Lexington, Va. – Furman reached the 20-win plateau for the sixth time in the last seven seasons and notched its sixth consecutive road victory with a 94-63 triumph over VMI on Wednesday night at Cameron Hall in Lexington, Va.
The Southern Conference-leading Paladins (20-6, 11-2 SoCon) shot 54% from the field, connected on 17 three-pointers, and dished out a season-best 30 assists on 36 field goals to secure their seventh consecutive victory and complete the regular season sweep of VMI.
Leading 25-19 with under six minutes left in the first half, Furman drained three consecutive triples to ignite a 29-4 run to end the period and carry a 54-23 lead into the break. Sophomores JP Pegues and Alex Williams posted eight and six points, respectively, during the decisive stretch as the Paladins hit nine of their final 10 shots in the half.
Furman scored the first five points of the second half on a triple from Jalen Slawson and a Marcus Foster layup to extend the lead to 59-23 and push the run to 34-4. VMI trimmed the margin to 26, but Williams caught fire again and buried back-to-back threes to help the Paladins protect the lead en route to their 13th win over VMI in the last 16 meetings between the schools.
Williams netted a game-high 18 points on 4-of-6 shooting beyond the arc and added eight rebounds. Bothwell and Pegues each hit on three triples to tally 14 and 13 points, respectively, while sophomore Tyrese Hughey connected on 5-of-7 field goal tries to post 12 points. Slawson rounded out the Paladins double-figure scorers with 11 points and sophomore Carter Whitt chipped in with eight points and a career-high 10 assists.
Taeshaud Jackson led the Keydets with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Asher Woods totaled 12 points and Tyler Houser added 11. VMI shot 36% from the floor and connected on just 5-of-20 three-point attempts.
Furman returns to Timmons Arena to host Western Carolina in the Ingles SoCon Game of the Week on Saturday, February 18, at 2 p.m.
