Nov. 19, 2005

Box Score

NORMAN, Okla. - The Samford University basketball team dropped a 68-41 contest on the road versus the sixth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday as the Bulldogs faced off against their second top-10 ranked opponent in four days.

On Wednesday, Samford (1-2) was defeated by No. 2 Texas, 77-33, in the Austin Regional final of the 2005 Guardians Classic.

Texas proved to be the Bulldogs' all-time highest-ranked opponent, while Saturday marked the first time that Samford has ever played against back-to-back top-10 ranked opponents. The Bulldogs defeated Sacramento State in their season-opener, 52-49.

"I think that was a much better game than we played against Texas," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "Oklahoma is an outstanding team, obviously, but I think that we really competed well against them early in the first half. We didn't shoot nearly as well as we would have liked, but it was still the best game that we've played this season."

Oklahoma (1-0) was limited to 68 points on Saturday and shot 35.3 percent from 3-point range.

The Sooners were led by junior college transfer Michael Neal and senior forward Kevin Bookout.

Neal, who transferred to Oklahoma from Lon Morris JC, finished with 15 points and shot 5-of-13 from the field. The 6-3 guard also connected on 5-of-10 of his 3-point attempts. Bookout scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, five of which were offensive.

"I think that Neal adds another dimension to their team that will really help them out this season," said Tillette. "He really did a good job of shooting the ball tonight, especially in the second half."

Samford's J. Robert Merritt paced the team with 15 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the floor, while Randall Gulina added 12 and Ryan Woolsey scored four.

Merritt also led the Bulldogs with five rebounds and was 2-of-3 from the charity stripe. As a team, Samford shot 88.9 percent from the free throw line.

Oklahoma out-rebounded the Bulldogs 42-14 on Saturday and recovered 21 offensive boards. Samford did not record an offensive rebound.

"Oklahoma was definitely a tough team to keep off of the glass," Tillette said. "We generally try not to get 21-0 disparities on the offensive boards too often, because that rarely works out well. Oklahoma is an outstanding team and we all know how good they are in the interior."

Oklahoma took a 27-17 lead into the half after closing out the opening period with a 14-2 run.

With 8:50 remaining in the first half, the Bulldogs' J. Robert Merritt scored on a turnaround jumper to give Samford a 15-13 advantage. Oklahoma's Neal then hit back-to-back 3-point baskets to ignite the Sooners' run.

Merritt led all scorers with eight points in the opening 20 minutes of play and scored the Bulldogs' final three baskets of the half.

Samford jumped out to an early 11-6 lead in the game behind the scoring of sophomore Woolsey, Gulina and Merritt.

"I thought that we had a pretty decent offensive flow in the first half," said Tillette. "That really showed a little bit of what we can do as a team and I truly believe that we will be able to score the ball a lot better once we play against the teams at our level."

Woolsey, a native of Valliant, Okla., scored two of the Bulldogs' first four buckets and finished with four first-half points. Gulina knocked down Samford's lone 3-point field goal of the opening period and concluded the half with five points.

The Bulldogs shot 38.1 percent from the floor in the first half, while Oklahoma tallied a 40.7 field goal percentage.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action on Saturday, Nov. 26, as the Bulldogs return home to Birmingham for a non-conference matchup against the Bryan College Lions.

The game is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m., and will be Samford's regular-season home-opener. It can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide via the internet at either www.samfordsports.com or www.al.com/wvsu.