Overtime Thriller: ETSU rallies from 15 down to overcome Furman

Playing in front of the largest home crowd of the season, East Tennessee State rallied from a 15-point deficit to pull out an overtime thriller over Furman on Wednesday night. With the come-from-behind 75-71 victory in an electric Freedom Hall atmosphere, the Bucs retained sole possession of first place in the Southern Conference. The Bucs improved to 17-7 overall and 9-2 in the league. The Paladins fell two games back at 16-8 and 7-4 in the league. A huge defensive effort led to the ETSU victory. The Bucs had 13 steals and forced 21 turnovers, including 11 by the SoCon Player of the Week Alex Wilkins. "I thought we were playing with an edge," ETSU coach Brooks Savage said. "We did a much better job on him the second half. He's a real good player. I know one ACC and one Big East team could probably use him." It was a tale of two halves as Furman led 35-23 at the break and held ETSU post players Blake Barkley and Cam Morris III to one point combined. Barkley finished the game as the Bucs' leading scorer with 15 points and Morris ended with nine points and nine rebounds. "A lot of stuff wasn't going our way in the first half," Barkley said. "Coach kept saying to stay locked in. In the first half, there were three or four shots I always make. The guys just stayed with us, passing us the ball and staying connected. Then, I made my foul shots down the stretch." Jordan McCullum and Brian Taylor II each totaled 14 points for the Bucs. Jaylen Smith ended with 13 points. He hit all three shots behind the 3-point line, including a game-tying shot with 15 seconds left in regulation. Smith said he felt the shot was good as soon as it left his hands. Furman's length gave the Bucs trouble in the early stages as the Paladins took a 12-4 lead before a timeout with 12:45 remaining in the first half. They continued to control the action over the first 20 minutes, going up 31-18 with 2:45 left. ETSU guard Allen Strothers went the length of the court and made a layup at the buzzer which cut the lead to 35-23 at halftime. Down by 15 early in the second half, the Bucs went on an 8-0 run to pull within 42-35 with 14:10 left. They kept pushing to tie the game at 53-apiece before Furman's Charles Johnston knocked down a 3-point shot. Undeterred, the Bucs finally took their first lead, 57-56, on Smith's step-back shot with four minutes remaining. Furman scored the game's next five points before Smith tied the game with the 3-point shot from up top. Taylor hit a 3-point shot to give the Bucs a 64-61 lead in overtime and they stayed in front the rest of the way. Wilkins led the Paladins with 19 points. Cooper Bowser, in his second game back from an injury, had 18 points and eight rebounds. He had multiple dunks against the Bucs before they were able to successfully double team him in the second half. "I was overrunning him in the first half and that was my fault," Barkley said about Bowser. "Our scheme was to stay behind him, and make him make a play. Once we started doing that, it forced them to kick it out where we could get the long rebounds." Charles Johnston and Tom House each scored 11 for Furman, which held a 36-29 rebounding advantage. But, the Bucs' 50 percent shooting in the second half and determined effort down the stretch was enough to overcome the Paladins. "We stayed together and were problem solving oriented," Savage said. "We tried to find a solution and get something going. Our shot selection early was dogwater, and we couldn't finish around the rim. We were tougher around the rim, and got the stops we didn't get in the first half." NEXT UP ETSU travels to VMI on Saturday at 1 p.m. Furman plays host to UNC Greensboro on Sunday at 1 p.m.