The Furman Paladins that came into the Carolina First Arena on Thursday night were not the team that the Charleston Cougars were expecting.

This Furman team that Charleston beat twice last season outrebounded the Cougars by 20 and scored 23 second chance points.

But thanks to an 11-3 run with 14:16 left in the second half, Charleston gained a lead that it held until the very end as the Cougars won 92-80 in front of 3,248.

“They had us on the ropes. They made us earn this game tonight,” coach Bobby Cremins said.

Charleston had an eight-point lead at the half thanks to a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by none other than Andrew Goudelock, but the team failed to take that momentum into the second half. Furman came back and took a 52-51 lead as Chris Toler scored 8 points in the first four minutes.

At that point, Charleston knew for sure it would not be easy to put Furman away.

Goudelock immediately knocked down a 3-pointer while Furman’s Justin Dehm responded with one of his own to give Furman a 55-54 lead.

Goudelock then hit a signature floater in the middle of the lane. On the inbounds pass, Casaan Breeden made a steal and sunk a fadeaway trey. On the very next Furman possession, a Jeremy Simmons steal resulted in a big 3-point shot for freshman Andrew Lawrence.

“That’s a tough team. You gotta give a lot of props to them. That’s a way different team from last year,” Goudelock said.

Charleston improved to 7-0 in conference play and 12-6 overall as Goudelock led all scorers with 28 points. It marked his sixth straight game with more than 22 points.

It wasn’t just Goudelock who turned out big for the College though. Lawrence finished with 11 points, including a perfect 3-for-3 from 3-point land, and Willis Hall scored 12 points off the bench. Cremins credited his young players for stepping up and making tremendous plays throughout the game.

“I can’t say enough about our freshman. Andrew Lawrence and Willis Hall, the two freshman are really playing some great basketball for us,” Cremins said. “They’re learning. They have a lot to learn. They make a lot of mistakes, but I was really proud of them tonight.”

Tony White, Jr. added 12 points and Donovan Monroe finished with 11.

Bryson Barnes led the Paladins with 17 points and Amu Saaka chipped in 15.
Right now, confidence is running high for Charleston who have now won six straight and remained undefeated for the year at home.

“I think we should be proud of ourselves, but it’s only half way through. We don’t have anything to be cocky about,” Goudelock said. “We’ve been playing well, and a lot of people are gunning for us.”

The Cougars will now host Wofford on Friday in a rare back-to-back conference match up. That game will air on ESPN2 at 7 p.m.