KISSIMMEE, Fla. — For the second time in four years, Furman has come to the Magic Kingdom and a posted one-point win over a team from the Commonwealth of Virginia, but unlike its 68-67 win over Virginia in the opening round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament at the Kia Center, which required a JP Pegues three off a steal by Garrett Hien with 2.7 seconds remaining to secure the upset, the Paladins were asked to prevent previously unbeaten Richmond from scoring twice inside the final 16 seconds to get a 73-72 win in 2025 at the Terry’s Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational Imagination Bracket at State Farm Fieldhouse.
It was the first meeting between Furman and Richmond since 1976 in a series in which the Paladins now hold a 35-21 edge, as the clash rekindled an old Southern Conference rivalry. The Paladins improved to 4-3 overall with its third-straight win, while Richmond suffered its first defeat of the season, falling to 5-1.
The Spiders were attempting to improve to 6-0 for the first time since 1985-86. With the win by the narrowest margins, the Paladins will face Illinois State (5-2) in Friday afternoon’s championship game slated for a 3 p.m. ET tip-off. The Redbirds finished off Charlotte, 79-69, in the second matchup of the afternoon.
It will mark the first-ever meeting between the two programs. Charlotte (3-4) will now face Richmond (5-1) in the consolation game of the bracket, which will tip off at 12:30 p.m. ET on Friday afternoon. The Paladins have faced one other MVC team this season, taking on the Northern Iowa Panthers, as the Paladins dropped a 70-54 contest on the road in Cedar Falls. Illinois State has yet to face a Southern Conference foe this season.
It was Furman’s defense that had to overcome its miscues down the stretch to get the win over Richmond, as the Paladins turned it over on their final five possessions and connected on just 9-of-21 (33.3%) from the line, but Furman’s defense was enough.
Furman got a career-high matching 26 points from Alex Wilkins, while Asa Thomas added 20, and Cooper Bowser finished with 10 to round out the Paladins in double figure scorers.
Wilkins finished the afternoon by connecting on 10-of-19 shots from the field, including 2-of-7 from 3-point range and was 4-of-7 from the charity stripe. The true freshman guard from Mattapan, Mass., added four rebounds, three assists and one steal.
Thomas connected on 7-of-12 shots from the field, and he finished 5-of-12 from long-range. Thomas hit a key three and came up with one of the defensive plays of the night, blocking Jaden Daughtry’s dunk attempt following a rare turnover on the other end. His corner three with 4:12 remaining gave the Paladins a nine-point, 71-62, lead off a beautiful cross-court feed from Thomas. The Paladins would get only one more field goal, which came from Wilkins, for the remainder of the game, but they held on despite getting outscored 10-2 down the stretch.
”We threw the zone [1-3-1] out there a little bit and got them off rhythm a little bit but we knew that wasn’t going to last forever because Chris [Mooney] is too good of a coach and they were going to figure out,” Furman head coach Bob Richey said. “We started in the 1-3-1, but we had to trust our man-to-man late. They had two cracks at it baseline out to essentially take the lead, and to be honest with you, it was too not good looks.”
The Spiders held just one lead in the game, at 3-0 after Collin Tanner connected on a three on Richmond’s first shot of the game. The Paladins scored the next eight to take a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the game.
Furman employed a 1-3-1 zone early on to get the Spiders, who averaged 90 points coming into the game, out of rhythm. The Paladins held the Spiders below 40 points in both halves for the first time all season to post the one-point win. The Paladins led by as many as 15 points in the opening half (28-13) following a Wilkins three with 8:26 remaining in the half. The Spiders whittled the lead to five (43-38) at the half.
In the second half, the Spiders trimmed Furman’s lead to one possession on six occasions but never took the lead as the Paladins forced a shot-clock violation and Thomas blocked a shot at the rim. Following a Richmond timeout and a review, the Paladins forced a pair of tough shots from Aiden Argabright and Mike Walz on the final two shot attempts off baseline out of bounds attempts, and the Paladins held on for the one-point win.
”Coach kind of threw a curve ball there with the 1-3-1, and we thought it worked,” Thomas said. and “They didn’t know it was coming. We got a lot of stops at the beginning of the game, and that allowed us to get out to that big lead. We kept it and that’s all that matters.”
Richmond was led by three in double figures, as Daughtry led the Spiders with 12, while Mikkel Tyne and Will Johnston finished with 10 apiece.
The Paladins shot 51.9% (28-of-54) for the game, including a 32% (8-of-25) effort from 3-point land. The Paladins were strong defensively all day, holding the Spiders to just 40.7% (24-of-59) from the field and just 33.3% (9-of-27) from long range. Richmond stayed in the game with a 88.2% (15-of-17) effort at the charity stripe.
In the second game, Illinois State held off a pesky Charlotte team to eventually come away with a 79-69 contest and led wire-to-wire. Boden Skunberg’s 22 points on 8-for-14 shooting from the field and 2-of-5 from long-range in the win. Skunberg was also 4-of-6 from the charity stripe. The 6-foot-5 senior guard added 10 boards for a strong double-double performance.
Charlotte’s Ben Bradford, who opened the season with a career-high 31 points in a win over Indiana State, led all scorers with 23 points in the 49ers’ setback. Bradford connected on 9-of-13 shots from the field and was 1-of-2 from long-range. He was one of two Charlotte players in double figures, as he was joined by Major Freeman, who added 12 off the bench.
The Redbirds came out red hot and connected on seven of their first eight shots from the field to take an early 15-5 lead. The Redbirds led by as many as 12 with a little over a minute left in the opening half, however, much like it had done for much of the afternoon, the 49ers did a nice job of keeping the talented Redbirds team from pulling away. Freeman connected on a three with 42 seconds left to get Charlotte to within nine, at 43-34, at the half.
The second half saw the Redbirds grow their lead to 54-39 (their largest of the afternoon) following a 7-0 run. Charlotte did not get within seven points the rest of the way, and the Redbirds ended the contest with 10-straight foul shots to close out the seven-point win.
Skunberg, whose 22 points were a season-high, was joined in double figures by Chase Walker, who added 18 points, and Ty’Reek Coleman added 13 points. The Redbirds connected on 48.1% (25-of-52) from the field, including 34.8% (8-of-23) from 3-point range.
The Redbirds were solid from the line, connecting at a 67.7% clip (21-of-31). Illinois State’s tenacious defense for much of the game limited the 49ers to just 44.2% (23-of-52) from the field, and the 49ers finished 47.4% (9-of-19) from beyond the arc.
