Feb. 12, 2009

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University basketball team used a career-high 23 points from junior Bryan Friday to defeat the UNC Greensboro Spartans 73-60 on Thursday in a Southern Conference matchup held at the Pete Hanna Center.

"We played a really good game," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "We started off pretty sluggish, but then we picked it up there midway through the first half. Jim Griffin gave us a huge lift off the bench with his rebounding, Trey Montgomery bounced back from his sickness to give us a good game and Bryan Friday played well on both ends of the floor."

With the win, Samford (12-13, 7-9 SoCon) snapped a four-game losing streak and swept its season series against UNC Greensboro (4-20, 3-12 SoCon). In the first meeting between the teams, the Bulldogs earned a 76-61 victory on the road in Fleming Gym.

Samford improved to 9-4 at home this season and will play its final game of the year in the Pete Hanna Center on Saturday at 2 p.m. (CST). Senior Curtis West will be honored prior to the game with a special "Senior Day" presentation.

In Thursday's win against UNC Greensboro, Samford led by as many as eight points in the first half and held a 33-28 advantage at halftime. The Bulldogs later used an 11-2 run midway through the second period to put the Spartans away at the 6:30 mark remaining in the game.

Samford's Friday capped off the run with a momentous 3-point basket from the right flank. His lone 3-pointer of the game gave the Bulldogs their decisive 58-48 advantage. Samford never led by less than seven points for the remainder of the game and actually extended its advantage to 71-57 with 1:10 left to play.

"This was definitely a very well-played game for us," said Friday. "We really needed this win and I thought that UNC Greensboro played tough and gave us a good fight. This was definitely a big win."

Friday, Samford's 6-foot-6 junior from Grapevine, Texas, finished Thursday's contest with a career-high 23 points on a near-perfect 9-of-12 performance from the field. He also knocked down all four of his free-throw attempts and added five rebounds, three steals, two assists and a block.

In the first half, Friday helped Samford jump out to its early lead by scoring 12 of his game-high 23 points in the opening period.

"We knew we would have to play well in the first half, because they have a very big front line," Friday said. "They started guys that are 6-7, 6-7 and 6-8, and we were worried that they could do some damage against us on the offensive glass. But, we came out, played tough and did a good enough job on the boards to get the win."

UNC Greensboro finished the SoCon matchup with three players scoring in double figures.

The Spartans' junior sharpshooter from Vantaa, Finland, Mikko Koivisto, led the way with 16 points on 3-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc. Toney Kendall followed with 12 points, while Damian Eargle added 10. UNC Greensboro's top rebounder was Pete Brown. He finished with six rebounds and also scored eight points.

Samford was only out-rebounded by one, 28-27.

The Bulldogs' Trey Montgomery led the team with seven boards and also added 14 points and three assists. Samford's agile 6-foot-4 junior from Destrehan, La., was 7-for-9 from the free-throw line.

As a team, the Bulldogs finished with a solid 20-of-23 performance from the charity stripe.

Sophomore Josh Davis turned in another good performance for the Bulldogs on Thursday. In his last four games, he is averaging a team-high 17 points per game and was coming off a season-high 21-point performance against Chattanooga on Monday.

Davis scored 16 points on 4-of-10 shooting from 3-point range against UNC Greensboro and added a perfect 4-for-4 outing from the charity stripe. He also tallied a rebound and a steal.

On Thursday, Samford outscored UNC Greensboro 24-10 in the paint and finished with 19 points off turnovers, as opposed to only five for the Spartans.

"We needed this win today and hopefully it will help us get rid of some of our tentativeness," Tillette said. "We have our last home game on Saturday and we're still looking for improvement. We'd love to get a win because it's `Senior Day' for Curtis, but on top of that it's important for us to come out and play well and to play to win."

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at 2 p.m. (CST), as the Bulldogs play host to the Elon Phoenix for their final home game of the 2008-09 campaign.

Prior to Saturday's contest, Samford's Curtis West will be honored with a special "Senior Day" presentation. Fans are encouraged to arrive early for the ceremony.