Dec. 28, 2006

Box Score

BATON ROUGE - The Samford University basketball team had its four-game winning streak snapped Thursday as the Bulldogs dropped a 61-50 decision against the Wright State Raiders at the 2006 Hispanic College Funds Classic held at LSU's Maravich Center.

With the loss, Samford (6-5) dropped its first game since Dec. 2, a 59-54 loss at South Alabama. The Bulldogs will conclude its month-long, seven-game road trip Friday against the 17th-ranked and homestanding LSU Tigers. The game is scheduled to tip-off at 7:30 p.m.

Wright State (6-6) shot a season-high 55.6 percent from the floor Thursday and improved to 1-1 in the three-day Hispanic College Funds Classic. In their opening game of the competition, the Raiders fell to LSU, 71-45.

Senior guard DaShaun Wood scored a game-high 20 points to lead Wright State, while Samford's Randall Gulina paced the Bulldogs with 16 points on 5-of-14 shooting from the field. The Raiders won the battle of the boards and out-rebounded Samford, 28-19.

The Bulldogs' Curtis West and Travis Peterson both finished with 11 points in the game while senior point guard Jerry Smith led the team with five rebounds.

Samford only trailed by two points, 38-36, with 15:52 remaining when the Raiders used a 10-2 run midway through the second half to break the game open. The Bulldogs' shooting touch went cold in the final period and the team only scored nine points in a nearly 13-minute stretch.

Samford shot 28.6 percent from the field in the second half.

The loss was Samford's worst defeat since dropping an 86-57 decision on the road to the 15th-ranked Arizona Wildcats on Nov. 22.

The Bulldogs have played nine of their 11 games away from home this season and have compiled a 4-5 record. Three of Samford's four road victories have come against Ohio Valley Conference opponents. The Bulldogs currently lead the league with an undefeated 3-0 record.

Behind a 65.4 shooting percentage from the field in the first half, Wright State took a 35-30 advantage at intermission.

The Raiders' Woods led all scorers with 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor in the opening period, while Samford was paced by Gulina's 10 points. The Bulldogs shot at a 52.4 clip from the field in the first half and connected on 42.9 percent of their attempts from beyond the arc.

Samford's biggest lead in the game was a 25-22 advantage with 6:04 remaining in the opening period. In the midst of a 7-0 run for the Bulldogs, Merritt scored on a back-door cut to give Samford its three-point lead.

Merritt tallied five points in the first half of play while Baton Rouge-native West scored eight points on 3-of-4 shooting from the floor.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Friday as the Bulldogs conclude their month-long, seven-game road swing against the 17th-ranked LSU Tigers.

The non-conference contest will be the finale of the 2006 Hispanic College Funds Classic held here at the Maravich Center in Baton Rouge, La.