Greenville, S.C. (Furman SID) – Five Paladins reached double figures and Furman held ETSU without a field goal over the final 4:13 to claim an 83-79 victory over the Buccaneers on Senior Night Sunday evening at Timmons Arena.
 
With the victory, Furman (22-7, 13-3 SoCon) joined Duke, Gonzaga, Houston, Kansas, Liberty, and Saint Mary’s as the only schools to reach 22 wins in at least six of the last seven seasons and registered its first regular season sweep of ETSU since 1987. The Paladins also kept pace in the Southern Conference and trail first-place Samford by a game with two games to go. 
 
Furman trailed 78-75 with 4:14 remaining after ETSU’s Jaden Seymour connected on his only three-point basket of the night. The Paladins held the Bucs without a basket on just four field goal attempts the rest of the way to rally.
 
Junior Garret Hien drained a triple off a Mike Bothwell assist to tie the game before Jalen Slawson forced a turnover on the defensive end and hit 1-of-2 free throws on Furman’s next possession to put the Paladins in front. ETSU’s Jalen Haynes missed two free throws on the Bucs’ next possession and Mike Bothwell responded by converted on two trips to the foul line to up the lead to 81-78. Seymour hit 1-of-2 at the line for ETSU, but the Paladins turned away the Bucs on the next two possessions before Marcus Foster and Mike Bothwell both went 1-for-2 at the charity stripe to help seal the win.
 
Foster, who paced Furman in scoring in the first meeting with the Bucs, led the Paladins with 15 points and added six rebounds and three assists. JP Pegues and Hien scored 13 points apiece while Slawson posted his eighth double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Alex Williams rounded out the double figure scorers with 10 points.
 
Furman shot 49.2% from the field and finished 15-for-20 at the foul line. The Paladins committed just five turnovers and scored 14 points off 14 Buccaneer miscues. 
 
Jordan King led ETSU with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field. Haynes scored 18 and Seymour finished with 15 points and a team-high nine rebounds. The Bucs shot 54.5% from the floor and connected on 10-of-20 three-point attempts to keep pace most of the night. 
 
ETSU raced out to a six-point lead in the opening minutes, but Furman rallied to lead 39-37 at the break. The Paladins stretched the advantage to 53-45 in the second half before ETSU rallied to game the lead with under 4:30 to play.
 
Furman closes out its regular season home schedule on Wednesday when it hosts Mercer in Timmons Arena at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at FurmanPaladins.com. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ and fans can listen to the radio broadcast on The Fan Upstate at 97.7 FM, 1330 AM, and via the Audacy app with Dan Scott and Tom Van Hoy on the call.