Greenville, S.C. – Marcus Foster connected on the eventual game-winning three-pointer with 30 seconds to go and Jalen Slawson posted game-highs with 26 points and 11 rebounds to lead Furman to a 91-84 overtime win versus Southern Conference-leading Samford on Wednesday night at Timmons Arena.
With the victory, Furman improved to 16-6 overall and 7-2 in league play. The Bulldogs, who saw their eight-game winning streak snapped, dropped to 14-8 overall and 8-1 in the SoCon.
Foster drained a triple from the right wing with 30.1 seconds remaining to break an 84-84 deadlock and the Paladins kept Samford scoreless on its final three possessions to hand the Bulldogs their first conference defeat of the 2022-23 season. After Furman made good on 6-of-8 trips to the foul line in the opening 2:04 of the overtime period, Samford’s Ques Glover converted a back-to-back driving layups to give the Bulldogs an 83-82 lead. Alex Williams’ putback restored the Paladins’ lead before Jaden Campbell hit 1-of-2 at the line to even the game at 84-84 with under one minute to go prior to Foster’s go-ahead trey.
Following a timeout, Williams, who grabbed a career-best nine boards, rebounded Ques Glover’s miss in the paint and cashed in both opportunities at the line. Slawson rebounded Logan Dye’s missed triple on the next Samford possession and buried both chances at the line for the final margin.
The Paladins shot just 40% from the field but made 27-of-34 attempts at the charity stripe and managed a 40-35 rebounding margin. Furman grabbed a season-best 17 offensive rebounds, including six in overtime, and outscored the Bulldogs 23-8 on second-chance points.
Slawson went 6-of-12 from the floor and 13-of-15 at the line en route to his sixth double-double of the season and 16th of his career. Bothwell totaled 17 points, JP Pegues posted 15, Williams contributed 13 and Foster finished with 11 to give the Paladins five players in double figures.
Furman trailed 73-68 with under two minutes to play in regulation before Williams scored off a pass from Slawson to trim the deficit to three points. Slawson blocked a shot on Samford’s next possession and Bothwell dove on the loose ball and called timeout. After Williams tied the game with a triple out of the timeout and A.J. Staton-McCray answered with a three, Slawson drilled a three-pointer from the right corner with 18 seconds left to force overtime.
Dye paced the Bulldogs with 19 points, while Staton-McCray and Glover added 16 and 15 points, respectively. Bubba Parham finished with 10. Samford shot 55.2% from the field and outscored the Paladins 46-36 in the paint but committed 15 turnovers.
Furman travels to the Greensboro Coliseum to face the UNC Greensboro Spartans on Sunday at 3 p.m. on the Ingles SoCon Game Of The Week (CW62 locally).