Nov. 20, 2007

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University basketball team shot better from the floor than the Towson Tigers on Tuesday, but committed eight more turnovers in a 73-66 defeat at the Pete Hanna Center. Samford outshot Towson 46.3 percent to 41.9 percent, but suffered a season-high 16 turnovers.

"The problem tonight was our inability to shift mentally," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "In the first half, they (Towson) started in a man-to-man and we scored, so they went to a zone and we couldn't shift mentally. We were too concerned about making jumpers instead of playing hard."

With the loss, Samford (1-2) dropped its second straight game and fell to 0-2 in the brand-new Pete Hanna Center. On Thursday, the Bulldogs were defeated by Belmont 82-73.

Towson (2-1) earned its second-consecutive win against Samford. Last year, in the first all-time meeting against the two non-conference foes, the Tigers rallied for a 69-62 victory at home in Towson, Md.

"We committed too many turnovers and we missed some chippies around the goal," Tillette said. "I think that our mentality was backwards. We have a lot of young players and there is a lot of uncertainty for them. Everything they see is new and it's going to be awhile for them to pick things up. Tonight, I was very disappointed in our senior leadership."

Samford's Travis Peterson led all scorers with 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting despite not being listed in the starting lineup for the first time in 63 games. The Bulldogs' senior center was held out of the starting lineup due to a minor foot injury. The last time that Peterson didn't start for Samford was Nov. 19, 2005, at Oklahoma.

"Peterson gave us a good spark there early in the second half, but he was a little out of sink after missing a few practices," said Tillette. "Tonight, I thought that (Curtis) West played the best."

The Bulldogs' Curtis West became the second player in as many games to record the first double-double of his collegiate career. West broke out of a minor slump to open the season Tuesday by scoring 12 points and adding a career-high 11 rebounds. His previous career-high in rebounds was seven against Bryan College on Nov. 26, 2005.

West was 3-for-7 from the field against Towson and knocked down 5-of-6 free throws. He also handed out four assists. On Thursday, sophomore Bryan Friday registered the first double-double of his collegiate career with a 16-point, 10-rebound outing against Belmont.

Senior Joe Ross Merritt finished with 12 points and two rebounds in 35 minutes of play. He was 5-of-12 from the floor and 2-of-7 from beyond the arc.

Samford only shot 25 percent (7-of-28) from 3-point range, while Towson finished with a 38.5 percent clip (5-of-13) from beyond the arc, including three from sharpshooter Tim Crossin.

Crossin was one of five players to score in double figures for the Tigers.

He finished with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field, while Rodney Spruill led the team with 15 points. Rocky Coleman added 11 points on two field goals and seven free throws, while both Junior Hairston and Jonathan Pease finished with 10 points apiece.

Samford trailed most of the game, but took its largest lead 44-38 with 14:49 remaining in regulation following layups from Peterson and Merritt. Towson then answered with a dunk from Hairston and a layup from Spruill to trim the Bulldogs' advantage to 44-42.

Down the stretch, the teams exchanged leads for approximately five minutes until the Tigers went on an 8-1 run to take a decisive 59-51 advantage with 4:49 to play. During the rally, Towson received a dunk from Pease, a 3-pointer from C.C. Williams and layups from both Williams and Coleman.

"We needed to be more patient and we needed to go deeper into possessions," said Tillette. "The effort that we showed tonight won't beat too many people and we definitely need to play better as the season goes on."

Despite only shooting 22.7 percent from 3-point range in the first half, Samford took a slim 31-30 lead into the intermission. Against Towson's trapping half-court 1-3-1 defense, the Bulldogs knocked down five of their 22 attempts from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes of play.

Friday led Samford with eight points at the half and was the only Bulldog player to hit two 3-point baskets in the first period. He was 3-for-8 from the floor and grabbed four rebounds in the opening half.

Samford used a 3-pointer by Friday and a layup from Merritt to jump out to an early 5-2 advantage in the game, but Towson quickly rallied to take a 20-14 lead with 10 minutes remaining in the period.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday as the Bulldogs conclude their three-game homestand against the Brewton-Parker Barons at 2 p.m., in the Pete Hanna Center. The matchup will be Samford's second all-time meeting against Brewton-Parker.