Dec. 18, 2003

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Three players notched season-highs as Samford shot 69 percent from the floor on its way to an 85-50 victory over Tennessee-Temple at Seibert Hall on Thursday night.

Phillip Ramelli took over the game midway through the first half on his way to his second 18-point performance of the season. Tennessee-Temple led 15-8 with 9:27 to play in the first half. Ramelli scored the next seven points to tie the game at 15-15 with 7:16 left and the Bulldogs never looked back.

Ramelli would out score the Crusaders (5-8) 18-12 as Samford (3-4) took a 45-27 lead with 16:41 remaining in the game. Tyson Dorsey had a season-high 16 points on 4-7 shooting from three-point range. Jerry Smith established his career-high with 13 points and four assists while Eddie Harper also dropped in 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds.

"I thought on both ends of the floor he (Ramelli) was dominate," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "We set up concepts for him to slip some screens so that freed him up and on the other end he just guarded with more energy."

Jerry Smith scored a career-high 13 points against TN-Temple

Daniel Jones led TTU with 10 points and Caleb Marcum grabbed five rebounds to lead the visitors. Temple made three of its first six three-point baskets but finished the game 9-25 from outside the arc. The Crusaders shot just 27 percent from long range in the second half and finished the night shooting 38 percent from the floor.

Samford's 69 percent was a season-high for the Bulldogs who were 33-48 from the floor and 8-17 (47 percent) from three-point range. Samford held a 29-16 rebounding advantage and had 14 steals to just 13 turnovers.

"The thing we are most pleased about is and what we feel is representative of Samford basketball is the assist to basket ratio," said Tillette. "I think one of the strengths for our team is the ability to shoot the ball and tonight we had 33 baskets and 25 assists."

The Bulldogs are now 2-0 at home this season and are shooting 61 percent from the floor and 51 percent from three-point range at Seibert Hall.

Samford will be back in action on Saturday as the Bulldogs welcome former assistant coach Lance Richardson and his Covenant College team to Seibert Hall. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.