Greenville, S.C. (Furman SID) – Five players reached double figures and Furman’s defense held Western Carolina to 31.7% shooting as the Paladins claimed their eighth consecutive victory with a 93-59 triumph over the Catamounts before a packed house at Timmons Arena on Saturday afternoon.
 
The eight-game unbeaten stretch is the longest for Furman since winning 12 straight games to begin the 2018-19 campaign. With Saturday’s victory, Furman claimed its 14th win in the last 15 meetings versus Western Carolina. 
 
The Paladins opened the game on a 14-0 run and led wire-to-wire to improve to 21-6 overall and 12-2 in Southern Conference play. The Catamounts dropped to 14-13 overall and 7-7 in the league.
 
Furman held Western Carolina without a basket until the 13:57 mark of the first half and built a 17-point advantage before carrying a 41-31 lead into the halftime break. With the margin down to 44-36 following a Tre Jackson triple with 18:32 remaining, the Paladins embarked on a 17-0 run and held the Catamounts without a field goal for over eight minutes to extend the advantage to 61-36. Seven different Paladins scored during the run while Western Carolina was forced into 10 consecutive missed shots.
 
The Paladins, who shot 49.3% from the field, connected on 55.6% of their second half shots. Furman posted a 44-24 edge in points in the paint, outscored Western Carolina 12-2 in transition, and managed a 27-4 advantage in bench points. JP Pegues, who scored seven points and grabbed a career-best nine rebounds, dished out seven assists as the Paladins registered 21 assists on 34 baskets.
 
Jalen Slawson and Marcus Foster led the way with 17 points apiece and Mike Bothwell added 16. Tyrese Hughey and Alex Williams rounded out the Paladins double figure scorers with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Furman finished with a 53-39 rebounding edge and committed just six turnovers.
 
Jackson led the Catamounts with 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting while DJ Campbell contributed 12 points. Western Carolina converted on just 3-of-15 threes and 16-of-28 trips to the foul line.
 
Furman goes for its seventh straight road victory when it travels to Charleston, S.C., to take on The Citadel on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. 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.