Nov. 19, 2000

Box Score

MONROE, La. -- Kevin Paige scored 19 points and Myrda Wojciech blocked 10 shots as Louisiana-Monroe defeated Samford 69-63 at Fant-Ewing Coliseum Saturday.

Senior Marc Salyers led Samford (0-1) with 24 points on 11-of-16 shooting from the field and Derrick Jones scored 12, but the Bulldogs could not overcome 22 percent three-point shooting and 35 percent shooting from the field in the second half. Chris Weaver added 11 for Samford and freshman Tyson Dorsey scored five in his Samford debut. Brian Lubeck added 14 and Wojciech scored 11 for the Louisiana-Monroe (1-0)

"I know that we're a good shooting team, but it is uncharacteristic for us to get good looks and shoot what we did tonight," said head coach Jimmy Tillette. "We can't win many games shooting the way we did from the arc."

Senior Marc Salyers got off to a quick start, scoring nine of Samford's first 14 points and he finished the half with 13 points on six-of eight shooting. Salyers and Derrick Jones connected on three-pointers to open the game, and several back-door cuts later Samford led the Indians 14-13 at the 14-minute mark. The Bulldogs' shooting touch went cold, however, and Samford did not score a point for nearly eight minutes. Monroe took advantage of Samford's shooting woes to take an eight-point lead, 22-14, before Sebastian Sachse broke the drought with a basket at 7:16 remaining in the first half. Sachse's basket then set Samford on a 16-7 run of its own, and the Bulldogs led by one, 30-29, at the half.

Samford held the largest lead of the second half, 53-48, with 7:01 remaining in the game, but the Indians made a run in the last seven minutes to outscore the Bulldogs 21-10, largely in part to connecting on 12 consecutive free throws in the last two minutes of the game.

"I felt like we would shoot better from the arc in the second half, but we shot worse," said Tillette. "Defensively we got out of rhythm, and I think that was due in part to guys playing a lot of minutes. But I think the area we were most deficient in was knowing where the big man was. At halftime we talked about knowing where he was in order to pitch it out to the open man, but we did not make that adjustment."

Samford returns to action Nov. 25, hosting Belmont in the home opener at Seibert Hall at 2 p.m.