myles lewis vs. furmyles lewis vs. furman socon tourneyman socon tourney
Todd Drexler/SESPORTSMEDIA.com
91
Winner VMI VMI 13-11,7-7 SoCon
90
Furman Furman 16-9,10-5 SoCon
Winner
VMI VMI
13-11,7-7 SoCon
91
Final
90
Furman Furman
16-9,10-5 SoCon
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 OT 1 F
VMI VMI 35 45 11 91
Furman Furman 42 38 10 90

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Keydets Top Furman in OT Thriller, Advance to SoCon Semis

Box Score
 
ASHEVILLE, N.C. -  Down by 10 with just over three minutes to play in regulation, the VMI basketball team made a furious rally to knot the score at 80 apiece to force overtime and eventually pulled out a 91-90 overtime victory over No. 3 seed Furman Saturday night at Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina.
 
The Keydets (13-11, 7-7) will play in the semifinals of the tournament for the first time since 2003. VMI will face No. 7 seed Mercer, which upset No. 2 Wofford earlier in the day to set up the showdown at 7:30 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPNU and available on the ESPN app with a cable subscription.
 
Senior guard Greg Parham converted a pair of free throws at the 3:08 mark and a minute later scored a jumper to trim the Furman lead to 80-74 with 2:13 on the clock. On VMI's next possession, Parham converted a three-pointer at the top of the arc to make it 80-77 with 1:28 to go.
 
The Paladins (16-9, 10-5) milked the clock but missed a three-point attempt by Noah Gurley with one minute to play. On the other end, Sean Conway found a wide open Jake Stephens in three-point range and the Bunker Hill, W.Va. native sunk it to tie the game at 80 apiece with 33 seconds to play.  Furman's Gurley missed a jumper to win the game and the overtime period was forced.
 
VMI senior Myles Lewis kicked it up a notch in the overtime period to score VMI's next six points, including a layup, a huge steal that led to another layup in transition, and a short jumper to pull VMI ahead 86-82 with 2:43 to play. Parham scored a jumper to make the game 88-82 before Furman's Alex Hunter converted a three. Parham was then fouled with 1:10 left and converted both free throws to make it 90-85.
 
Furman's Clay Mounce quickly scored a three to cut the VMI lead to 90-88 with 0:57 on the clock. Stephens was fouled, missed his first free throw but converted the second in what turned out to be the difference with two seconds remaining. The Paladins' full-court heave was received by Gurley, who spun around and converted an 18-footer from the baseline but was unable to shoot from the intended three-point range to tie the game.
 
Stephens finished the game with 25 points while Parham ended with 21. Freshman Trey Bonham logged 14 points, Lewis finished with 13 and Sean Conway earned a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds in the win that featured five ties and four lead changes.
 
Furman was paced by Gurley's 30 points while Mounce and Hunter both finished with 17.
 
Head coach Dan Earl Quotes:
"Wow – that was something. It wasn't exactly how we drew it up. It wasn't our brand of basketball for about 35 minutes. I'm super proud of the guys. We kept fighting and swinging and hanging in there. We finally made some shots down the stretch. You have a senior like Myles Lewis who was just outstanding the last few minutes and in overtime. We didn't play a deep bench. I'm super proud of the guys for continuing to fight in what was not a clean game for us. I'm really proud and we'll see if we can keep going.
 
"Myles was outstanding late in the game. Early on, they were playing off him a little. He is such a good slasher that he can free guys up. He creates a lot of stuff on the open floor but we weren't able to get down in transition very much. Late in the game, he made some really big time plays. Defensively, he had some tie-ups and then had the huge steal in overtime that led to his layup in transition. I'm really proud of him because it wasn't his best game, either. He kept fighting and was huge for us down the stretch.
 
"We have high character kids. We kept believing. A few of the timeouts we looked like we didn't know what was going to happen but we eventually locked in. Greg Parham has put us on his back multiple times this year – he was big down the stretch, as well. He and Jake Stephens just kept telling the guys to grind it out. It wasn't the prettiest of games but we kept fighting and we pulled it out.
 
"The guys know what to do and they execute well, but sometimes it's just about making plays. Last year we lost 11 games by six or fewer points. We got on the right side in many of those games this year because our guys' confidence is up and we believe we should win games – and there's a lot to be said for that. I'm super proud of them for sticking together and grinding it out."






 
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