Jan. 8, 2010

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Despite turning in its worst 3-point shooting performance in nearly 18 years Friday, the Samford basketball team was able to hang on for a 62-52 victory against the Tennessee Temple Crusaders at the Pete Hanna Center. The Bulldogs, who shot a dreary 5.3 percent from 3-point range, were led in scoring by Bryan Friday's season-high 19 point.

"We were totally unfocused tonight and I did a poor job of getting the team ready to play," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "Our team does not go 1-for-19 from beyond the arc with the type of shooters we have unless they are just unfocused. I guess we just thought we were going to show up and win by 20 points. We can't just show up and beat anybody."

With the win, Samford (7-8) extended its home winning streak to four games and improved to 6-1 at the Pete Hanna Center this season. Tennessee Temple (6-9) dropped its record on the road to 3-5.

The Bulldogs' Friday paced his squad with 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor. Samford's 6-foot-6 senior from Grapevine, Texas, also finished with seven rebounds, four assists and a steal. Junior guard Josh Davis followed with 16 points on 5-of-11 shooting for the Bulldogs. He added five rebounds and five free throws, but only finished 1-for-6 from 3-point range.

"Going 1-for-19 from 3-point range really hurt us a lot," said Friday. "We depend on the 3-point shot and I guess there are just some nights when you got it and some nights when you can't buy a bucket. Everyone knows that there are competent shooters on this team, so we'll just need to come out next week and play better."

Samford jumped out to a quick 24-14 lead midway through the first half and led by as many as 13 points in the opening period. Behind Friday's team-leading 10 points, the Bulldogs took a 35-28 advantage into the locker room at halftime.

Samford shot 9.1 percent (1-for-11) from 3-point range in the opening period and finished the game 1-for-19 from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs' dismal shooting performance was their worst since Feb. 8, 1992. It was also the last time that Samford only knocked down one 3-pointer since a 1-for-14 outing at Saint Louis last season.

Conversely, Tennessee Temple shot 66.7 percent (4-of-6) from 3-point range in the first half of Friday's game. At the intermission, the Crusaders' Uros Komadinic and Vic Taylor both had nine points.

"I have to give Tennessee Temple a lot of credit," Friday said. "They played us tough around the perimeter, but we were able to go inside and score a lot of points in the paint. They never gave up in the game and they played hard for the entire 40 minutes."

For a predominant portion of the second half, Samford held a consistent 10 to 12-point lead. The Bulldogs finished the game with a 32-14 advantage in points in the paint.

Senior guard Trey Montgomery was successful in driving to the basket and tallied 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting. The Bulldogs' 6-foot-4 senior from Destrehan, La., was also able to register five rebounds, three steals and two assists. Sophomore Matthew Friday proved to be a force in the paint and finished with six points and four rebounds in only 21 minutes of playing time.

With less than a minute to play in Friday's game, Tennessee Temple trimmed Samford's lead to 54-48 as Taylor drained a deep 3-point basket from the left flank. The Bulldogs responded quickly by beating the Crusaders' full-court press and Davis scored on a high-flying layup to bring the lead back to 56-48.

On the ensuing possession, Taylor tried to make another deep 3-pointer, but was off the mark and Davis grabbed the rebound.

Samford would then close out the game by hitting six free throws en route to its 62-52 victory.

"We were lucky to win tonight," Tillette said. "We were terrible and we definitely have to play a lot better next week against College of Charleston. We are going to have to go back and work really hard in these next three days of practice. It's a unique formula. If you don't practice well, you can't play well, but just because you play well, it doesn't mean that you're going to automatically play well. Next week, we better play well."

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Thursday at 8 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs play host to the College of Charleston Cougars in a key Southern Conference matchup which will be televised live on CSS.