Dec. 7, 2006

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Trailing by two points with 3.5 seconds remaining in Samford's 2006-07 Ohio Valley Conference opener, the Bulldogs' Joe Ross Merritt drained a game-winning 3-pointer from the right corner to defeat the homestanding Jacksonville State Gamecocks, 54-53, Thursday.

"We were able to get a big rebound on their end of the floor and then Joe (Ross Merritt) hit a great shot to win the game," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "It was a frantic play. One of their guys went for the steal and it left Joe open. He had been struggling with his shooting as of late, but tonight he hit it and it was a big one."

Merritt scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half of play and knocked down a team-high three 3-point field goals. He also grabbed three rebounds and finished with three assists.

"I was just able to get open and hit a lucky shot," Merritt said. "It's what all little kids dream about when they are in their back yards and on that shot the goal looked like the ocean. I really wanted the shot and I'm glad that I was able to make it when it really counted."

Samford's leading scorer was Randall Gulina who finished with 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field. Junior center Travis Peterson added 16 points and six rebounds, while point guard Jerry Smith grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds.

The Bulldogs out-rebounded the Gamecocks, 33-26.

With the win, Samford (3-4, 1-0 OVC) earned its first road victory of the season and improved to 4-1 against Jacksonville State (2-5, 0-1 OVC) since 2004. The Bulldogs have won the previous three games of the series in Jacksonville.

The Gamecocks finished with only one player scoring in double figures as freshman Tracy Thomas paced his team with 15 points in only 19 minutes of play. Will Ginn tallied nine points on 2-of-7 shooting from the field, while both Courtney Bradley and Dorien Brown added eight points apiece.

Jacksonville State shot 41.3 percent from the floor and only committed 10 turnovers. Samford turned in a 42.9 shooting percentage, but also finished with 17 turnovers.

"I honestly thought that this was our worst offensive performance of the season," Tillette said. "I have to give Jacksonville State some credit because I think that they played solid defense, but we didn't make very many good decisions in our half-court offense. We need to do a better job, especially in conference play."

At the half, Samford held a 29-25 advantage in the game behind a pair of solid first-half performances from Peterson and Gulina.

Gulina, who missed his first start in 42 games Thursday, came off the bench to lead all scorers with 11 points at the half. The Bulldogs' senior guard shot 4-of-6 from the field in the opening period and grabbed three rebounds.

Peterson added 10 points in the first half on 4-of-7 shooting from the floor. Samford's 6-foot-10 native of Glendale, Ariz., added two boards and a block in the opening 20 minutes of play. Sophomore Jason Black poured in six first-half points by knocking down a pair of key 3-point baskets.

Samford jumped out to an early 9-6 advantage in the game and then quickly extended its lead to 22-17 with 7:20 remaining in the half.

The Bulldogs used a 3-point basket from Black and a left-handed layup from Gulina to take its largest lead of the half, 27-20, with 3:42 remaining. Jacksonville State's Harold Crow then scored five straight points for the Gamecocks and helped them trim Samford's halftime lead to 29-25.

Following an 11-day hiatus for final exams, the Samford University basketball team will next be in action Dec. 19 as the Bulldogs continue their current seven-game road swing against the Southeast Missouri Redhawks. The contest is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m., at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo.