NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - J'Mel Everhart had 12 of his 18 points in the second half and last-place Citadel kept its season alive with a 65-53 victory over Furman in the Southern Conference tournament Thursday night.

The Bulldogs (10-20) were 0-14 in the league this year before their only conference victory, an 84-80 overtime win at Wofford last Saturday. Now, they've advanced to the tournament quarterfinals for the first time since 2002.

Citadel faces No. 3 seed Davidson on Friday.

Some solid 3-point shooting in the first half and Everhart's inside play down the stretch were big reasons why.

Dante Terry had three of the Bulldogs seven 3-pointers in the first half as they led 31-23 at the break. Then, after Furman (15-13) rallied to lead 40-39, Everhart scored 11 points in Citadel's 16-4 run that put the game away.

Donny McLendon's basket started the surge and put the Bulldogs in front to stay. Then Everhart had two baskets and a pair of foul shots. McLendon added another field goal, Vytautas Valiulis two free throws and Everhart closed things with a three-point play as Citadel was up 56-44.

When Everhart slid through several defenders for the basket, Citadel cadets and alumni at the North Charleston Coliseum cheered loudly.

The sixth-seeded Paladins came in a big favorite to advance - they beat Citadel twice this year by scores of 81-57 and 64-41. But after shooting less than 35 percent (8-for-23) in the opening period, they did even worse after halftime to finish 30.4 percent (17-for-56) for the game.

Robby Bostain led Furman with 13 points, but had only four in the second half. Eric Webb finished with 12 points, but shot just 1 of 8 after halftime before fouling out.

McLendon had 14 points for the Bulldogs, while Terry added 13.