SoCon’s Furman into first NCAA tourney given that ’80

ASHEVILLE, N.C.– Jalen Slawson scored 20 points and Furman beat Chattanooga 88-79 on Monday night to win the Southern Conference tournament and advance to the NCAA competition for the first time since 1980.

The NCAA field contained 48 teams the last time the top-seeded Paladins made the Big Dance. Furman coach Bob Richey had the Paladins on their way last season as the No. 2 seed up until David Jean-Baptiste buried a 35-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer to rally top-seeded Chattanooga to a 64-63 victory.Furman (27-7)functioned this time around, although contributing to the program’s record win total didn’t come easy.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated Slawson had 3 baskets in an 18-0 run to give the Paladins a 23-7 lead nine

minutes into the game. Chattanooga(18-17)was routing 30-11 when A.J. Caldwell scored the final 5 points in a 13-0 spurt to pull within 30-26. Chattanooga two times cut its deficit to three, however a layup by JP Pegues provided Furman a 38-33 lead at halftime.Chattanooga made a late run at the Paladins, using back-to-back 3-pointers from Jamal Johnson and Caldwell’s layup to close to within 69-65

at the 5:02 mark– however the Mocs would get no closer.Slawson made 8 of 12 shots from the flooring with two 3-pointers for Furman. Pegues pitched in with 17 points in spite of missing all seven of his 3-point efforts and Mike Bothwell completed with 16 points, leaving him 10 shy of 2,000 for his career. Bothwell is trying to become the fifth Paladin to reach the 2,000-point plateau.Jake Stephens paced Chattanooga with 25 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks. Johnson amounted to 17 points and Caldwell published his first double-double of the season with 14 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists.Furman made

all six of its previous NCAA competition looks between 1971 to 1980. Its only win was a 75-67 victory over South Carolina in 1974. They lost to Pittsburgh 81-78 in the Sweet Sixteen.Chattanooga and former SoCon member Davidson have actually made the most NCAA tournament appearances in conference history with 12.