Dec. 18, 2007

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University basketball team suffered a heartwrenching 63-62 Ohio Valley Conference defeat against the Southeast Missouri Redhawks on Tuesday as sophomore Jimmy Drew connected on a deep 3-point basket with one second remaining to pull out the come-from-behind win.

"On that last play, we thought for sure that they were going to penetrate, but he (Drew) was able to get a good look and he knocked it down," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "He's a really nice shooter, but that play in itself isn't what lost us the ballgame. It was the little things that let them get back in the game."

With the score tied 60-60, Samford's Travis Peterson knocked down a pair of free throws to give the Bulldogs a slight 62-60 advantage with seven seconds remaining.

Then, following a Samford (4-5, 1-1 OVC) timeout, Southeast Missouri (7-4, 3-0 OVC) threw the inbounds pass to Marcus Rhodes who quickly found Kenard Moore at midcourt. Moore took a couple of dribbles, drove inside the 3-point line and kicked the ball out to Drew who knocked down the game-winning 22-foot fade-away jumper.

Drew finished with 12 points and only attempted four shots in the game. The Redhawks' 6-foot-4 guard from Anna, Ill., was a perfect 4-for-4 from 3-point range.

With the victory, Southeast Missouri extended its winning streak to three-straight games and moved into sole possession of first place in the league's standings at 3-0. The Redhawks will next play Thursday against 0-3 Jacksonville State.

Samford had its three-game home winning streak snapped Tuesday after reeling off consecutive victories against Brewton-Parker 73-30, Jacksonville State 41-34 and Reinhardt 89-61.

The Bulldogs' loss was also its first OVC defeat in the brand-new Pete Hanna Center.

"This was a really tough loss for us," Tillette said. "You always hate to lose a game in the end like that, but we have to realize that this was only one of 20 OVC games this season. There are still a lot of games to be played and we need to start getting ready for Murray State on Thursday."

Following a jumper by Jim Griffin with 2:07 remaining in the game, Samford led 55-47.

On the ensuing possession, Marcus Rhodes made a layup to trim the lead to 55-49. The Bulldogs then added a free throw and layup from Trey Montgomery, but Southeast Missouri hit back-to-back NBA-range 3-pointers to pull within three points at 58-55.

After Samford's Joe Ross Merritt knocked down a pair of free throws to increase the lead to 60-55 with 46 seconds remaining, Southeast Missouri's Roderick Pearson scored a layup and then Drew connected on his third of four 3-pointers to even the game at 60-60.

"They were able to hit all of their threes down the stretch," said Tillette. "And they weren't taking easy shots. They were making some deep threes and that's a credit to them. They were trading threes for twos and they were able to make the plays and to make the shots when it counted."

Samford's Travis Peterson led all scorers with 18 points.

The Bulldogs' 6-foot-10 center was 7-of-14 from the floor and added four rebounds, four blocks and a pair of steals. Merritt followed with 12 points and four rebounds for Samford, and was 3-for-6 from the floor. He also knocked down four of his five free-throw attempts.

Montgomery nearly registered the first double-double of his collegiate career Thursday. Samford's sophomore point guard finished with 11 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Fellow-sophomore Jim Griffin made his first career start and turned in a personal-best eight points in 17 minutes of play.

Southeast Missouri finished with four players in double figures and was led by Jaycen Herring's 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Herring came off the bench and played a team-high 28 minutes for the Redhawks.

Moore added 13 points for Southeast Missouri, while Drew tallied 12 and Pearson finished with 11.

Samford led at the half 32-21.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Thursday at 7:30 p.m., as the Bulldogs play host to the Murray State Racers in an OVC duel to be held in the Pete Hanna Center.