Jan. 28, 2005

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The Samford University basketball team will close out its critical four-game road trip against Ohio Valley Conference opponents on Saturday as the Bulldogs square off against the Southeast Missouri Redhawks in a 7:30 p.m. matchup at the Show Me Center.

Samford (11-7, 6-1 OVC) enter Saturday's game looking to rebound from its first defeat in nearly a month.

On Thursday, the Bulldogs suffered its first conference defeat of the season in a road contest against Eastern Illinois, 74-65. Despite the loss, Samford remains in first place in the OVC and is tied atop the leaderboard with Tennessee Tech at 6-1.

The Bulldogs shot a stellar 40.7 percent from the 3-point line against Eastern Illinois, but the Panthers rallied for a critical 61.1 shooting performance of their own from beyond the arc. The loss was Samford's first of the season when shooting better than 40.0 percent from beyond the arc.

Samford's Bryan Boerjan scored a career-high 17 points against Eastern Illinois on Thursday.

The Bulldogs' 6-7 senior from Rock Falls, Ill., turned in a clutch 5-of-10 shooting performance from the field and finished the game 3-of-8 from beyond the arc. Boerjan's previous career-high for scoring in a game was 15, which he accomplished against Jacksonville State during the 2002-03 season.

Southeast Missouri (8-10, 3-4 OVC) heads into Saturday's vital OVC contest in the midst of one of its longest winnings streaks of the 2004-05 season.

The Redhawks have won their previous two games, matching an earlier winning streak of two victories when they defeated both Saint Louis, 65-49, and Lincoln University, 95-68, on Dec. 29 and Jan. 1, respectively. Southeast Missouri has registered back-to-back wins at home versus Austin Peay, 65-52, and Jacksonville State, 84-65.

The Southeast Missouri athletic department recently changed the official name of its mascot from the Indians to the Redhawks. Senior Dainmon Gonner is currently the leading scorer in the conference with an average of 20.8 points per game.

Southeast Missouri's 6-6 forward is joined by Reggie Golson, who is second on the team in scoring with 16.5 points per contest, and Brett Hale, who is also averaging double-digit scoring at 10.3 points per game. Golson, a 6-7 forward from Kansas City, Kan., is the OVC's leading rebounder at 8.8 boards a game.

The Bulldogs own a perfect 4-0 record against Southeast Missouri in a series rivalry that dates all the way back to the 1973-74 season.

Samford defeated the Indians, 80-66, in Birmingham, Ala., on Dec. 1, 1973, to start the series and then also beat Southeast Missouri at home last season, 70-58. The Bulldogs have only played once in Cape Girardeau, Mo., and that contest ended with a 63-57 win in 1996.

The Samford University basketball team looks to remain undefeated in its all-time series against the Southeast Missouri Redhawks on Saturday as the Bulldogs take their unblemished 4-0 record in the rivalry on the road to the Show Me Center located in Cape Girardeau, Mo.