Feb. 15, 2007

Box Score

MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Samford University basketball team's shooting woes continued Thursday as the Bulldogs only shot 34.7 percent from the floor and 30.3 percent from beyond the arc in a 71-58 road loss against the Morehead State Eagles.

"They looked like a much superior team tonight," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "Morehead State came out in the second half and seemed as if they couldn't miss. At times, our players looked tired and it almost seemed as if they didn't want to play. We need to rebound from this loss and focus on the last three games of the regular season."

With the loss, Samford (14-13, 11-7 Ohio Valley Conference) suffered its third-straight defeat and concluded its final road trip of the regular season with an 0-2 record. The Bulldogs were defeated by Eastern Kentucky, 46-38, on Tuesday in their first game of this week's road swing.

Samford will return home to Birmingham, Ala., for its final three games of the 2006-07 campaign beginning with Evansville at 2 p.m., on Saturday. The Bulldogs will then close out its regular-season slate against Southeast Missouri and Eastern Illinois next week.

Morehead State (11-15, 7-11 OVC) snapped a nine-game losing streak with the victory and defeated the Bulldogs for the first time in over three years. The win was the Eagles' first triumph over Samford since Feb. 14, 2004.

Senior Quentin Pryor and junior Brandon Callahan paced Morehead State with 15 points apiece, while the Eagles' Jamyron Steward added 14 on 7-of-11 shooting from the field.

Morehead State finished with a 55.3 shooting percentage and a 42.9 mark from 3-point range. The Eagles torched the nets in the second half of play and shot 70.8 percent from the floor. Morehead State was also 3-of-6 from beyond the arc in the second period.

Samford's Randall Gulina led all scorers with 17 points Thursday. The Bulldogs' leading scorer on the season shot 5-of-16 from the field, but was only 1-of-8 from 3-point range. As a team, Samford finished the game 10-of-33 from downtown.

Senior point guard Jerry Smith finished with 15 points and tied a season-high with four 3-point baskets. The Bulldogs' four-year starter from Picayune, Miss., was 4-of-7 from the field, with all seven of his shots coming from beyond the arc.

Junior Travis Peterson added 13 points, four rebounds and three assists for the Bulldogs.

Morehead State opened the second half with a 13-5 run and extended its lead to 38-27 with 14:09 left to play in the game.

Despite trailing by 11 points early in the second period, Samford fought back to within 42-40 at the 9:37 mark. The Bulldogs' run midway through the half was ignited by a layup and two free throws from Gulina and then capped off by a pair of 3-point baskets from Joe Ross Merritt.

Merritt, who finished with six points, scored all six of his points during the stretch.

After the Bulldogs pulled within two at 42-40, Morehead State rattled off 11-staight points to take a key 55-43 advantage in the game. Since then, the Eagles' lead would get as big as 17 points, 64-47, but no smaller than nine at 67-58 following a pair of free throws from Trey Montgomery.

The Eagles ended the first half on a 14-2 run and took a 25-22 advantage into the intermission.

Morehead State's Prior led the team with seven points in the opening period, while Steward came off the bench to add six points. The Eagles trailed 20-11 with 8:07 remaining in the first half before they closed the half with their 14-2 run.

Samford jumped out to an early 7-0 advantage in the game as Gulina scored the first seven points of the contest. The Bulldogs' 6-foot-1 senior from Baton Rouge, La., closed out the half with eight points.

Peterson led all scorers with nine points in the first half of play and helped Samford take a 13-8 advantage with 10:25 remaining in the opening period.

The Bulldogs led for a lion's share of the first half before Morehead State earned its first lead at 4:31 following a double-pump jump shot from Cordaryl Ballard. The Eagles later increased their advantage to 25-20 with free throws from Nikola Stojakovic and Maze Stallworth.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday as the Bulldogs return home to Seibert Hall for a non-conference matchup against the Evansville Purple Aces.

The contest will be a part of the 2007 O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters challenge and is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.