Nov. 28, 2006

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University basketball team used a brilliant 52.9 shooting performance from the arc and a career-high 26 points from senior Jerry Smith to hand the Ohio Bobcats their first loss of the season Tuesday, 80-66.

The Bulldogs connected on 9-of-17 3-point attempts in the game.

"This game was a long time coming for us," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "Our guys played very well. I'm extremely proud of their effort and I thought that we played great in the first half. This was the first game all season where we really shot the ball well and we did a great job of knocking down our shots."

With the win, Samford (2-3) improved to 2-0 in Seibert Hall this season and snapped a two-game losing streak. The Bulldogs finished with four players scoring in double figures and shot a season-high 63.9 percent from the floor.

Smith paced the team with 26 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field. The Bulldogs' four-year starting point guard also finished with a 4-of-5 outing from 3-point range and a perfect 8-of-8 mark from the charity stripe.

Samford's Randall Gulina tallied 18 points on 5-of-10 shooting, while Curtis West recorded a season-high 16 points and handed out five assists. The Bulldogs' Travis Peterson registered 14 points, a game-high six rebounds, five assists and two blocks in the victory.

"I was really proud of how hard our team played tonight," Tillette said. "We had four players score in double figures and I thought that our backups played some solid minutes. Everybody did a good job on the defensive side of the ball and Bryan (Friday) came in and played well."

Despite a game-high 29-point outing from Sonny Troutman, Ohio (2-1) lost its first game of the 2006-07 season Tuesday. The Bobcats shot 44.6 percent from the field and suffered a nearly eight-minute scoring drought late in the first half.

Ohio's backup center Kenneth van Kempen connected on a layup at 9:07 in the first half to trim Samford's advantage to 16-10, but then the Bulldogs scored 16 straight points to increase their first-half lead to 31-10. The Bobcats shot 28 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes of play.

During Samford's 16-0 run, Joe Ross Merritt, Peterson and West all drained 3-point field goals. The Bulldogs' Smith tallied a layup and a pair of three throws during the stretch, while Peterson was also 2-for-2 from the charity stripe.

"We came out focused and ready to play tonight," Smith said. "We had a lot of guys step up for us and we were knocking down some key shots. We just came together as a team out there tonight and I thought that Travis (Peterson) played very well for us."

Samford out-rebounded Ohio, 30-20, and finished with a season-high three blocks. The Bulldogs also shot a season-high 33 free throws and made 25 for a 75.8 percentage.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday as the Bulldogs begin a seven-game, month-long road trip against the South Alabama Jaguars at 7:05 p.m., at the Mitchell Center in Mobile, Ala.