Only two days after climbing into a tie for first place in the Southern Conference North Division standings, East Tennessee State fell victim to poor second-half shooting and dropped an 84-71 decision to the Furman Paladins Monday night at Memorial Center.
Davidson’s loss Tuesday night against the College of Charleston means the Bucs will again be playing for a share of the division championship in their game Saturday against Appalachian State.
Furman forward Karim Souchu scored a career-high 32 points as the Bucs (16-10, 10-5 SoCon) lost at home for only the second time this season. In the second half, Furman used an 18-of-32 shooting clip (56 percent) from the floor, and held the Bucs to just 8-of-28 from the field (29 percent) to secure the victory.
“In the second half, we just couldn’t make a basket to save our souls,” ETSU head coach Ed DeChellis said. “When that happens it makes things tough.”
Leading 42-33 at the intermission, ETSU built a lead of as many as 10 points after freshman guard Ben Rhoda sank a pair of free throws to make it 51-41 with 17:35 left. However, at that point Furman’s offense caught fire while the Bucs — who shot 17-of-32 in the first half for 53 percent shooting — cooled off.
The Paladins (13-16, 7-8) proceeded to outscore ETSU 31-10 over the next 12 minutes to make the score 70-61 with 4:59 left in the game. The Bucs managed one last charge over the next few possessions, pulling to within five at 72-67 with 3:45 remaining. However, Furman closed out the contest on a 12-4 offensive run to ice the game.
Souchu’s game-high 32 points and nine rebounds led Furman, while teammate Guilherme Da Luz was the only other Paladin player to reach double figures with 12 points.
For the Bucs, true freshman guard Tim Smith led the way with 19 points, while junior forward Zakee Wadood scored 16. Junior forward Jerald Fields finished with a double-double thanks to 11 points and 11 rebounds, despite fouling out of the game with 6:11 remaining in the game.
ETSU now turns its attention to a critical game with Appalachian State at 4 p.m. Saturday in Memorial Center. The No. 2 seed in the North Division and a bye in the first round of the Southern Conference Tournament will be on the line.
“It’s still not as easy as it sounds and I think that was obvious tonight,” DeChellis said. “We’re going to try to give the guys a couple days off to get their legs back and then we’ll go back to practice hard in preparation for Appalachian State.

Author