Feb. 13, 2009

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University basketball team will play its final home game of the 2008-09 season Saturday at 2 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs welcome the Elon Phoenix to the Pete Hanna Center for a critical Southern Conference matchup.

The game will not be broadcast locally on WVSU 91.1 FM, but will be carried live on SoCon TV as it accompanies the video webstream.

Saturday's contest will be Samford's Curtis West's final home game of his collegiate career as he will be honored before the matchup with a special "Senior Day" presentation. West is the Bulldogs' lone senior on the 2008-09 roster and fans are encouraged to arrive early for the ceremony.

Samford (12-13, 7-9 SoCon) heads into the contest looking to build upon the positive momentum of a hard-fought 73-60 victory against UNC Greensboro on Thursday, in which the Bulldogs improved their home record to 9-4 this season.

In the 13-point victory, Samford's Bryan Friday scored a career-high 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting. The Bulldogs led the Spartans by as many as eight points in the first half and held a 33-28 advantage at halftime. Samford later used an 11-2 run midway through the second period to put UNC Greensboro 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. The Bulldogs never led by less than seven points for the remainder of the game and actually extended their advantage to 71-57 with 1:10 left to play.

Elon (8-15, 5-10 SoCon) enters Saturday's game with aspirations of rebounding from a 76-54 loss at Chattanooga on Thursday. In its most recent defeat, the Phoenix dropped its second matchup in three games and fell to 2-10 when playing on the road this season.

Elon boasts a pair of players averaging double figures in scoring this season. The Phoenix's Ola Atoyebi currently paces the squad with 14.2 points per contest, while Brett James follows closely with an average of 14.1 points per game.

Atoyebi is also ranked second in the SoCon and 23rd in the nation in field-goal percentage with a 58.6 shooting mark from the floor this season.

Saturday's matchup will be only the second all-time meeting between Samford and Elon.

Earlier this season, the Bulldogs squared off against the Phoenix for the first time in school history on Jan. 22, and held on for a physical 55-51 triumph in Alumni Gym. In the hard-fought defensive struggle, Samford's Trey Montgomery scored a team-high 20 points.

Friday also turned in a good game against Elon as he finished with 14 points and scored four of Samford's five final points.

With 2:24 remaining in the 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.

West, the Bulldogs' speedy native of Baton Rouge, La., is the lone senior on the team this season.

Curtis West

Samford's 6-foot guard was also a senior last year, but was forced to take a medical redshirt year with an injury to his shoulder. In his shortened 2007-08 campaign, West started in the first five games of the year and averaged 7.2 points and 4.2 rebounds per contest.

As a fifth-year senior this season, West has mentioned on a number of occasions that he feels as if he's getting another chance to have a special year.

During his time at Samford, West has proven to be an electrifying player for the Bulldogs, and his presence both on and off the court will be sorely missed. In 2004, he joined the team as a fresh-faced teenager, and has since grown in both maturity and stature to become one of the team's top leaders.

West is making the most of his second opportunity as a senior this season, both at practice and during the games. He also said that sitting out last season was reinvigorating and heightened his hunger to get back on the court.

As soon as he arrived on campus, West quickly emerged as a key contributor for the Bulldogs, and became one of the few players in recent history to play as a true freshman. In 2004-05, he earned playing time in all of Samford's games and also started in two contests as a freshman.

West continued to progress as a sophomore and provided an offensive spark off the bench en route to leading the Bulldogs to the championship game of the 2006 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. He was the team's "sixth man" during the season and averaged 5.7 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.

As a junior, West broke into Samford's starting lineup for good, and has since started in 48 games for the Bulldogs. Despite missing the entire 2007-08 campaign with an injured shoulder, he is still on pace to end his career with over 500 points, 200 rebounds, 200 assists and 100 steals.

West's defensive energy, hustle and innate basketball instincts have also helped Samford win many games over the years in even more ways than his statistics will prove.

Following Saturday's game against Elon, Samford will take a week off from competitive action before traveling to Chattanooga, Tenn., for a 6 p.m. (CST) matchup against the Chattanooga Mocs on Feb. 21. The contest will be held at The McKenzie Arena (11,234), and the critical North Division matchup will be televised live on SportSouth.

Samford Basketball Game Notes