Dec. 21, 2005

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University basketball team recorded its most impressive win of the 2005-06 season on Wednesday as the Bulldogs knocked off the Ohio Valley Conference's preseason favorite Murray State Racers, 61-50, in Seibert Hall.

"This was a complete effort from our team on both ends of the court and I thought that this was our best game of the season," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "Earlier, we would put together a good half, but then struggled for awhile, but now I think that we are more determined to do what we need to do to win games."

Samford (5-4, 2-1 OVC) had three players score in double figures on Wednesday and was led by Travis Peterson's career-high 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting.

A 6-10 sophomore from Glendale, Ariz., Peterson connected on 4-of-6 of his 3-point attempts and also grabbed six rebounds. He currently leads the Bulldogs in 3-point shooting at 60 percent (18-of-30) this season.

Junior Randall Gulina led Samford from the guard position and scored 17 points.

The Bulldogs' native of Baton Rouge, La., shot 6-of-8 from the field and knocked down 4-of-6 of his attempts from beyond the arc. At 6-1, Gulina finished the game with a career-high eight rebounds and added a 4-of-6 performance from the free-throw line.

"We did a great job of what we call rebounding down tonight and I think that we have some of the best rebounding guards in the league," Tillette said. "It's unbelievable how our guys are able to go up and get the ball. We were also all over the court diving for loose balls and that's what we like to see from our players."

Samford's Ryan Woolsey turned in his best performance of the season on Wednesday.

The Bulldogs' 6-7 sophomore from Valliant, Okla., scored a career-high 11 points and grabbed three rebounds in 16 minutes of play. He connected on 5-of-6 of his shots and scored Samford's final seven points of the first half.

"I thought that Ryan (Woolsey) and Travis (Peterson) were both outstanding today," said Tillette. "They really worked hard on both ends of the court and we were really able to get into a rhythm defensively. We held them to 21 points in the second half and I think that was just unbelievable for us."

Murray State (5-3, 3-1 OVC) withstood a 10-2 start from the Bulldogs and eventually took a 27-19 lead with 3:35 remaining in the first half.

It was at that point that Woolsey scored on a layup, Gulina drained a 3-point basket and then Jerry Smith scored to trim the Racers' lead to 27-24. The next time down the court, Samford's Gulina nailed another 3-point shot and tied the score at 27-27.

Woolsey gave the Bulldogs the lead for good as he closed out the half with a 3-pointer and a pair of layups to give Samford a 34-29 lead at the intermission.

Samford outscored the Racers, 27-21, in the second half and limited them to 17.6 percent shooting from 3-point range. Murray State entered the game as the second-ranked 3-point shooting team in the conference at 47.2 percent per game.

"We did a really good job of slowing them down and making them run their offense," Tillette said. "Murray State likes to run the ball and we did a good job of getting back and forcing them to go deep into the shot clock. I also thought that we were able to limit their 3-point shooting and that helped us a lot."

Murray State was led in scoring by Pearson Griffith's 19 points. He was the only Racer player to reach double figures. Shawn Witherspoon paced the team with seven rebounds.

The Bulldogs' Smith registered a game-high six assists on Wednesday pulled down five rebounds. Senior forward J. Robert Merritt scored six points and played the entire 40 minutes of the game. He made his 38th-consecutive start and his 81st in the team's previous 82 games.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action on Dec. 29, as the Bulldogs return to Birmingham following their Christmas break to host the Campbellsville Tigers at 7 p.m., in Seibert Hall.