March 6, 2009

Box Score

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - In a physical, hard-fought struggle between two evenly-matched teams late Friday night, the Samford basketball team jumped out to an early 20-5 lead and held on for a 57-52 victory against the Furman Paladins in the opening round of the 2009 Southern Conference Tournament.

With the win, Samford (15-15) advanced to the quarterfinals of the four-day, 12-team competition and will square off against The Citadel Bulldogs on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. (CST).

The 2009 SoCon Tournament is being held at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's McKenzie Arena located in downtown Chattanooga, Tenn.

"We made some big plays down the stretch and we defended them well from beyond the arc," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "We held them to 3-of-16 from 3-point range and Curtis (West) did a good job defensively, except for when he wasn't keeping the ball in front. Our effort was really good; we just didn't make great decisions on the offensive end."

Samford's Bryan Friday led all scorers with 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field. In three games against Furman (6-24) this season, the Bulldogs' 6-foot-6 junior from Grapevine, Texas, averaged 19.3 points per contest.

Friday also finished the game with a team-high eight rebounds and a pair of 3-point baskets. Moreover, he knocked down five free-throw attempts, but he left three on the table in a 5-for-8 performance from the charity stripe.

"Bryan played well tonight, but he still made too many turnovers," Tillette said. "He finished with six turnovers and that's too many for us at this point in the season. He's one of our leaders and we need him to play well in order to win. I was glad that he defended and he was also strong on the glass."

Samford's Andy King and Trey Montgomery both added 10 points apiece Friday. King scored all 10 of his points in the opening half and also tallied four rebounds and three assists.

Montgomery, the Bulldogs' junior point guard from Destrehan, La., finished with six rebounds and two assists in 31 minutes of game time.

Furman concluded Friday's game with one player scoring in double figures. Jordan Miller paced the Paladins with 11 points on 4-of-12 shooting from the field. He also grabbed five rebounds and handed out two assists.

Samford led the game wire to wire and held a 16-point advantage with 12:07 left to play in the first half.

Furman fought back to open the second period and actually tied the game at 38-38 with 10:41 remaining in the contest.

"I don't think they did anything different against us in the second half, it was just tournament play," said Tillette. "They were behind and I think that we did play a little bit tentatively. We had a big lead, we started looking at the clock and we missed free throws."

The Bulldogs finished 16-of-27 from the free-throw line for 59.3 percent.

Sophomore sharpshooter Josh Bedwell tallied a 3-for-4 performance from the charity stripe and knocked down a pair of key free throws to ice the game at 57-52 with four seconds remaining. Bedwell, a native of Hartselle, Ala., leads the team with an 88-percent mark from the line.

With the game tied at 38-38, Samford used a key 8-0 run to take the lead for good.

During the decisive stretch, the Bulldogs received five-straight points from Friday and a driving 3-point play by Montgomery to take a 46-38 advantage.

Samford opened the game with an impressive 20-5 run and took a 35-24 lead into halftime.

King paced the Bulldogs with 10 points on 3-of-4 shooting from the field as Samford turned in a sizzling 54.5 shooting percentage in the opening period. The Bulldogs also knocked down 6-of-9 attempts from beyond the arc in the first half.

During Samford's 20-5 run to open the game, King, West, Bryan Friday and Montgomery all scored five points apiece.

Most of the Bulldogs' scoring came from beyond the arc as King, Friday and Montgomery all connected on 3-point baskets. West, not to be outdone, also turned in a 3-point play, but his was of the old-fashioned variety.

Furman's Alex Opacic came off the bench to lead his team in scoring with eight points in the opening period. The Paladin's Justin Dehm followed with six points on a pair of 3-point baskets.

The Samford University basketball team will continue play in the 2009 SoCon Tournament on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs square off against The Citadel Bulldogs in the quarterfinal round of the 12-team competition.

The Citadel finished the regular season as the second-place team in the SoCon South Division and handed Samford its worst loss in Pete Hanna Center history, 70-45, on Jan. 26.