Dec. 14, 2002

Box Score

VALPARAISO, Ind. - Raitis Grafs scored 28 points to lead Valparaiso to an 87-79 victory over Samford in two overtimes Saturday night.

Valparaiso (3-4) outscored Samford (4-3) 20-12 in the second overtime, led by Stalin Ortiz, who added seven of his 10 points in the extra periods. Ali Berdiel and Seth Colclasure added 6 points apiece in the extra periods for the Crusaders.

Phillip Ramelli scored 20 points for Samford before fouling out with 2:07 remaining in the first overtime. J. Robert Merritt had 17 points, Tyson Dorsey had 15 points, and Cornell Felton added 14 points.

The Crusaders took advantage of the Bulldogs foul trouble as three Samford players fouled out in the overtime periods. Valpo scored 14 of its 20 points from the foul line in the second overtime period.

Valpo opened the game on an 18-6 run to take its largest lead of the game by hitting three-straight three pointers and forcing Samford into five early turnovers. Dorsey and Ramelli led the Bulldog comeback to bring Samford to within 25-18 with 6:48 left in the half.

Valpo went scoreless for 6:19 as Samford went on a 8-0 run highlighted by Dorsey's third trey of the half that put the Bulldogs ahead 26-25 with 1:59 to play. Roberto Nieves ended Valpo's drought with a three pointer to put the Crusaders back on top but Felton finished the half with a pair of three's including one with two seconds remaining to give Samford a 32-30 halftime lead.

Ramelli opened the second half scoring Samford's first four points and hit his first three pointer of the season to tie the game at 46 with 7:48 to play. Ramelli picked up his fourth foul of the game at the 7:27 mark. He checked back into the game at the 3:57 mark with the score tied at 53.

Grafs scored six straight points for Valpo to give it a 59-57 lead with 1:44 to play. Felton made a steal and a lay up with 1:07 to tie the game and the Bulldog defense forced a shot clock violation on Valpo to get the last possession. The Bulldogs were forced to call their final time out with three seconds to play. Dorsey stepped on the out-of-bounds line with 1.8 seconds to give Valpo a chance at a last second shot but they could not get it off to force the Bulldogs into overtime for the first time this season.

In the first overtime, Dorsey hit his fifth three of the night to put Samford ahead 67-65 but Ortiz made a lay up with 0.1 seconds remaining to force double overtime. Samford finished the night shooting 48 percent from the floor and from three point range. Valpo shot 41 percent from the floor and 78 percent from the free throw line. Valparaiso shot 71 percent from the field in the overtimes and was 29-of-37 from the free throw line for the game.