Jan. 6, 2007

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Samford trailed by five points, 63-58, with only nine seconds remaining in regulation Saturday before the Bulldogs' Curtis West knocked down a pair of 3-point baskets, including the game-winner, to earn a thrilling 64-63 come-from-behind victory against Jacksonville State.

With the win, first-place Samford (9-6, 6-0 Ohio Valley Conference) increased its home winning streak to seven-consecutive games and remained undefeated in league play this season. The victory was also the Bulldogs' third-straight win against in-state rival Jacksonville State (3-12, 1-5 OVC).

"This was a crazy win for us," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "We didn't play our best game at all, but our guys were excited late in the game and we were able to make some key plays. I didn't necessarily think that we played well enough to win the game. We just hit some big threes at the end and our guys never gave up."

The Gamecocks led by five with only nine seconds left in the game when West knocked down a deep 3-pointer from the left wing to trim Jacksonville State's lead to 63-61. The 22-foot shot was West's second of the contest.

On the ensuing possession, Samford played a full-court trapping defense and forced a turnover from the Gamecocks' DeAndre Bray to get the ball back with 7.7 seconds left.

The Bulldogs' Smith then took the ball out of bounds and passed it to Travis Peterson. Peterson handed the ball off to Smith who then drove towards the lane for a couple of steps and nearly threw a pass out of bounds at the baseline.

Peterson was able to make a leaping save and wisely tossed the ball across court to West.

With only one second remaining, West gathered the pass and fired the game-winning shot over the hands of an outstretched Jacksonville State defender. The deep 3-pointer from the right corner went through the net to give Samford's its 64-63 buzzer-beating victory.

"On the last play, we were just trying to get the best shot that we could," Tillette said. "We wanted to get the ball into Jerry (Smith) and let him read the defense and create. We feel comfortable with him driving the ball to the goal and we also knew that he could pass it out to one of our shooters. He ended up giving it to Travis (Peterson) and he was able to find Curtis (West) in the corner."

The game-winning shot was West's career-high third 3-point shot of the contest and he finished with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the floor.

"It felt great to hit the shot," said West. "Last game, I didn't make one 3-pointer at all, but my teammates kept believing in me, and then today I was able to make some big ones. I'm just proud of our team and how we played tough in the second half today."

"Curtis just made a great shot at the end," said Tillette. "It was big for him because he struggled in his last game, but he's always been one of our better spot-up shooters. He was able to hit the shot and everything worked out for us today."

West was one of four Samford players to score in double figures Saturday.

Senior Randall Gulina finished with a team-high 18 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals. Peterson, the Bulldogs' 6-foot-10 center tallied 14 points and grabbed a team-high six rebounds, while Joe Ross Merritt added 12 points.

Jacksonville State never trailed in the game until the final shot.

The Gamecocks also finished with four players in double-figure scoring and were led by Harold Crow's 18 points. He was a perfect 9-for-9 from the floor and grabbed four rebounds. Courtney Bradley tallied 15 points and three assists, while Dorien Brown added 12 and Will Ginn finished with 11 points.

Samford's last-second, one-point victory Saturday was eerily similar to its win at Jacksonville State earlier this season.

On Dec. 7, the Bulldogs opened OVC play at Jacksonville State and picked up a 54-53 win at the buzzer. In that victory, Samford's Merritt knocked down game-winning 3-point shot with 3.5 seconds left. The loss was the first of three losses at the buzzer for the Gamecocks this season.

The Bulldogs trailed by as many as seven points in the second half.

Jacksonville State shot a sizzling 59.3 percent in the first half of play and took a 33-28 victory into the intermission. Samford also shot well in the opening period of play and tallied a 52.4 first-half shooting percentage.

"It was really hard for us to defend in the first half," said Tillette. "I don't think that we showed any excitement in the first half and Mike (LaPlante) did a great job of getting his players ready. I thought that we played them better in the second half, but they were still able to hit some tough shots."

The Bulldogs hit six 3-point baskets in the second half and finished the game with a 37 percent mark from beyond the arc. With the victory, Samford improved its winning streak to three-straight games. The Bulldogs currently own a 5-0 record at home this season.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Thursday as the Bulldogs begin a brief two-game road trip against the Tennessee State Tigers at 7:30 p.m., in Nashville, Tenn.