Jan. 12, 2009

Box Score

CHARLESTON, S.C. - In its best offensive performance of the 2008-09 campaign, the Samford University basketball team rallied late and outscored the College of Charleston in the second half Monday, but dropped a hard-fought 81-74 decision on the road at the brand-new Carolina First Arena.

"I thought we played well and gave a good account of ourselves," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "We turned in one of our better offensive outputs of the season, but they just really shot the ball well. They are a very good basketball team. We're not satisfied with a moral victory, but we definitely moved a step forward from our last game."

In Monday's Southern Conference matchup televised live on CSS, Samford (6-8, 1-4 SoCon) scored a season-high 74 points and was paced offensively by both Bryan Friday and Trey Montgomery. Both players finished with 20 points apiece, while Josh Davis added 12 and Andy King followed with 11.

Montgomery's outburst was his best of the season and Friday tied his career-best performance for the third time this year. Samford's 6-foot-6 junior from Grapevine, Texas, also registered 20 points against both Lipscomb and Furman earlier this season.

The Bulldogs' juniors combined for 40 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. Friday was 9-of-16 from the field, while Montgomery was 7-of-12. Friday also added a 5-of-6 outing from the free-throw line.

"Trey did a very good job on the offensive end of the court today, but the only problem he had was with a few early turnovers," said Tillette. "He did a great job of scoring the ball and as a team I thought we did a pretty good job of running the offense. We shot 10-of-24 from the arc which is good, but we missed a few wide open shots as well."

College of Charleston (12-3, 4-1 SoCon) earned its 11th victory in 13 games Monday and turned in its best 3-point shooting performance of the season.

The Cougars knocked down 57.1 percent of their attempts from beyond the arc and finished 12-of-21 from 3-point range. In total, the College of Charleston was 30-of-56 from the floor for a 53.6 percent shooting mark. It was also 9-of-13 from the free-throw line.

"I thought that the key factor in the game tonight was how well College of Charleston shot the ball," Tillette said. "This was their best shooting performance from 3-point range all year and they are a very good team. Their outside shooting forced us to extend our defense somewhat and then they were able to get some drives to the goal."

The Cougars joined the Bulldogs with four players scoring in double figures. Sophomore guard Andrew Goudelock led the way with 19 points on a 7-of-11 performance from the field, while fellow-sophomore Antwaine Wiggins followed with 17 on a near-perfect 7-of-8 outing from the floor.

The College of Charleston's pair also did some damage from 3-point range. Goudelock and Wiggins combined to shoot 8-of-10 from beyond the arc.

The Bulldogs out-rebounded the Cougars 30-29, but committed 11 turnovers - eight of which occurred in the first half.

"We had too many unforced turnovers," said Tillette. "Against a talented team like College of Charleston, you're always going to have some turnovers, but tonight we had some untimely, unforced errors. That was part of the problem and then they had some uncharacteristic shooting performances of their own. Wiggins went 3-for-4 from the arc and then the other guy (Goudelock) went 5-of-6, so that also hurt as well."

The Cougars' Dustin Scott added 16 points and five rebounds Monday, while Tony White, Jr., finished with 14 points, seven assists and three steals.

Samford's Curtis West tallied seven points on 3-of-4 shooting from the field and Jim Griffin added four points and an assist in 14 minutes of play.

Despite trailing by as many as 16 points midway through the second half, 64-48 (8:27 remaining), Samford continued to fight inside the lane for a number of layups from Friday and Montgomery to trim the lead to nine points with 1:20 left in the game.

With the score 75-66, the Bulldogs forced the Cougars to take a 30-second timeout, capping an 8-1 run which was highlighted by five-straight points from Friday and a deep 3-pointer from Davis. The College of Charleston then knocked down a pair of free throws from White, Jr., but Friday answered with a 3-point basket of his own from the right wing.

Samford knocked down a total of three 3-point baskets in the final two minutes of the game, but the Cougars used two more free throws from White, Jr., and a breakaway dunk from Scott to stave off the Bulldogs' comeback attempt.

"I thought that our guys competed well and fought hard, and that this was one of the best games we've played this season," Tillette said. "Sure, there are a lot of things that we can improve upon, but we did some good things tonight. I thought that we played very well in the second half, we just ran out of time."

The teams competed in an energetic first half of play and College of Charleston took a 42-38 lead into the intermission.

Both teams shot the ball well in the opening period of play, but the Cougars torched the nets with a 77.8 percent outing from 3-point range. In the first half, the College of Charleston knocked down 7-of-9 of its attempts from beyond the arc.

Samford shot 50 percent (5-of-10) from long range in the opening 20 minutes of play and was turned in a 48.1 shooting mark from the field.

The Bulldogs were led in scoring by Davis and Montgomery in the first half. Both players finished with nine points and Montgomery added a team-high five rebounds. Davis was 3-for-4 from the floor in the opening period, including a 2-for-3 performance from 3-point range. King also knocked down a pair of 3s in the first half for six points.

The College of Charleston was paced by 13 points form leading scorer Goudelock. The Cougars' 6-foot-1 sophomore guard was a near-perfect 5-for-6 from the field and 3-for-3 from beyond the arc. Scott added nine first-half points, while White, Jr., added eight points and four assist. He also grabbed three steals.

Samford jumped out to a slim 10-9 lead at the 14:52 mark in the game following 3-point baskets from Davis and King, as well as a pair of slashing layups from Montgomery and West.

"We played well tonight, but it doesn't stop here," said Tillette. "We still have a long ways to go in conference play and this upcoming week is a huge week for us. We have Western Carolina and Appalachian State coming to our place and we have to play well against those teams. There are still a lot of games left to play in this league."

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Thursday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs return home to the Pete Hanna Center for a SoCon matchup against the Western Carolina Catamounts.