Nov. 23, 2009

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University basketball team enjoyed its first home-court advantage of the 2009-10 season Monday as the Bulldogs registered a 68-52 non-conference victory against the McNeese State Cowboys in the Pete Hanna Center. The game was Samford's first at home in this season.

"This was a nice win for us," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "I was proud of how our guys fought and battled the entire game, and that was big because I didn't think that we executed as well as we should have. It was a very physical game and I thought that we really played better at the end. We didn't rebound the ball great, but we came up with some key rebounds when we really needed them."

With Monday's win, Samford (1-4) snapped its four-game losing streak. The Bulldogs opened the season with four tough matchups on the road against Kent State 69-66, Wisconsin-Green Bay 70-68, UAB 55-52 and Texas A&M 68-49.

McNeese State (1-4) was defeated in its second road game of the 2009-10 campaign. Earlier this year, the Cowboys competed in the prestigious Rainbow Classic and dropped a 73-66 decision at Hawaii on Nov. 15. McNeese State also fell to 0-2 all-time against Samford. Last season, the Bulldogs defeated the Cowboys 57-52 in Lake Charles, La.

Samford was buoyed Monday by three players scoring in double figures. Senior forward Bryan Friday led the way with 15 points, four rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals, while Josh Davis and Trey Montgomery both followed with 14 points apiece.

Davis was 4-of-9 from the field, including a 2-for-6 performance from 3-point range, while Montgomery was 3-of-9 from the floor, but knocked down 7-of-8 free-throws attempts. As a team, Samford reached the charity stripe 31 times and connected on 23 shots from the line.

"I thought that we shot the ball better from the free-throw line, especially in the first half," Tillette said. "We were 12-of-15 in the first half and that really helped us to build our big lead. In the second half, we weren't as good as we need to be, but Trey (Montgomery) made some key ones down the stretch."

The Bulldogs shot 50 percent from the field and 50 percent from beyond the arc. McNeese State only tallied a 35.6 shooting percentage and a 22.6 mark from 3-point distance.

The Cowboys were led in scoring by Diego Kapelan's 15 points on 5-of-15 shooting. He was followed by Stephan Martin's 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting from the field. Both of the aforementioned players combined to grab 13 rebounds and connect on six 3-pointers.

"McNeese State played hard and they never gave up," said Tillette. "They have some guys that can really shoot the ball well and they were able to make some deep 3-pointers on us tonight. They were also able to get quite a few offensive rebounds and that really allowed them to hang in the game as well."

Early in the game, Samford played off the momentum of the crowd and streaked to a quick 18-5 lead midway through the first half. McNeese State then used back-to-back 3-point field goals from Martin to trim the Bulldogs' advantage to 18-11 with 8:52 to play in the period.

The teams continued to battle back in forth until Samford exploded for a 15-1 run to end the first half. During the Bulldogs' scoring stretch, Davis hit a 3-pointer, Montgomery made a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer, while Matthew Friday chipped in with a physical rebound and put-back bucket.

The Bulldogs ended the half with another layup from Matthew Friday, a free throw by Montgomery and a buzzer-beating leaner from Jeffrey Merritt.

Merritt, Samford's sophomore guard from Oklahoma City, Okla., finished Monday's game with eight points, five rebounds and a steal.

Late in the second half of play, McNeese State rallied back to cut Samford's lead to 52-48 with only 4:43 remaining in the game. The Bulldogs then fed off the resounding din of the crowd and scored 16 of the game's final 20 points to earn the 68-52 victory.

Down the stretch, Montgomery poured in six points, Bryan Friday added five and Andy King nailed a critical 3-pointer from the top of the key.

Samford turned in its best defensive performance of the season and only allowed a season-low 52 points.

"This was a great win," Tillette said. "We really needed this win and now we go to Texas Tech to play Saturday and then we come back for two very important home conference games. We've played five tough games and good teams this season and I think that we've built on each one and we're continuing to get better as the year goes on."

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at 3:30 p.m., as the Bulldogs return to the road for a non-conference matchup against the Texas Tech Red Raiders. The game will be held at United Spirit Arena (15,098) in Lubbock, Texas.