Feb. 27, 2009

BOONE, N.C. - The Samford University basketball team will play in its final regular-season contest of the 2008-09 campaign Saturday at 2:30 p.m. (CST), as the Bulldogs face off against the Appalachian State Mountaineers at the Holmes Center (8,325).

The Southern Conference matchup will not be carried by the Samford Broadcast Network, but Appalachian State will provide a free audio Webstream at www.GoASU.com.

Samford (13-15, 8-11 SoCon) heads into the game looking to rebound from a pair of hard-fought road losses against Chattanooga and Western Carolina. In their 65-58 defeat at Western Carolina on Thursday, the Bulldogs committed 22 costly turnovers.

Sophomore Josh Bedwell tied a career-high with 24 points in the loss. Samford's sophomore sharpshooter from Hartselle, Ala., came off the bench to lead the team in scoring and finished 7-of-12 from the field.

Bedwell turned in a 5-for-8 performance from 3-point range and was an unblemished 5-for-5 from the charity stripe. He is the Bulldogs' top free-throw shooter this season with a stellar 89.1 mark from the line.

Samford is currently the fourth-place team in the SoCon's North Division and would move up to third place with a win Saturday.

The third-place team in the final North Division standings will face Furman at 8:30 p.m. (CST) in the opening round of the SoCon Tournament, while the fourth-place team is slated to face off against Georgia Southern at 1 p.m. (CST). The 2009 SoCon Tournament will be held Friday-Monday at The McKenzie Arena in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Appalachian State (12-16, 9-10 SoCon) is coming off an 88-82 home victory against Chattanooga on Thursday. With a win Saturday and a WCU loss, the Mountaineers would move into second place in the North Division and receive a first-round bye.

Prior to Appalachian State's victory over Chattanooga, the Mountaineers had been defeated in four of their previous five games.

Appalachian State enters Saturday's game as the top rebounding team in the conference. The Mountaineers own a league-best rebounding margin of +7.7 and are ranked first in rebounds per game (39.7).

Appalachian State is also the second-ranked team in the SoCon in rebounding defense. The Mountaineers are only allowing their opponents an average of 32 rebounds per contest. Kellen Brand is Appalachian State's leading scorer with an average of 14.8 points per game.

The Bulldogs will square off against the Mountaineers for only the second time in school history Saturday as the teams meet in Boone, N.C.

Samford leads the all-time series 1-0 after earning a 68-56 victory at home on Jan. 17. In the win held at the Pete Hanna Center, the Bulldogs' Trey Montgomery scored a career-high 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the floor.

In the first meeting between the teams, Samford outscored Appalachian State 45-31 in the second half.

After only leading the Mountaineers 25-23 at the intermission, the Bulldogs rallied to shoot 52 percent from the field in the final period and were buoyed by Montgomery's 17 second-half points. The Bulldogs' 6-foot-4 guard from Destrehan, La., was 6-for-10 in the final period and helped spark a critical 14-2 run midway through the period.

With 9:30 remaining in the game, Appalachian State held a 44-41 advantage. Montgomery then scored nine of the Bulldogs' next 14 points to give Samford a 55-46 lead with 4:43 left to play.

Montgomery capped the 14-2 run with a thunderous two-handed dunk following one of his season-high four steals in the game. The Bulldogs finished the contest with eight steals and only nine turnovers, while the Mountaineers only tallied five takeaways and coughed the ball up 17 times.

Samford enters Saturday's game the second-ranked team in the nation in fewest personal fouls per game. The Bulldogs are averaging 14.5 fouls per contest and have only allowed opponents to shoot a total of 402 free throws this season.

Samford is also ranked among the nation's leaders in 3-point field goals per game, scoring defense, fewest turnovers per game and field-goal percentage. The Bulldogs are ranked 28th in 3-point field goals per game (8.2) and 37th in scoring defense (61.7 ppg).

So far this season, Samford owns a 10-4 record when playing in the friendly confines of the Pete Hanna Center. At home, the Bulldogs are averaging 64.5 points per game and are shooting 47.8 percent from the field (35.8 from 3-point range).

Conversely, Samford is 3-11 on the road this season and is only scoring an average of 56.7 points per road contest. The Bulldogs are shooting 44.3 percent from the floor (35.5 from 3-point range) when playing away from home.

The 2008-09 season marked Samford's inaugural campaign as a member of the SoCon. For the previous five years, the Bulldogs competed in the Ohio Valley Conference and earned a 53-39 league record.

Prior to switching to the OVC, Samford was a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference (previously known as the Trans America Athletic Conference) from 1989 until 2003. During its 14 seasons in the TAAC/A-Sun, the Bulldogs earned a pair of conference championships and qualified for the NCAA Tournament in both 1999 and 2000.

Following Saturday's game at Appalachian State, Samford will next be in action on Friday at the 2009 SoCon Tournament. The 12-team competition will be held at Chattanooga's McKenzie Arena.

Samford Basketball Game Notes
Live Stats - Samford at Appalachian State