Jan. 22, 2009
Box Score
ELON, N.C. -
The Samford University basketball team extended its Southern Conference winning streak to three-consecutive games Thursday as the Bulldogs earned a hard-fought 55-51 victory against the Elon Phoenix at Alumni Gym. The win was Samford's first road SoCon triumph of the season.
"I'm proud of this team and how our guys stepped up today, especially with their tough, physical play in the second half," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "I also thought that we played with a lot of poise late in the game. We only had three turnovers in the second half and we really took good shots. That was a big win for us."
Samford (9-8, 4-4 SoCon) was led in scoring by juniors Trey Montgomery and Bryan Friday. Montgomery, the Bulldogs' lithe 6-foot-4 guard from Destrehan, La., tallied a team-high 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field. Friday added 14 points, eight of which were scored in the second half.
Friday came through with four of Samford's five final points of the game, including a significant one-handed fadeaway with the shot clock expiring.
With 2:24 remaining in Thursday's physical SoCon matchup, the Bulldogs held a slim 50-47 lead against the homestanding Phoenix. Samford had possession of the ball and let the shot clock run down to 15 before starting its offensive set.
On the play, Montgomery drove from right to left down the late, but ran into a double team. He then fed the ball to Friday with three seconds remaining, who faked to his right, took a slashing dribble-drive to his left and scored on a floating one-hander with a second left of the clock.
Friday's basket gave the Bulldogs a momentous 52-47 lead with approximately two minutes remaining. He later knocked down a pair of free throws to ice the game with 30 seconds left.
"We played well down the stretch and I thought we had some guys step it up," Tillette said. "Trey did an outstanding job on both ends of the floor and Bryan hit some big shots. I also thought we did a great job of milking the shot clock late in the game and that's hard to do, especially playing in a tough road environment like this. Road wins are hard to come by in the conference and this one was big for us tonight."
With the loss, Elon (4-11, 1-6 SoCon) had its losing streak extended to six-straight games. The Phoenix has played well at home this season, but dropped to 4-4 when playing in Alumni Gym on Thursday.
Elon's Brett James turned in an outstanding performance against Samford as the Phoenix's 6-foot-5 shooting guard scored a game-high 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the floor. He also pulled down four rebounds and registered three blocked shots.
"Elon played us hard and they are a very well-coached team," said Tillette. "I feel for (Head coach) Ernie (Nestor) and his guys because they really played hard and they're going through a little bit of a rough stretch right now. This is a great home-field advantage for them and it reminded me a lot of playing in Seibert Hall."
In the second half, Samford shot a stifling 59.1 percent from the field and only attempted three 3-point baskets. The Bulldogs scored 36 of its 55 points in the paint and grabbed eight key offensive rebounds.
Samford's Jim Griffin played a big role down the stretch and scored a pair of critical baskets off of offensive rebounds and put-backs. The Bulldogs' fiery junior from Chicago, Ill., scored all four of his points during the final eight minutes of play and provided some important second-half minutes for Samford.
"Jim did a great job for us tonight and his two baskets were huge," said Tillette. "Both came off missed shots and he really changed the momentum of the game with those plays. I'm glad for him because he's such a hard worker and we really needed those big minutes from him out there."
The Bulldogs' Josh Davis finished with seven points on 3-of-5 shooting from the floor, while senior Curtis West added six points, five rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals.
Samford's Andy King only scored three points Thursday, but finished the game with a team-high six rebounds.
"I also thought that Andy played a good game," Tillette said. "With Matthew Friday being out, we knew that we were going to need him to play well and he finished with six rebounds. He was big on the boards and the 3-pointer that he made at the end of the game was huge."
Elon's Josh Bonney and Ola Atoyebi both registered eight points Thursday. Bonney, the Phoenix's hard-playing freshman from Houston, Texas, also added six rebounds and six assists.
Samford held a slight 22-20 lead at the intermission. The Bulldogs played stifling defense in the opening half of play and limited the Phoenix to 30.8 percent shooting from the field. Samford turned in a 43.5-percent outing from the field in the first 20 minutes of action, but was only 2-of-8 from 3-point range.
The Bulldogs' Montgomery finished the half with a game-high 10 points and knocked down both of Samford's opening-period 3-pointers.
Elon's James paced his team with nine points on 4-of-9 shooting from the field in the first half. He connected on one of his two 3-point attempts and turned in a pair of two-handed dunks.
Despite suffering a six-minute scoring draught in the opening 20 minutes of play, Samford still led by two at halftime.
The Bulldogs strung together a pair of first-half runs, including a 9-2 streak midway through the period. During the stretch, Samford increased its early lead to 13-7 by using a steal and a layup from West, a turnaround jumper from Friday and five-straight points from Montgomery.
Friday finished the first half with six points, two rebounds and a pair of assists.
Thursday's opening period only lasted 37 minutes of real time - most likely due to the fact that a total of five fouls were called. Elon shot two free throws in the first half, while Samford didn't attempt any.
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at 1 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs conclude their two-game SoCon road trip with a matchup against the UNC Greensboro Spartans. The contest will be held at UNC Greensboro's Fleming Gym (1,833).