Jan. 14, 2010

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford basketball team was defeated at home in the Pete Hanna Center for only the second time this season Thursday as the College of Charleston's torrid second-half shooting from 3-point range lifted the Cougars past the Bulldogs for a 78-67 Southern Conference victory.

"We lost the game tonight, but I thought that our guys competed really well," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "I thought that we were focused, we were ready to play and we did a lot of good things on both ends of the floor. It's a tough loss, but the important thing is what we do from here. We host a very good team in The Citadel on Saturday (2 p.m.) and that's going to be a big game for us."

With Thursday's hard-fought loss, Samford (7-9, 1-3 SoCon) moved to 6-2 at home this season and was defeated at the Pete Hanna Center for the first time since Dec. 5, when the Bulldogs suffered a 73-40 decision against UNC Greensboro. Under Tillette, Samford owns a stellar 92-38 record against conference opponents at home.

College of Charleston (10-6, 5-0 SoCon), the lone undefeated SoCon team remaining in league play, improved to 3-5 on the road this season and 9-0 all-time against Samford. The Cougars are also 5-0 against the Bulldogs when playing in Birmingham, Ala., in a rivalry that began Jan. 3, 1994.

"College of Charleston is very good," Tillette said. "Midway through the second half, our guys were getting tired, so we put in some backups and then Charleston went on that run. We missed a fast-break layup that would have given us the lead and that sort of turned the momentum, but they are a very good team and they shot 46 percent from the arc at our place. They're going to beat a lot of basketball teams if they can go into opponents' gyms and shoot like that."

Early in the second half, Samford trailed by as many as nine points, 49-40, before rallying back with a 10-2 run to trim College of Charleston's lead to 51-50. During the Bulldogs' scoring stretch, Trey Montgomery scored five points and Andy King drained a clutch 3-point field goal from the top of the key.

Montgomery finished the game with 11 points and was one of five Samford players to score in double figures. King scored 10 points and came off the bench to add five rebounds and knocked down a pair of 3-pointers.

Following King's first 3-point basket of the game, the Bulldogs only trailed the Cougars 51-50 with 10:12 to play. On College of Charleston's ensuing possession, Tony White, Jr., missed a deep 3-point attempt from the left flank and the ball caromed off the rim to Montgomery across the arc. Samford's senior point guard grabbed the ball in stride and took off down the court.

With a pair of Cougar defenders hounding him near the basket, Montgomery checked up slightly expecting a hard foul and laid up the finger roll too hard off the back of the rim. The ball rolled around the cylinder and White, Jr., grabbed the rebound.

"Tonight, we just couldn't seem to get over the hump," said Tillette. "Despite the loss, I thought it was the best league game that we've played so far this season. In the end, Charleston played the best on both ends of the floor and they really played us well. I think the stats are a little skewed because of how we were trying to throw some balls up there. We only committed seven turnovers, but they only had four and that's a credit to how well they played tonight."

After Montgomery's missed layup, College of Charleston's Casaan Breeden knocked down a 10-foot jumper and ignited the Cougars on their decisive 15-6 run. Preseason SoCon Player of the Year, Andrew Goudelock, scored eight straight points during the stretch en route to his game-high 23 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field.

College of Charleston's 6-foot-2 junior was also 5-of-8 from 3-point range, including three that would have been good from well past NBA range. Goudelock also finished with eight rebounds, six assists and a steal.

Following the Cougars' 15-6 run late in the second half, they led the Bulldogs 66-56 with 5:58 remaining. Samford would never get within eight points down the stretch.

Along with Goudelock's 23 points, College of Charleston was also helped by 21 points from Donavan Monroe and 17 from Breeden. Monroe added a game-high nine rebounds, while Breeded also chipped in with a perfect 6-of-6 performance from the charity stripe.

Samford finished with five players scoring in double figures for the first time this season. Senior forward Bryan Friday led the way with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field, while Josh Davis, Josh Bedwell and Montgomery all finished with 11. King rounded out the five with 10 points.

The Bulldogs shot 41.8 percent from the field, but only shot 28.6 percent from 3-point range. Samford did knock down eight shots from beyond the arc, including a team-high three from Bedwell.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at 2 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs continue its critical SoCon homestand against The Citadel Bulldogs at the Pete Hanna Center.