March 1, 2008

Box Score

CHARLESTON, Ill. - The Samford University basketball team's second-half rally fell short Saturday, as the Bulldogs suffered a hard-fought 64-61 defeat on the road against the Eastern Illinois Panthers.

"This was a tough loss for us and it was a hard loss, but we have to regroup from this and get ready for the OVC Tournament," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "I thought that the difference in tonight's game was free throws. They were 14-of-20 from the line and we were only 8-of-14, but we just have to hit the road, regroup and get ready to play UT Martin."

Despite Saturday's loss, Samford (14-15, 10-10 Ohio Valley Conference) finished the regular-season as the fifth-place team in the conference. The Bulldogs will play at the fourth-seeded UT Martin Skyhawks on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Four teams ended OVC play with identical 10-10 records. Samford finished first in the tiebreaker scenario, therefore earned the No. 5 seed. Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech and Morehead State also ended the season with 10-10 conference records and finished sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively.

Samford went 0-2 against UT Martin this season and lost 63-49 in the first meeting held at Skyhawk Arena on Jan. 5.

"UT Martin is a good team and they have a lot of offensive weapons," Tillette said. "They have two great guards and they have the player of the year in Lester Hudson. They will definitely be a tough team for us to play on Tuesday."

Late in Saturday's loss to Eastern Illinois (7-22, 6-14 OVC), Samford's Josh Davis and Travis Peterson hit a pair of consecutive 3-points baskets to tie the game at 60-60 with 1:24 remaining.

Davis, the Bulldogs' talented true freshman from Lubbock, Texas, finished with a game-high 17 points Saturday and lit up the nets with a 6-of-9 shooting performance from the field. Samford's 6-foot-4 guard also knocked down three 3-point baskets.

With the game tied at 60-60, Eastern Illinois' Ousmane Cisse missed a wide open layup with a minute remaining. Following the shot, Cisse somehow gained control of the rebound and followed with a key right-handed basket to give the Panthers at 62-60 advantage.

Cisse scored nine points for the Panthers, while senior Jake Byrne led the squad with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field. On "Senior Night", Eastern Illinois finished with four players scoring in double figures.

"Eastern Illinois played very well," said Tillette. "They made some shots that were uncharacteristic of the shots that they normally make. We did not do enough good things. We did some good things for sure, but we missed some wide open looks and you can't win games when you go 11-of-33 from beyond the arc."

Trailing 62-60 with approximately five seconds left in the game, Samford's Davis drove straight to the basket and was fouled by Eastern Illinois' Bobby Catchings.

With one second left on the clock, Davis knocked down the first free throw, but the second attempt hit the back rim and bounced out. The Panthers were then fouled and made a pair of free throws to make the final tally 64-61.

"I told Josh that he played an outstanding game today," Tillette said. "He was inconsolable in the hallway, but I told him to keep his head up and that he played a great game. People miss free throws. For us tonight, we just didn't get enough free throw attempts. Bryan (Friday) was 6-of-10 and Josh (Davis) was 2-of-4."

After Davis' team-high 17 points, Friday and Josh Bedwell each followed with 12. Bedwell was 4-for-9 from the field, with all four of the field goals coming from beyond the arc.

The teams went into the intermission deadlocked at 29-29. The opening period proved to be a half of runs for both squads as Samford jumped out to an early 16-5 lead, but then Eastern Illinois crept back into the game with an 11-1 run to tie the score at 26-26.

After the Panthers' Byrne scored the first basket of the contest 17 seconds into the game, Samford rattled off the next 12 points to take a 12-2 lead. The Bulldogs' early run was capped off by back-to-back jump hooks from Peterson.

Eastern Illinois' Gino Myers-Kyles led his team with seven first-half points. The Panthers shot 50 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes of play and slowly worked their way back into the game.

Despite a trio of Samford 3-pointers, two from Bedwell and one from Trey Montgomery, Eastern Illinois chipped away at the Bulldogs' lead and cut the advantage to 25-19 following a 15-foot jumper from Tyler Laser.

To end the first half, Samford's Bedwell drained a deep 3-point basket, but then Jon'Tee Willhite added one of his own to even the score at 29-29. Bedwell led all scorers with nine first-half point.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Tuesday at 7 p.m., as the Bulldogs begin OVC Tournament play on the road against the UT Martin Skyhawks in Martin, Tenn.

2008 OVC Tournament Bracket