Jan. 5, 2006

Box Score

MARTIN, Tenn. --- The Samford University basketball team cruised to its fifth-consecutive victory on Thursday as the Bulldogs defeated Ohio Valley Conference-rival Tennessee-Martin, 79-65, at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center.

"I thought, for the most part, that we did what we needed to do today," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "Tennessee-Martin is a tough team to play against, because they are so physical and they forced us into eight first-half turnovers. We handled the ball better in the second half and finished with 13 turnovers. This was a good win for us."

Samford (8-4, 4-1 OVC) used a 14-5 run early in the first half to take a 39-24 lead over Tennessee-Martin (6-6, 3-3 OVC) at halftime. The Bulldogs finished the contest with four players scoring in double figures.

Senior J. Robert Merritt led the way for Samford, with 22 points. The Bulldogs' native of Oklahoma City, Okla., was 7-of-10 from the field and 6-of-8 from 3-point range. The 6-6 forward was a perfect 5-of-5 from the floor in the first half for 14 points.

Samford's Randall Gulina added 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting, while 6-10 center Travis Peterson scored 16 and was 6-of-8 from the free-throw line.

Junior guard Jerry Smith tallied an additional 12 points for the Bulldogs and led the squad with six rebounds. He scored five of Samford's first eight points of the game.

The Bulldogs shot 57.1 percent from beyond the arc on Thursday.

The team connected on 12-of-21 of its attempts from 3-point range and turned in its second best outing of the season. Samford's top 3-point shooting performance of the 2005-06 campaign came against Bryan College at 62.5 percent on Nov. 26.

"We shot over 61 percent for the game and 57.1 percent from beyond the arc against this team and that's not bad at all," Tillette said. "J. Robert (Merritt) missed two shots from 3-point range and I'm going to have to get on him for that, but seriously, I thought that Jerry (Smith) and Anthony (LoPiano) played well against all of their pressure tonight."

Despite being pressured and trapped in the full court throughout the game, Samford only committed 13 turnovers.

The Bulldogs forced Tennessee-Martin into 10 turnovers and Peterson proved to be a huge presence on the defensive side of the ball. Samford's sophomore blocked two shots and hampered a number of the Skyhawks' attempts around the basket.

UTM shot 43.4 percent from the floor and only 21.4 percent from long range.

"I thought that we really defended them well tonight," said Tillette. "They are so strong inside, but we were able to play them tough down low and we were also able to limit their open looks from 3-point range."

Tennessee-Martin's All-OVC performer, Jared Newson, led the team with 20 points, 18 of which came in the second half. The Skyhawks' senior from Belleville, Ill., also finished with a game-high seven rebounds.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action on Saturday as the Bulldogs head to Jacksonville, Ala., for a rematch of the in-state rivals' Dec. 8 matchup held in Birmingham, Ala.

The contest is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m., at the Pete Matthews Coliseum.