Advertisement Furman extends win streak to 10 Paladins notch 20th win of the season Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Devin Sibley scored 22 points and Kris Acox added 18points and 14 rebounds as Furman notched its 10th consecutive victory and fifthstraight road win with a 74-62 triumph over Western Carolina at the RamseyCenter on Wednesday evening. With the win, the first-place Paladins improved to 20-8overall and 13-2 in Southern Conference play. Furman recorded its first 20-winseason since 2010-11 and equaled its longest road winning streak (5) sinceclaiming 10 straight wins away from home from 1929-30 to 1930-31. WesternCarolina fell to 7-20 overall and 2-12 in the SoCon. Trailing 31-30, Furman grabbed the lead for good with1:59 to go in the first half on Jonathan Jean’s layup. Moments later, Acoxstole the ball at the top of the key and went coast-to-coast for the slam.After Western Carolina missed two free throws with 3.5 seconds left inthe half, Jean took a pass, raced down the floor and drained a three as timeexpired to give the Paladins a 37-31 halftime lead. Andrew Brown opened the second half with a trey asFurman pushed its run to 10-0 and its lead to 40-31. The Paladins built a 59-45advantage with 9:51 to go on back-to-back baskets by Acox. The Catamounts useda 9-2 run to trim the Furman lead to seven points at 61-54 on Onno Steger’sfree throws with 6:26 to play, but Furman extended the lead back to doublefigures on Sibley’s basket with 4:14 left and never let the lead slip below 10points the rest of the way. Sibley hot 7-of-19 shots from the floor and went 5-of-6at the foul line to lead the Paladins. Acox connected on 7-of-9 field goals andadded four steals and four assists to go with his eighth double-double of thecampaign. Geoff Beans contributed nine points, while John Davis III dished outfive assists. The Paladins shot 49% from the field and made good on8-of-21 three-point attempts. Furman made 18-of-31 free throw tries, posted a35-34 edge on the glass and outscored the Catamounts 28-20 in the paint. Devin Peterson led Western Carolina with 22 points andMarc Gosselin added 16 points and nine rebounds. The Catamounts shot 41%, butmade just 11-of-20 free throw attempts. Furman returns home on Saturday when it entertains theUNCG Spartans in a key SoCon showdown at 4 p.m. at Timmons Arena. Tickets forSaturday’s game are available at the Timmons Arena Box Office or online atFurmanPaladins.com. The game will be streamed live on ESPN3 and theWatchESPN app. The audio broadcast will be available locally in Greenville onFoxSports 1440AM and worldwide by using the TuneIn Radio app. Links for thevideo stream, audio stream and live statistics can be found atFurmanPaladins.com.