With the longest road trips of the season out of the way, Appalachian returned to the Holmes Dome for the week to face the Furman Paladins for an ESPN3 broadcast. Appalachian and Furman appeared to be very evenly matched teams. Furman is another team that is tough to play, as they prefer a slower pace. Furman is a team that can beat anyone on any night depending on their shooting. Furman had just been blasted five days earlier at by Charleston at home by 23 points. Appalachian was favored by 3 points and I felt this was another nice easy play to pick the Mountaineers to cover. If the Mountaineers were going to beat Furman, they were going to do it by more than 3 points.

Appalachian came out of the gates slowly, falling behind by as many 10 points in the first half, but eventually rallied to take a double digit lead in the second half. Once again, Appalachian allowed a team to close late in the game, but a key turnover by Furman and the ensuing victory dunk by Jamal Trice gave the Mountaineers enough points to prevail. Appalachian won 56-50 and once again, were able to cover. It was the third straight cover for the Mountaineers, and my season record improved to 6-4.