By Justin Mathis (@J_Math23)
GREENVILLE, S.C. – After winning a thriller earlier this week to close out the previous year, Furman aimed to start 2026 on the right foot against a very tough Western Carolina squad to end the opening week of Southern Conference play.
The sellout crowd at Timmons Arena got its money’s worth, but only one group donning purple would leave ecstatic after this one. On this night, the Catamounts (5-8, 1-1 SoCon) emerged from the battle with an 80-77 overtime victory over the Paladins (10-5, 1-1), the first for Western Carolina in Greenville since November 28, 2012.
With less than two minutes left in the opening half, WCU’s Cord Stansberry and Marcus Kell each drilled three-pointers to create a 38-27 lead, only to see Charles Johnston drain a triple and Alex Wilkins swish a no-doubter from behind the mid-court logo, slicing the Catamount lead to 38-33.
“The place was rocking and unfortunately, I didn’t have our team ready to play in that first half at the necessary intensity and effort that is required to win in league games,” lamented Furman head coach Bob Richey. “We got beat up on the backboard and did a poor job defending the three-point line. I thought that when we finally woke up, we played pretty good basketball, but we didn’t play good enough to win it.”
Furman used an 8-2 burst over the first four minutes of the second half to pull within two points, and later surged ahead 44-42 on consecutive baskets by Wilkins. However, the lead was short-lived, as Justin Johnson and Kell quickly combined for a 7-0 burst and five-point Catamount cushion.
The Paladins jumped ahead by one point via an Asa Thomas triple, but Western Carolina picked up a trio of baskets – two from Tidjiane Dioumassi and a Kell layup – to reclaim a 58-53 lead. In the final 2:30 of regulation, each side only tallied one field goal as Wilkins scored a layup for a two point Paladin advantage, but Julien Soumaoro countered with one of his own, tying the game at 65.
In overtime, Kell knocked down a jumper and Tom House hit a three-pointer, which made for a 68-67 Furman lead less than a minute into the extra frame. On the next Catamount possession, Soumaoro earned a trip to the charity stripe, making both shots for a 69-68 Western Carolina lead.
Those two free throws kickstarted a 9-0 Catamount run that included a Kell triple and two Dioumassi free throws for a 76-68 advantage with 1:15 to play.
“It’s good,” said Western Carolina head coach Tim Craft about being able to go to Soumaoro, who he previously coached at Gardner-Webb. “He has a lot of trust in us, and we have a lot of trust in him. When things get rocky at different points in the game, he’s pretty calm out there and pretty poised. He definitely makes a difference out there.”
Thomas was fouled on a three-pointer and made all three shots at the line, trimming the margin to five. On the next trip up court, Soumaoro drained a fadeaway jumper from the left side, pushing the Catamount lead to seven with 40 seconds left.
Things got crazy late as Furman employed a full court press, forced back-to-back Western Carolina turnovers on inbound passes, and converted them into layups by Johnston and Wilkins, respectively, and sliced it down to a 78-77 margin with 23 seconds remaining. The Catamounts got the next inbounds pass to Stansberry, who was fouled and made both free throws, securing the road win for Western Carolina.
“That’s a great team win,” Craft stated. “We showed a lot of resilience and toughness to bounce back from the loss on Wednesday. I think that says a lot about our confidence to make plays down the stretch. We had to make a couple of big shots like Julien Soumaoro’s pullup to get it to five. Obviously, the press offense with under 30 seconds left wasn’t very good and we’ve got to do a better job with that, but we had a big enough lead to be able to withstand some of that.”
Conversely, Richey does not subscribe to any ideas or suggestions that point to absences and injuries on the Paladins’ side of things as reasons for losses or shortcomings.
“I don’t want to hear injuries. I am not interested in that,” Richey stated without hesitation. “We had enough for the Mercer game, didn’t we? We felt like we had enough in the Charleston Southern game. We can’t switch the narrative, bail ourselves out, and say we’ve got injuries. Injuries had nothing to do with why (Western Carolina) hit 10 threes and 17 offensive rebounds on us, and we missed nine free throws. There’s a certain way you’ve got to play, and we failed in that area today.”
“We’re going to get better from this and I’ve got full confidence in that. What this team has shown to this point is they’re willing to figure some things out. We’re going to stare at this one right in the face, look at it, call it exactly what it is, and not let anybody set a narrative that this is on injuries. This is on guts, effort, rising up, playing harder, and competing. That’s what this is on and that’s where we’ve got to make a decision. That is exactly what we’re going to do.”
Wilkins paced the Paladins with 24 points and six assists, both of which were game highs. Johnston tallied 14 points and six rebounds, while Ben Vander Wal finished with 11 points, eight rebounds, and six assists. As a team, Furman was 11-for-32 from long distance and 8-for-17 from the charity stripe. The Paladins outscored Western Carolina, 34-28, in the paint, and 16-3 in fastbreak points. Furman will travel to Chattanooga on Wednesday before hosting VMI on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Soumaoro posted a team-high 16 points and eight boards for Western Carolina, while Kell also tallied 16 points. Stansberry notched 15 points, along with 12 points from Dioumassi. WCU won the rebound battle, 48-35, and shot 10-for-20 from the arc. Western Carolina outscored Furman 18-9 in second chance points, 17-11 in bench points, and 16-13 in points off turnovers. The Catamounts begin their longest two-game SoCon road trip of the season Wednesday at Samford before visiting The Citadel on Saturday at 1 p.m.
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