Feb. 10, 2007

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Despite shooting a season-low 22.2 percent from 3-point range in Seibert Hall Saturday, the Bulldogs closed out their matchup with first-place Austin Peay with an opportunity to win the game. On the final possession, Joe Ross Merritt's 3-pointer rimmed out and the Governors held on for a 52-50 win.

"Austin Peay started the game off better than we did and they played better in the first half," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "In the second half, I thought that we were very competitive. We had some things go wrong. We missed some key free throws and we had a lot of shots rim out."

With the loss, Samford (14-11, 11-5 Ohio Valley Conference) dropped just its second home game of the 2006-07 season and moved to 8-2 in Seibert Hall.

Austin Peay (17-7, 14-2 OVC), which now holds a three-game advantage over the Bulldogs in the conference standings, extended its winning streak to three-straight games. The Governors have been victorious in 14 of their previous 15 contests.

Despite Samford's loss Saturday, the Bulldogs are still in second place in the OVC standings. The top-four teams in the OVC will host first-round tournament games and Samford's four remaining conference contests are at Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State, with home games against Southeast Missouri and Eastern Illinois.

"We're still in the running to host a tournament game, but it definitely hasn't been certified yet," Tillette said. "We'd like to win the regular-season title, but more important to us is to host in the first round. Today's game really magnified the importance of our upcoming road trip and we need to play better than we did today."

With Samford trailing late in the game, 52-50, the Governors' Fernandez Lockett missed a fade-away jumper with 25 seconds remaining and senior Jerry Smith skied for the critical rebound. The Bulldogs' 6-foot-2 guard finished with 14 points, six rebounds and four assists.

On the ensuing possession, Samford worked through its offense and found Merritt for the possible game-winning shot.

With nine seconds remaining, Merritt's 3-point attempt arced high over an Austin Peay defender and caromed off the back of the rim. The Bulldogs' Travis Peterson grabbed the offensive rebound, but couldn't get his turnaround jumper off in time.

The Governors led by as many as seven points in the second half and were led in scoring by Madison, Ala., native Lockett. Austin Peay's 6-foot-5 high-riser finished the contest with a double-double, including game-highs in both points (16) and rebounds (11).

Drake Reed added 15 points for the Governors on 7-of-10 shooting from the field.

Samford rallied back from its seven-point deficit to cut Austin Peay's lead to 51-50. With 1:42 remaining in the game, Smith knocked down a pair of free throws to help the Bulldogs to within one point.

During Samford's second-half comeback, Merritt drained a 3-point shot, Peterson drove for a left-handed layup and later connected on consecutive free throws. At 6-foot-10, the Bulldogs' Peterson grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and tied a career-high with three blocks. He also finished with two steals and a pair of assists.

Smith, Samford's four-year starter at point guard, earned four assists Saturday and increased his career total to 406. He is currently only 18 assists shy of setting the school's all-time record.

Randall Gulina led the team with 15 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field and moved into 15th place on Samford's all-time scoring list. The Bulldogs' senior from Baton Rouge, La., has scored 1,121 points in his career.

Austin Peay shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half and took a 30-25 advantage into the intermission. The Governors jumped out to an early 17-7 lead and held a 22-13 advantage at the 6:57 mark.

The Bulldogs came alive late in the opening period and trimmed their deficit to 28-25 with 58 seconds remaining.

Smith led Samford with seven points in the first half, while Gulina added six and Jason Black came off the bench to score five points. The Bulldogs shot 42.9 percent from the field in the first half, but finished with a 37.2 mark.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Tuesday at 6 p.m., as the Bulldogs square off against the Eastern Kentucky in a key OVC road game in Richmond, Ky.