ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The third-seeded Samford men's basketball team fell in a hard-fought game to second-seeded Furman, 71-68, in the semifinals of the Southern Conference Tournament Sunday evening at the Harrah's Cherokee Center.
 
With the loss, Samford ends its season with a mark of 21-11. Furman improves to 22-11, and the Paladins will take on top-seeded Chattanooga in the tournament championship game Monday evening.
 
"This was a great game for the fans," Samford head coach Bucky McMillan said. "It was back and forth. We didn't come out on the right side of that, but it was a heck of a game for the fans and for the SoCon. We played well in spots, we could play better. We came out the first four minutes of the second half and didn't play our best ball and it cost us. We also had too many turnovers. We had 20 turnovers and it's hard to win a semifinal game doing that."
 
Samford was led in the game by Ques Glover with 23 points. Jermaine Marshall had 22 points and 12 rebounds for his 11^th double-double of the season. Jaden Campbell added 14 points for Samford.
 
This marks the first time Samford has won 20 games since 2016-17 and the first time the Bulldogs won 20 games in the regular season since 1998-99. The 10 wins in SoCon play were the most since Samford joined the league in 2008-09.
 
"At the end of the day, it was a good season for us," McMillan said. "Our team is mainly freshmen and sophomores. They know we are now. They know who Samford is and we'll be back here, we'll be back in this tournament and we're going to win this tournament."
 
Furman was led by Jalen Slawson and Mike Bothwell with 17 points each. Conley Garrison added 10 points for the Paladins.
 
Samford jumped out to an early 9-3 lead on a three-pointer by Glover with 15:11 to go in the first half. The Bulldogs built the lead to 15 points at 28-13 on a three-pointer by Campbell at the 6:01 mark in the first half. Furman scored the next 10 points to cut the lead to five at 28-23 with 4:07 to go in the first half after a three-pointer by Bothwell.
 
The Bulldogs pushed the lead back out to eight points at 33-25 after two free throws by Glover with 2:15 to go in the first half. After Furman cut the lead to 33-27, a late hook shot by Jacob Tryon gave Samford a 35-27 lead heading into the locker room at halftime.
 
Furman scored the first five points of the second half to cut the lead to 35-32 with 19:12 to go after a three-point play by Marcus Foster. Samford pushed the lead back to eight at 40-32 with 17:10 to go on a three-point play by Glover. Furman closed to within four points at 42-38 on a three-pointer by Garrison with 15:22 to go.
 
The teams traded baskets over the next several minutes. Furman took the lead at 51-50 on a layup by Slawson with 9:20 to go, but Marshall answered with a three-pointer to give Samford a 53-51 lead with 9:09 to go. Slawson then made a three-pointer of his own to put the Paladins ahead, 54-53 with 8:41 left.
 
The lead changed hands three times over the next couple of minutes. With Samford leading, 60-58, Furman scored the next five points to take a 62-60 lead with 2:45 to go after a three-point play by Bothwell. Furman came back to build a 68-65 lead with 16 seconds to go after two free throws by Slawson. Samford cut the lead to one at 68-67 on two Campbell free throws. Slawson then hit two free throws to put Furman up, 70-67. Campbell then made one of two free throws to make the score 70-68. Samford got the offensive rebound on the miss on the second free throw, but the Bulldogs were unable to score, and Furman held on for the 71-68 win.


 
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