Ticket punched

Davidson rallies past Furman to win Southern Conference

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -- Every day at practice, Davidson's players look up into the rafters and see the NCAA banners earned by the Wildcats of coach Lefty Driesell more than three decades ago.

"Our guys have now hung a couple of banners," current Davidson coach Bob McKillop said after Sunday's 62-57 victory over Furman to win the Southern Conference championship. "And that's something that's going to be with them the rest of their lives."

Peter Anderer scored 19 of his 22 points in the second half to rally the Wildcats to their seventh NCAA tournament appearance and second under McKillop in four years.

Davidson was an NCAA team to be feared with Driesell in the late 1960s. The Wildcats were 5-4 in three NCAA appearances. They beat St. John's in the tournament in 1968 and 1969 before losing in the East Region finals both times to Dean Smith and North Carolina.

And these Wildcats don't think their run ends here.

"We're not just going there to make an appearance," said Chris Pearson, who had 16 points and 13 rebounds. "We're there to win a game."

The Wildcats (21-9) won their 11th straight game against Furman (17-14) and also ended the Paladins' worst-to-first run at their first NCAA bid in 22 years.

Anderer was the biggest reason with Emeka Erege, Davidson's leading tournament scorer, sidelined after he was cut over his eye in the semifinals.

Anderer, voted the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, made five of his six 3-pointers in the second half, bringing Davidson back from a 34-28 deficit with a 16-6 run. And he made the two clinching free throws with 7.8 seconds to go.

"Most of what Peter got today, Peter earned," McKillop said. "I think the one shot he made, the floater off the glass, was from the 93rd Street Y."

Anderer, a junior from New York City, began the run with 3-pointer, tied the game at 36-all with another and gave the Wildcats the lead for good, 39-38, with his third straight long-range shot.

He added a short bank shot and then his fourth 3 of the half for a 44-40 lead with 10:44 left.

Anderer's final 3 made it 47-42.

"I don't know, I felt very confident after hitting the shots," Anderer said. "I got the looks I wanted and when I didn't, I tried to take it to the hole."

Kenny Zeigler led Furman with 14 points, while Karim Souchu had 12.

The Paladins couldn't have had much energy left in their fourth game in four nights.

But like they did in beating South Division champion Georgia Southern in the quarterfinals and the College of Charleston the next game, the Paladins came back when few thought they could.

"It's March Madness," Zeigler said. "Anything can happen."

It almost did.

Paul Foster's 3-pointer cut into Davidson's eight-point lead and Souchu had two baskets to make it 59-57 with 8.9 seconds to go.

However, Anderer ended the comeback with his foul shots.

"That's the answer to whether we were tired or not," said Furman coach Larry Davis, who led the Paladins to their first winning season in 10 years. "We brought as much heat as he had all night."

Furman, which started the conference season 1-4, used a 15-0 run to take a 28-22 lead just before halftime.

 

Related information
Stories
CNNSI.com's Big Dance Card 2002 Conference Tournaments Seth Davis' Hoop Thoughts: Prelude to Madness
Multimedia
Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video
Search our site	Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day
	Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV.