Final: Furman 72 - 51 The Citadel
Bob Richey reached a tremendous milestone in his coaching career, picking up his 200th win at Furman. Coach Richey’s resume includes high major wins at Louisville and defending champion Villanova to go along with the 2023 SoCon championship and the subsequent win over Virginia in March Madness. Bob has only lost to The Citadel three times since he began as a head coach, so it was only fitting that his 200th was against the squad from Charleston.
The Citadel fought hard, hanging in with the Paladins for the first half behind 17 first half points from Braxton Williams. Coming out with a purpose in the second, Furman shut down the Bulldogs and dominated in the paint. Let’s get some quick takeaways from the final home game of the season.
Thank you Seniors! Ben Vander Wal, Tom House, Charles Johnston, and Thomas Tillman were all honored before the game. Vander Wal cut down the nets in 2023 and is surely hoping to help the others do the same this year.
The rebounds speak for themselves. The Dins used their size well, beating the Bulldogs on the glass by a whopping 30 rebound margin. The Citadel fought admirably in the first half, but could not withstand that dominance from Furman.
Charles Johnston was dominant with 13 rebounds. Another game where the bulk of his points came from inside or at the free throw line. Johnston went 0-3 from three, but was aggressive towards the rim, finishing with 13 points. He has not hit a three in three games, but has still been insistent on affecting the game by scoring. He has had 13 points in each of those games without a three.
Vander Wal’s final game looked like Vander Wal. He finished with 6 points, 7 rebounds (5 offensive), a steal and a block. His highlight moment was a huge alley-oop dunk followed by a late clock fadeaway jumper from the baseline. It seemed like Kobe or Dirk had stepped into Timmons for one play!
Wilkins looked in control this game. He floated in and out of his moments, focusing mainly on getting the ball inside to the bigs. He had 5 assists and only 6 shots.
Tom House forcing the issue. The threes weren’t falling tonight for Tom, but he forced the issue, getting into the paint and getting to the line. When threes aren’t going down for guys like Johnston and House, it is important they continue to drive and get fouled. Whistles can get tight in Asheville and it will be essential not to give away possessions with quick threes.
The defense stepped up! The defense shut The Citadel down in the second half, allowing only 20 points. Ed Bronson played a big role in that, keeping the hot Braxton Williams to only 8 in the second half. Furman’s success had been. built on their defense all year.
Furman will have a challenge on their hands going into the final game, looking to potentially reach the 3 seed for Asheville. Western Carolina is on a 5 game win streak, though only one of those is against a top half squad. The Dins will have to come out with some fight to come out on top in Cullowhee.
It seemed like Braxton Williams was hitting everything for them, I was surprised when I looked at the box score and saw that he needed 21 shots for his 25 points. Bronson had some great stops on him. Would be very happy to have 2 Bowsers returning next year, they're looking great out there!