Jan. 3, 2008

Box Score

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Samford University basketball team picked up a critical 62-59 road victory against the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles on Thursday as the Bulldogs used a late 10-0 run to earn the key Ohio Valley Conference win at the Eblen Center.

With the victory, Samford (6-6, 3-1 OVC) tallied its second straight conference win and registered its first road triumph of the OVC season. The Bulldogs will continue its three-game league road trip Saturday at UT Martin. The OVC contest will be played at 6 p.m., in Skyhawk Arena.

"This was a huge win for us and all three of these road games are going to prove to be big for us down the stretch," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "We're starting to get in the flow of league play now and everybody's going to be jostling for position. Anytime you can get a road win it's huge, especially in a place like this. Tennessee Tech is always good at home."

With only its third home loss of the season, Tennessee Tech (4-10, 1-3 OVC) dropped to 93-11 when playing in Cookeville, Tenn., since 2000. The win was Samford's second all-time road victory against Tennessee Tech and the Bulldogs improved to 2-6 at the Eblen Center.

Midway through the second half, Samford's Joe Ross Merritt went on a scoring tear and tallied seven-straight points in leading the Bulldogs on an 11-3 run. Before the streak, Tennessee Tech held a 35-34 advantage, but Samford rallied to take a 47-42 lead.

The Golden Eagles fought back to trim the Bulldogs' advantage to 47-46 with 5:42 remaining.

Following a pair of free throws from sophomore forward Bryan Friday, Samford extended its lead to 49-47. The Bulldogs then caught fire from beyond the arc and rattled off eight more points to take its biggest advantage of the game 57-47.

During the 10-0 run, Samford used a pair of 3-point baskets from Travis Peterson and a layup from Trey Montgomery.

Peterson led the Bulldogs with 17 points and a game-high four 3-point field goals, while Montgomery added 15 and Merritt followed with 14. Samford shot 46 percent from the field and 42.3 percent from beyond the arc.

The Bulldogs shot lights out from 3-point range in the second half and were 7-of-12 from downtown during the final period.

Behind the stellar play of Montgomery, Samford ended the first half on a late 7-4 run and took a 25-21 advantage into the intermission.

Montgomery led all scorers with 11 points in the opening period of play. The Bulldogs' 6-foot-4 native of Destrehan, La., scored six straight points during Samford's 9-1 run from the 8-minute mark to the 5-minute mark. The Bulldogs used the late streak to turn a 16-16 tie into a 25-17 lead with 3:29 remaining.

Samford's Peterson added eight points in the first half and connected on a pair of 3-point field goals. The Bulldogs' 6-foot-10 center scored five of the team's first eight points and helped Samford to its opening-half lead.

Trailing 25-17, Tennessee Tech finished the first period with four straight points to trim its deficit to 25-21. Anthony Fisher, who led the Golden Eagles with seven first-half points, knocked down a pair of free throws, while forward Amadi McKenzie scored on a tip-in at the half-time buzzer.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday as the Bulldogs continue their key three-game OVC road trip against the UT Martin Skyhawks at 6 p.m., in Martin, Tenn.