Bradford, ETSU beat Furman, advance to SoCon tourney finals

Mar 5, 2018, 01:35 am

ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- Desonta Bradford had 20 points and eight rebounds and freshman Mladen Armus had his first double-double to help East Tennessee State beat Furman 63-52 on Sunday night in the Southern Conference Tournament semifinals.

The second-seeded Buccaneers (25-8) will play No. 1 seed UNC Greensboro in the championship game Monday. ETSU beat the Spartans 79-74 for the conference tournament title last season.

Armus finished with 10 points and a season-high 12 rebounds and Devontavius Payne scored 12 points for the Bucs.

No. 3 seed Furman (23-10) had its seven-game win streak snapped.

The Paladins missed 10 of their first 11 field-goal attempts and Bradford hit a jumper to cap a 16-5 spurt that gave ETSU a 10-point lead. After Clay Mounce made back-to-back layups to pull the Paladins within six, Armus converted a 3-point play and threw down a dunk to spark a 12-3 run that make it 32-17 and the Bucs led by double figures the rest of the way.

Jordan Lyons led Furman with 17 points.