Jan. 16, 2010

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - In a Southern Conference battle featuring two of the nation's top defenses, the Samford University basketball team mounted a furious second-half comeback against The Citadel Bulldogs, but came up just short in a physical 51-50 loss at the Pete Hanna Center.

"We just didn't show up in the first half," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "This league is way too good to only play 20 minutes of basketball and expect to win. I'm really disappointed that our guys didn't show up, even if we did come back in the second half to have a chance to win. We know we need to play the whole 40 minutes and even then it's still going to be difficult to win in this league."

After trailing by as many as 14 points (20-6) in the first half, Samford (7-10, 1-4 SoCon) battled back in the second period to take a 37-35 lead with 10:49 remaining. The Bulldogs' comeback was paced by senior Bryan Friday and junior Andy King. Friday scored nine of his team-high 16 points in the second half, while King tallied all 12 of his points in the final period.

"We were terrible in the first half," Tillette said. "We committed way too many turnovers to start the game and Bryan Friday was the only person who even showed up for us in the first half. In the second half, we got it right. We were much better on both ends of the court and if we don't miss so many chippies around the goal then it's a much better outcome for us."

With only 30 seconds left in the game, The Citadel (9-9, 3-3 SoCon) held a seemingly safe 49-44 advantage in Saturday's defensive struggle. Samford was basically down to its last meaningful possession when Friday drove from the top of the key down the right side of the lane and attempted a high-flying layup over a pair of The Citadel defenders.

Friday's attempt bounced off the back of the rim, but was tipped back to King beyond the 3-point line. King grabbed the ball at the top of the key, pump faked one defender and then pulled up for a deep 3-point shot that caromed off the backboard and went directly through the hoop. King's successful bank-shot cut The Citadel's lead to 49-47 with 12 seconds to play.

On the ensuing possession, The Citadel's Austin Dahn failed to inbound the ball in and Samford took over on the five-second call.

The Bulldogs took possession at the baseline and quickly found Friday in the backcourt. Samford's senior captain then drove to his right and was fouled on a layup attempt by Bryan Streeter.

Friday went to the free-throw line to shoot two shots with the Bulldogs trailing 49-47 and six seconds remaining on the clocks. He missed the first attempt, but then made the second to trim The Citadel's advantage to 49-48.

After a quick Samford foul, The Citadel's Cameron Wells drained a pair of free throws to extend the lead back to three at 51-48 with five seconds remaining.

On Samford's final possession of the game, The Citadel smartly fouled Trey Montgomery once he crossed the timeline, sending the Bulldogs' senior to the line with 0.4 seconds on the clock. Montgomery made the first attempt and then tried to purposefully miss the final one, but his high-arcing shot found the bottom of the net.

"We told Trey to try and miss the second one, so that we could possibly get a tip-in to tie the game," said Tillette. "That's also why we put John (Peterson) in, because he would have been able to jump higher to tip the ball through. We also told Trey to shoot the ball higher, knowing that the clock wouldn't start until someone touched the ball. You know, he shot the ball high, it just went in."

Following Montgomery's second made free throw, The Citadel was then able to force the ball inbounds to close out the hard-fought 51-50 victory.

Montgomery finished with eight points, six rebounds and four assists. He was also 3-for-5 from the field and only committed three turnovers in a season-high 36 minutes of playing time.

The Citadel's point guard, Wells, finished with 19 points on 7-of-19 shooting from the field. He also tallied seven rebounds and five assists, and led the Bulldogs down the stretch by registering 10 of their final 13 points. Wells, who was a member of the 2009-10 SoCon Preseason All-Conference Team, committed two of The Citadel's 10 turnovers.

"Late in the game, they put the ball in Wells' hands and he was able to make plays," Tillette said. "For us, we had some matchup problems because he can go either way. He's also a good enough shooter where he can get his own shot. He has some nice touch from eight feet and he can get to the rim with either hand. He's a tough match for anybody in the league."

Samford entered Saturday's game as the seventh-ranked team in the nation in scoring defense. The Bulldogs were only allowing an average of 57.6 points per contest this season. The Citadel's defense was ranked No. 27 in the nation at 59.9 points per outing.

Samford outshot The Citadel 47.1 percent to 43.2 percent, but left five free throws on the table. The Bulldogs were 11-of-16 from the charity stripe, while The Citadel was 7-of-9. Samford's bench outscored The Citadel's 17-6, but the Bulldogs were on the negative side of a 18-8 disparity in points off turnovers.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Thursday at 6 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs begin a critical six-day, three-game road trip against the Elon Phoenix. The game will be held at Alumni Gym in Elon, N.C.