Jalen Slawson and Conley Garrison each contributed 15 points as No. 2 Furman eliminated No. 7 Mercer, 80-66, Saturday evening in the quarterfinals of the Ingles SoCon Men's Basketball Championship at Harrah's Cherokee Center.
With the win, Furman (21-11) advances to Sunday's semifinals, where the Paladins will face 3rd seeded Samford who edged UNC-Greenboro Saturday. Tipoff for Sunday's semifinal contest is set for 6:30 p.m. You can hear the game on ESPN Upstate over the air, through the Audacy App, or through the streaming player below.
Saturday's win marked the 15th straight for the program over Mercer. Mike Bothwell scored 14 points in the win, while Alex Hunter added 13 points and three assists. Garrison dished out a team high five assists, while JP Pegues scored 10 points and paced the Paladins with five rebounds. Kamar Robertson posted a game high 20 points and seven rebounds for the Bears, and Felipe Haase added 16 points and six rebounds.
The Paladins led wire-to-wire after starting the game on a 12-4 run with Garrison and Bothwell combining for 10 points. Mercer got to within four points three times with the last coming at 20-16 with 8:57 remaining. The Bears cut Furman’s lead down to five, 26-21, with 6:25 left but the Paladins responded by closing out the first half on a 20-6 run to lead 46-27 at halftime. Garrison and Bothwell connected on back-to-back 3-pointers during the final 1:31 to give Furman the 19-point halftime advantage. The Paladins combined to shoot 66.7 percent (18-of-27) in the first half led by Garrison’s 13 points.
Furman built its lead out to 21 points early in the second half when Bothwell’s layup made the score 50-29 at the 19:07 mark. Mercer used a 20-11 run over the next 7:30 to cut the Paladins’ lead down to 61-49. Jalen Johnson’s jumper with 9:23 left put the score at 62-51.
The Paladins broke the game open courtesy of a 15-4 run over the following 5:08 and extended their lead back to 77-55 when Pegues connected on a pair of free throws. Alex Williams would give Furman an 80-61 lead with 1:18 to go on his 3-pointer.
The Bears recorded the game’s last five points to make the final score 80-66.
The Paladins went 17-for-19 from the free throw line and shot 52.9 percent (27-for-51) from the field. Furman made 9-of-22 3-pointers (40.9 percent). Furman held a 6-0 advantage in fast break points and the teams were tied with 36 points each in the paint. Furman and Samford meet Sunday night for a spot in the SoCon Finals on Monday. The two teams split the pair of regular season meetings, so Sunday wills serve as the rubber match.
