Under the Radar Game of the Day: Furman at East Tennessee State

Furman at East Tennessee State, 7:00 PM Eastern, espn3

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With less than a week left in the regular season, the Southern Conference championship and battle for the top seed in the conference tournament may be decided in Johnson City, Tennessee tonight as the East Tennessee State Buccaneers and Furman Paladins will be matching up in our Under the Radar Game of the Day.  The two teams enter play tonight tied in the loss column, with Furman sitting at 13-3 (20-9 overall) and ETSU half a game back at 12-3 (22-6 overall).  Furman has one game left after tonight (home vs Wofford) while the Bucs have to travel to Western Carolina and UNC-Greensboro (the Spartans are only a game behind at 11-4 right now) to end the season.  A road win by the Paladins tonight could be all they need to clinch the SoCon title, while a loss would put ETSU in the driver’s seat pending their result Monday night in Greensboro.

Tonight’s game is the second matchup of these two teams this season.  The first one was won by Furman in Greenville 75-62 back on January 19.  Kris Acox led the way for Furman in that game with 19 points and 8 rebounds.  TJ Cromer was the top scorer for ETSU with 20, while Desonta Bradford pulled down 12 rebounds.  Tonight’s game has a chance to be a great one, as ETSU enters play having won 8 of their last 9 games while Furman had a 10 game winning streak snapped over the weekend by Greensboro.  The winner will be in solid position for the top spot in the conference tournament and a chance to take the league’s automatic bid.  For Furman, a dance ticket would be their first since 1980!