burroughs followed with a line drive single to center to plate to runs and up the Paladin lead to 4-0.
Tufts (8-4) cruised through the first four innings before Lauralee Scott came on in relief and held the Catamounts to one run over the next two frames. With the Paladins leading 4-1 in the top of the seventh, Sydney Dirks worked a leadoff walk and Lily Bell laced a single to left field to send Furman to the bullpen.
Tufts returned to the circle and induced a lineout for the first out of the innings, but Western Carolina got an RBI groundout by Savannah Baldwin and RBI base hit from Maya McPherson to trim the Furman lead to 4-3.
With two outs in the seventh, Jeralynn Wells and singled and Kennedy Stewman followed with an RBI single back up the middle to knot the game at 4-4. Tufts retired Taylor Waitley to send the game to the bottom of the seventh tied, 4-4.
Burroughs opened Furman’s half of the seventh with a walk off Western Carolina reliever Tessa Juett. Kiley Perry bounced a grounder to third on which WCU’s McPherson missed a tag of Fleming, who was pinch-running for Burroughs.
Juett fanned struck out Poole and Ansley Chiang drew a walk to load the bases with one out and bring Molinar to the plate. The Paladin shortstop hit a tricky hopper towards short and Bell attempted to force out Fleming at the plate, but the senior slid across home with the winning run as the throw bounced past Waitley.
Lykins and Burroughs each went 1/3 at the plate with a single and a walk to lead the Furman offense. With her first-inning RBI single, Lykins reached base safely for the 26th time in 27 games. Wells went 3-for-4 at the plate for Western Carolina while Stewman added a pair of hits.
Furman returns to the diamond on Wednesday with a 3 p.m. doubleheader at USC Upstate. The twinbill is to be streamed live on ESPN+ from Cyrill Stadium in Spartanburg.
Anna Morgan finished third and Audrey Ryu fourth at the Clemson Invitational in Sunset at The Reserve at Lake Keowee.
A native of Spartanburg, Morgan recorded an even-par 72 with a team-high three birdies on Sunday, while Ryu, from Dublin, Ohio, paced the Paladins with a 70 in the final round.
LSU’s Ingrid Lindblad (-18), the world’s top amateur, decimated the field to win by 10 strokes with a three-day total of 66-67-65=198.
No. 24 Vanderbilt (-12) won the tournament by six strokes over 17th-ranked Texas A&M (-6). No. 5 LSU (-3) finished third, followed by 18th-ranked Clemson (E) in fourth place. No. 32 Michigan State (+4) rounded out the top five. The Paladins (+14) finished 11th.
Furman defends its Southern Conference title at the SoCon Championships, at Hilton Head Island on April 14-16.
Furman wrapped up a season-long seven-match road trip on Sunday with a 4-0 men’s tennis defeat to the 16th-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks at Carolina Tennis Center.
Furman is 7-10 while South Carolina improves to 10-9 on the season.
A total of three singles matches went unfinished with Elijah Poritzky at No. 1, Thomas Kennedy at No. 2, and Cole Burnam at No. 6. Poritzky took the opening set from James Story in a tiebreaker, 7-6(1), and was trailing in the second, 4-3. Kennedy dropped the first set to Casey Hoole, ranked 105th nationally, 6-2, before rallying back to tie the second, 6-6, and was even at 2-2 in the tiebreaker. Burnam fell in the opening set to Carter Morgan, 6-2, and was leading in the second, 5-4.
The Paladins return to Mickel Tennis Center for the first time in over a month, hosting Emmanuel and Chattanooga in a doubleheader on Saturday. Furman entertains Emmanuel at 10 a.m. before stepping back into Southern Conference play at 2 p.m. versus Chattanooga.
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