Dec. 5, 2007

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University basketball team will begin play in its 2007-08 Ohio Valley Conference schedule Thursday at 6:30 p.m., as the Bulldogs host the in-state rival Jacksonville State Gamecocks in the brand-new Pete Hanna Center.

The OVC-opening contest will be nationally televised on ESPNU with announcers Doug Greengard (play-by-play) and Larry Conley (color) calling the game. The matchup will also be broadcast locally by play-by-play specialist Kevin Henslee on WVSU 91.1 FM and via the internet at www.al.com/wvsu.

Samford (2-4) enters the contest looking to bounce back from a two-game losing streak. Last week, the Bulldogs dropped an overtime contest at Lipscomb 70-65 and then fell short on the road against Florida State 61-45.

Samford owns a 1-2 record at home this season with a win over Brewton-Parker 73-30 and losses against Belmont 82-73 and Towson 73-66.

The Bulldogs' Joe Ross Merritt leads the team in scoring with 15.5 points per game. He is also shooting 41.7 percent from beyond the arc and has knocked down a team-high 15 three-point shots this season.

Fellow-senior Travis Peterson follows with an average of 14 points per contest, while sophomore Trey Montgomery is in the midst of his breakout season by scoring 10.2 points per game. Montgomery, a 6-foot-4 native of Destrehan, La., leads the Bulldogs with a 59-percent shooting percentage from the floor.

Jacksonville State (2-5) is also in the midst of a two-game losing streak.

The Gamecocks are coming off consecutive losses to Central Arkansas in a rare home-and-home series. Jacksonville State was defeated at Central Arkansas 76-72 on Nov. 24, before losing at home to the same team 82-68 on Saturday.

Jacksonville State heads into Thursday's game as the OVC's leading team in the following five statistical categories: assists (19.1 pg), defensive rebounds (26.6 pg), 3-point field goals (10.1 pg), blocks (5.4 pg) and assist/turnover ratio (1.14).

Samford owns a 49-37 all-time record against Jacksonville State, and the Bulldogs are in the midst of a three-game winning streak versus their in-state rivals. Samford holds a decisive 32-13 record against Jacksonville State when playing at home in Birmingham.

When Samford and Jacksonville State lock horns, you generally know that it will be a hotly-contested matchup.

Three of the previous four meetings were decided by one point and the Bulldogs earned a pair of buzzer-beating victories against the Gamecocks last season. In the first game held in Jacksonville, Samford's Merritt hit a running 3-pointer at the buzzer to win 54-53.

In game two, the Bulldogs' Curtis West scored six points in the final nine seconds to earn a 64-63 victory. 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.

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' Jerry Smith then took the ball out of bounds and passed it to 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.

The Bulldogs are ranked first in the OVC in a pair of statistical categories. Also, Samford is ranked among the top-three teams in the conference in an additional four categories. The Bulldogs are the top-ranked team in the OVC in both scoring defense (60.8 ppg) and field-goal percentage defense (41.1).

In addition, Samford is ranked second in 3-point field-goal percentage (33.3), and third in the following three categories: scoring margin (+1.2), field-goal percentage (47.5) and rebounding defense (30.8 pg).

Individually, Samford's Peterson is ranked fourth in assists (4.2 pg) and fifth in assist/turnover ratio (1.47). Merritt enters Thursday's game ranked sixth in the OVC in scoring (15.5 ppg) and seventh in 3-point field-goal percentage (41.7).

Following Samford's OVC-opening matchup against Jacksonville State, the Bulldogs will return to its non-conference schedule with a home game versus Reinhardt College on Dec. 15. The contest will begin at 2 p.m., and will be held at Seibert Hall due to the University's inaugural graduation in the Pete Hanna Center.

Samford Basketball Game Notes