Feb. 27, 2007

Box Score

MURRAY, Ky. - The Samford University basketball team earned its biggest road win of the 2006-07 season Tuesday as the Bulldogs rallied for a hard-fought 70-60 victory against the Murray State Racers in the opening round of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.

With the win, Samford (16-15) advanced to the semifinals of the OVC Tournament for a second-straight season.

The Bulldogs will square off against the No. 1-seeded Austin Peay Governors at 5:30 p.m., in the Gaylord Entertainment Center in downtown Nashville, Tenn.

"I thought that this was one of our better played games this season," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "Our seniors played like seniors and our juniors played like juniors, and our experience showed up out there. We shot the ball well and we were able to handle their crowd. We did a lot of good things tonight."

Samford finished Tuesday's game with four players scoring in double figures.

Seniors Randall Gulina and Jerry Smith both paced the team with 20 points apiece, while juniors Travis Peterson and Joe Ross Merritt tallied 12 and 11 points, respectively. The Bulldogs torched the nets in the second half of play and shot 75 percent from the floor in the final period.

Samford turned in a 60 percent shooting performance for the game, its second-best road outing of the season. The Bulldogs shot 43.8 percent from beyond the arc and improved to 14-0 this year when shooting better than their opponent.

Smith and Gulina both finished with 10 points from the free-throw line.

Smith turned in an unblemished 10-for-10 performance from the charity stripe, while Gulina recorded a near-perfect 10-for-11 outing.

Junior Joe Ross Merritt grabbed a game-high six rebounds, while Curtis West and Smith tied for the team-lead in assists with four.

Smith, Samford's all-time leader in assists, improved his school-record total to 430. Gulina, the Bulldogs' leading scorer this season, moved into 13th place on Samford's all-time scoring list. With his 20 points Tuesday, he increased his career total to 1,224 and surpassed former Bulldog-great Arnold Hamilton.

"Murray State has improved tremendously since the first time that we beat them, but tonight was one of those games," Tillette said. "I can't say enough about the game that Jerry (Smith) had. I thought that he was phenomenal. He played all 40 minutes for us and Joe (Ross Merritt) did a lot of great things down the stretch."

With the loss, Murray State (16-14) had its two-game winning streak snapped and fell to 10-2 at home in OVC Tournament first-round matchups.

The Racers' previous defeat in the opening round of the tournament was a loss to Southeast Missouri in 2005. Ironically, Southeast Missouri was the only other team to defeat Murray State twice at home in the same season before Samford accomplished the feat Tuesday.

Earlier this season, the Bulldogs handed the Racers their worst home defeat in over four years with a 55-44 triumph at the Regional Special Events Center.

Murray State finished with three players scoring in double figures and was led by Ed Horton's 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the floor. The senior Birmingham-Southern transfer scored nine of his 16 points in the second half of play.

"We knew that the game was not going to be won in the first 10 minutes of the second half," said Tillette. "We knew that we were still going to have to play solid defense and that it's a 40-minute game. We played good defense down the stretch and we were able to guard their shooters well. I also thought we played with toughness and intensity."

After playing to a 26-26 tie at the half, Samford opened the second period with a 10-0 run and never relinquished the lead.

The Bulldogs' Travis Peterson started the half off with a 3-point basket and then Gulina and Smith scored on back-to-back layups. Smith added a free throw on the 3-point play and Peterson scored on a back-door drive to make the score 36-26.

Murray State would pull within two points in the game twice, but each time the Bulldogs answered with key buckets.

Peterson knocked down a key hook shot with 13:23 remaining in the game to make the score 40-36, and then Merritt drained a 3-pointer at the 12:29 mark to improve Samford's advantage to 43-38.

The Bulldogs' largest margin of the second half was a 61-47 lead with 1:59 remaining.

Samford scored the final four points of the first half to fight its way to a 26-26 tie at the intermission. The Bulldogs used a right-handed layup from Merritt and a pair of free throws from Gulina to make the score at the half, 26-26.

Near the end of the opening period, Samford withstood a 12-2 Racer run and only trailed by as many as four points.

The Bulldogs jumped out to an early 20-14 advantage in the game following three-straight free throws from Smith at the 7:51 mark. With the shot clock running down, Samford's Smith went up for a deep 3-point attempt from the right wing and was fouled on the arm by Murray State's Ray George.

The Bulldogs shot a perfect 11-of-11 from the charity stripe in the first half. Gulina led the team with nine points and three rebounds in the opening period. Samford's senior guard from Baton Rouge, La., was also 6-of-6 from the free-throw line.

Smith added eight first-half points for the Bulldogs and was 5-of-5 from the charity stripe.

Murray State finished with eight players scored in the first half and was led by both Shawn Witherspoon and Horton. The pair ended the opening 20 minutes of play with seven points apiece.

The Samford University basketball team advanced to the semifinal round of the OVC Tournament for a second-straight season and will face off against the top-seeded Austin Peay Govs at 5:30 p.m., on Friday.

The game will be held at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, Tenn.