Jan. 8, 2009

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford basketball team picked up its first Southern Conference win in school history Thursday as the Bulldogs rallied late for a 71-60 win against the Furman Paladins in the Pete Hanna Center. Samford's Trey Montgomery scored nine of the team's final 12 points to helped guide the Bulldogs to victory.

"This was a big win for us," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "Furman is a very tough team and they really played hard. They shot the ball extremely well and that forced us to defend them a bit differently, but I really thought that it was the hustle plays that were big for us down the stretch."

With the win, Samford (6-6, 1-2 SoCon) remained undefeated at the Pete Hanna Center and extended its home winning streak to six-consecutive games. The Bulldogs improved to 5-0 at home this season and have not been beaten in the Pete Hanna Center since a hard-fought 64-58 loss to Morehead State on Feb. 14, 2008.

"I feel relieved to get our first Southern Conference win, especially to get it here at home," Tillette said. "Last season, we didn't play well at home at all and this year it's been different. We're already 5-0 in this building and hopefully we'll be able to keep it up."

In Thursday's SoCon home opener, Samford trailed 60-59 against Furman (2-10, 0-3 SoCon) with 1:44 remaining in the contest when Montgomery knocked down a pivotal 3-point basket that changed the momentum of the game.

On the possession, the shot clock was under two seconds when Andy King found Montgomery deep in the left corner for a fade-away 3-pointer. With less than one tick remaining, Montgomery gathered the pass and quickly fired off the shot with a defender in his face. As the ball left his hand, the buzzer immediately sounded and Montgomery's 3-pointer fell through the cylinder, nothing but net.

The 3-point field goal was Montgomery's only attempt of the game as Samford's junior guard finished with 11 points, four rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals.

"That was a big 3-pointer for us and it really reminded me of the one that I hit against Murray State last year," said Montgomery. "It was an exciting play and I was hoping to get the ball. The whole time, I was calling to Andy for him to pass me the ball and when he did, I just did the best that I could with the shot."

Montgomery's 3-pointer gave Samford a 62-60 lead in the game, its first since the 3:28 mark in the final half. The Bulldogs then used the momentum from the basket to score the final 12 points of the evening, nine of which were scored by Montgomery.

After a pair of defensive stops, Samford used consecutive free throws from Montgomery and senior Curtis West to extend the lead to 65-60 with 41 seconds remaining. The Bulldogs then closed out the victory with an emphatic dunk from Montgomery and a layup from West.

Montgomery, who was only 2-for-6 from the free-throw line heading into the stretch run, finished the game a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe.

"I thought we handled Furman's pressure really well and that was a key point to the game," Montgomery said. "The coaches had us working hard against it all week and it benefited us today in the win. I also needed to knock down those free throws at the end as well. I started off the game slowly, but I knew that they would eventually fall because I have been working on them so hard at practice."

In the loss, Furman shot 46.9 percent from the floor, but committed 14 turnovers and was out-rebounded 25-23.

The Paladins were paced offensively by sophomore guard Jordan Miller who finished with 15 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field. Furman's 6-foot-10 forward Alex Opacic turned in his first double-double of the season with 13 points and 12 rebounds.

Samford concluded the game with four players scoring in double figures and was led by Bryan Friday's 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the floor. With his 20-point performance, Friday tied his career high that was set earlier this season in the Bulldogs' 57-50 win against Lipscomb.

Junior Jim Griffin and Montgomery both added 11 points apiece, while West chimed in with a season-high 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field. West, the Bulldogs' lone senior this season also finished with four rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals.

Griffin, Samford's hard-nosed junior from Chicago, Ill., turned in the best game of his collegiate career Thursday. The Bulldogs' ever-improving forward tallied a career-high 11 points, five rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals. Griffin was 4-for-5 from the field and 3-for-4 from the free-throw line.

"I thought that Jim made a lot of key plays for us down the stretch," said Montgomery. "He had a couple of huge steals for us and those were really big. He always has a great knack of diving on the floor and getting the loose balls for us and today he was also able to get some big-time scores for us around the basket."

Both teams shot well from the floor in the first half as Samford took a 31-28 lead into the intermission. The Bulldogs shot 56.5 percent in the opening period, while Furman stroked it at 52 percent.

With Samford's win it snapped a winless all-time record against Furman. Heading into Thursday's game, the Paladins were 3-0 against the Bulldogs.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at 2 p.m., as the Bulldogs conclude their brief two-game homestand against the Wofford Terriers here in the Pete Hanna Center.