Bryson Barnes' Career-High 26 Points Leads Furman Past Western Kentucky

In his first game of the 2011-12 season, Bryson Barnes scored a career-high 26 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked three shots, leading Furman to a 76-63 victory over Western Kentucky on Saturday night at the E.A. Diddle Arena.

The win marked the second-straight season the Paladins have defeated a Sun Belt team by double digits on the road. With the win, Furman improves to 6-4, while Western Kentucky falls to 4-8 on the season. The win by the Paladins marks their third in a row after dropping back-to-back games to conference foes Elon and Davidson.

The Paladins took control of the game from the outset and never trailed. At halftime, the Paladins had a 31-21 lead. They would see their lead grow to as many as 15 points on a Bryant Irwin triple. The score was 45-30 with 14:17 to play. The Hilltoppers slowly chipped away at the Paladin advantage to get back into the contest.

The homestanding Hilltoppers would post a 21-11 run from that point, trimming 10 points off the Paladins' lead. They would get within five points after a steal and layup by Nigel Snipes made it 56-51 with 7:34 to play.

From that point, however, it would be all Paladins, finishing the final 7.5 minutes by out-scoring the Hilltoppers 20-12. Furman did the majority of its damage down the stretch from the free-throw line, as the Paladins posted 16 of their final 20 points from the charity stripe. Furman made more free throws (27) in the contest than Western Kentucky attempted (25).

Barnes finished the night connecting on 6-of-9 shots from the field, including going a perfect 3-for-3 from downtown, while connecting on an impressive 11-of-14 from the charity stripe. With his 11 rebounds, Barnes recorded the fifth double-double of his career. Barnes was forced to miss the first nine games of the season for academic reasons.

Joining Barnes in double figures in the victory were Richard Brown and Brandon Sebirumbi, who finished with 11 and 10 points, respectively, to round out solid efforts of their own. Brown was 4-of-6 from the floor and 3-for-4 from the charity stripe to account for his 11 points. He dished out seven helpers.

Saddled with foul trouble for much of the evening, Sebirumbi scored his 10 points in just 12 minutes of action. He was 2-for-4 from the field, while connected on all six of his free throw attempts.

As a team, the Paladins posted season standard shooting percentages from the field (51.2%, 21-of-41), and from three-point range (63.6%, 7-of-11), while posting their second-best performance of the season from the charity stripe (79.4%, 27-of-34). The 27 free throws they made were easily a season high.

Western Kentucky had three players post double-figure performances, led by Derrick Gordon's 12 points. Jamal Crook and Kahlil McDonald added 11 points apiece. The Hilltoppers shot just 36.7 percent (22-of-60) from the field and were just 29.2 percent (7-of-24) from three-point land. Furman owned a 36-32 advantage on the backboards.

Furman will hit the hardwood again on Tuesday night, traveling to Clinton, S.C., to face Presbyterian College Blue Hose at the Templeton Center. It will mark the first time Furman has traveled to PC to battle the Blue Hose on the hardwood since 1951. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.