Nov. 5, 2007

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - In its first exhibition game in the brand-new Pete Hanna Center, the Samford University basketball team used a physical defensive performance to register a 42-33 victory against the Lindsey Wilson Blue Raiders.

With the win, Samford concluded its exhibition season with a 2-0 record. The Bulldogs will begin its regular-season schedule Sunday on the road against the Evansville Purple Aces at 2:30 p.m.

"I think that playing in the new arena attributed to some of our jitters in shooting the basketball," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "I thought that we competed well, we did a lot of good things defensively and we were able to play a lot of our younger guys. We also played without Joe Ross Merritt, who is one of our seniors."

Samford was led in scoring by sophomore point guard Trey Montgomery. The Bulldogs' 6-foot-4 native of Destrehan, La., finished with 11 points and five rebounds. He also scored the men's basketball team's first points in the Pete Hanna Center with an emphatic one-handed dunk to open the game.

Senior Travis Peterson finished with nine points and 10 rebounds and was one point shy of recording his second straight double-double. The Bulldogs' 6-foot-10 center was coming off an 18-point, 10-rebound performance against Oglethorpe on Thursday.

Sophomore Jim Griffin scored eight points on 3-for-4 shooting from the floor and corralled a pair of rebounds. Both of his boards were key rebounds and occurred on the offensive side of the court. True freshman Josh Bedwell knocked down a pair of 3-point baskets and finished with six points and two assists.

Lindsey Wilson (0-1 exhibition play) led at the half, 19-18, behind the play of George White.

White, a junior guard from Louisville, Ky., came off the bench to lead all scorers with eight points in the opening 20 minutes of play. He failed to score in the second period, but still paced the Blue Raiders with eight total points in the game.

Samford held Lindsey Wilson without a double-figure scorer and limited the Blue Raiders to 34.1 percent shooting from the field.

"I thought that this was a game where we did well and we got better," Tillette said. "We have a lot of young guys and we know that there is still a ways to go. I thought that overall our effort was good all game and we played very well at spurts."

Samford used a 3-pointer from Bedwell to take an early 12-6 lead. The Bulldogs then hit a dry spell and didn't score for nearly eight minutes midway through the opening period. Despite the drought, Lindsey Wilson only took a one-point lead into halftime.

Samford went on a 9-0 run early in the second period to take a 32-23 advantage. The Bulldogs then used a 3-point basket from Montgomery to extend their lead to 37-25 with 9:38 remaining in the game.

Late in the second half, Samford emptied its bench and played a lot of its younger players to close out the contest. Lindsey Wilson scored the final four points to trim their final deficit to nine.

"I was glad that we were able to play a lot of our younger guys," said Tillette. "This year's team is extremely young and any experience that we can get will definitely help us out in the long run."

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Sunday at 2:30 p.m., as the Bulldogs begin play in their regular-season schedule against the Evansville Purple Aces.