Feb. 15, 2003

Box Score

ATLANTA, Ga. - Samford senior Cornell Felton scored a career-high 20 points to help the Bulldogs overcome a 12-point halftime deficit to beat Georgia State 78-74 in double overtime to give head coach Jimmy Tillette his 100th career victory Saturday evening in Atlantic Sun Conference men's basketball action at the GSU Sports Arena.

Phillip Ramelli's dunk off a slip screen was Samford's only field goal in the second overtime as the Bulldogs converted on seven free throws in the final period while holding a depleted Georgia State team to just four points in the second overtime. Ramelli finished the game with 11 points and nine rebounds. J. Robert Merritt had 13 points and Sebastian Sachse had a season-high 12 points all in the first half for Samford that improved to 11-13 on the season and 7-6 in conference play.

Georgia State (10-13, 5-7 A-Sun) was led by Nate Williams who scored 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds before fouling out with 55 seconds remaining in the first overtime. Trello Galloway scored 12 points and had 11 rebounds before fouling out with 3:54 remaining in the second overtime. Leroy Harris and Herman Favors each scored 10 points for the Panthers.

"I thought we battled them all day," said Tillette. "This is a big win for us because we had to overcome adversity against a very good team on the road. It also gives our players confidence winning here where the conference tournament will be played." When asked about picking up the 100th win of his career he said, "It would have been nice to do it at home, but to overcome a 12-point deficit in a pressure game is very gratifying."

Georgia State ended the first half on a 17-5 run over the last eight minutes of the half to take a 36-24 lead into halftime. The Panthers shot 55 percent in the first half had did not allow Samford a lay-up in the opening 20 minutes.

Samford opened the second half on a 9-2 run by hitting three-straight from three point range to force Panther coach Michael Perry to call a timeout at the 17:24 mark and GSU lead cut to five points. Favors and Lamont McIntosh hit back-to-back three points to start a 9-0 Panther run that pushed the lead back to 11 points at 47-38 with 14:51 to play.

Ramelli hit a three-pointer to spark a 12-1 Bulldog run they ended with a Felton lay-up that pulled Samford to within 55-54 with 7:45 remaining. Felton gave Samford its first lead of the half with a three-pointer but Williams quickly put GSU back on top 58-57 with 3:50 to play. The GSU defense let Merritt get away on a back cut that gave Samford a 59-58 lead and Felton's steal and lay-up gave the Bulldogs a three-point lead with 1:40 remaining. After a Williams free throw made the score 61-59 with 40 seconds, the Bulldogs went to work on running out the clock. Galloway made a steal off a bad pass and went the length of the court for a dunk to tie the game with 17 seconds. Samford could not get a final shot off before the end of regulation.

Brian Boerjan made one of two free throws with 52 seconds remaining in the second overtime to tie the score at 69-69. Merritt missed two free throws with 22 seconds and Galloway's last second shot rimmed out to send the game into the second extra session.

Samford shot 57 percent in the second half to finish the game at 42 percent from the field while GSU finished at 41 percent. The Bulldogs were 13-29 from three-point range for 45 percent while Georgia State was 5-27 for 19 percent from long range. Samford was 14-16 from the free throw line in regulation but shot just 8-16 in overtime to finish at 66 percent from the stripe. Georgia State out rebounded the Bulldogs 41-38. It was the first time this season the Bulldogs won a game in which they were out rebounded and it was the second time Samford overcame a halftime deficit to defeat Georgia State.

Samford sweeps Georgia State for the first time since the 1995-96 season. The Bulldogs will return to action at home on Thursday night against Gardner-Webb. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m.