Nov. 27, 2010

Box Score

ATLANTA, Ga. - Despite trailing by as many as 11 points and down 50-42 with 1:14 remaining in Saturday's game, the Samford University basketball team rallied back to earn a thrilling 70-61 overtime victory against the Georgia State Panthers in a non-conference matchup held at the Georgia State Sports Arena.

The Bulldogs scored 14 points in the final 1:14 of play, including a deep 3-point basket from Andy King with 9.1 in regulation to send the game into overtime. In overtime, Samford (4-3) outscored Georgia State (2-2) 14-5 to earn the nine-point victory.

"This was a great win," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "Our guys did a great job of never giving up and they continued to play hard all the way. I thought that we got much better this week and we worked really hard since our loss the other night. To come in here and win against a similar type team as Jacksonville was huge for us."

Samford bounced back from its loss to Jacksonville University on Wednesday and earned its second straight road win. The Bulldogs are now 2-1 when playing away from home this season.

Junior Kaylin Johnson led Samford in scoring with a career-high 20 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field. Saturday's game marked the second straight time that Johnson set a career high in scoring after he posted a 15-point performance against Jacksonville on Wednesday.

Johnson went 3-for-4 from 3-point range in Saturday's victory and knocked down five key free throws. He also grabbed five rebounds from his guard position.

"Kaylin really had a great game for us," Tillette said. "He's been practicing great for us all year, so it's good to see that really start to translate into the games. He's now out of his funk and he's played well the last couple of outings."

With 1:14 to play in Saturday's game, Samford trailed Georgia State 50-42. The Panthers held a lead for the majority of the contest and actually led by as many as 11 points with 2:42 left to play in the second half.

Down the stretch in regulation, the Bulldogs' Josh Davis and Johnson knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to trim Georgia State's lead to 52-48 with 1:01 remaining. The Panthers' James Fields then knocked down a free throw, but Samford's Gregg Wooten streaked right down the court to score on a driving layup, making it a three-point game, 53-50, with 42 seconds left in regulation.

Following a pair of Panther free throws from Dante Curry, the Bulldogs' Josh Bedwell was fouled on a deep 3-point attempt from the right flank and drained all three of his attempts from the charity stripe to cut Georgia State's dwindling advantage to 55-53 with 21 seconds left.

The Panthers' Marques Johnson then connected on only one of his two free throws to make the score 56-53 with 19 seconds to play in regulation.

Trailing by three points, Samford worked the ball down the court against Georgia State's pressure defense and Jeffrey Merritt found King open on the left flank for a 25-foot 3-pointer that rattled home to tie the score at 56-56. On the Panthers' final possession of regulation, Jihad Ali drove the ball hard to the goal from the left wing, but committed a charging foul to turn the ball over.

Samford then built on the momentum in overtime and scored the first seven points of the extra period to take a quick 63-56 lead with 1:53 to play.

The Bulldogs' Merritt hit an improbable 3-point basket during the stretch from deep on the left wing. With the shot clock at one second, Merritt heaved up a shot that hit the front rim, caromed off the backboard and rolled around the rim a couple of times before finally finding the bottom of the net.

Samford went on to outscore Georgia State 14-5 in the overtime period. With the Bulldogs' victory, they trimmed the Panthers' all-time lead in the series to 24-23. Six games between the teams have concluded in overtime with each side winning three.

With Saturday's loss, Georgia State had its two-game winning streak snapped. The Panthers will now move on to play at Hampton Tuesday.

Following Johnson's career-high 20 points for the Bulldogs, Wooten tied his career-high with 13 points on 3-of-8 shooting from the field. Samford's talented guard from Memphis, Tenn., proved to be clutch from the free-throw line and finished 7-of-9 from the charity stripe.

Bedwell added 12 points and went a perfect 7-of-7 from the free-throw line, while Merritt tallied seven points, seven rebounds and added three assists.

As a team, Samford shot 76.7 percent from the free-throw line, 43.5 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from 3-point range.

Georgia State only shot 52.9 percent from the charity stripe, but was led in scoring by Javonte Maynor's 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc. He proved to be the only Panther player to score in double figures.

"Rod Barnes is a great coach and he always coaches his guys to be tough and physical," said Tillette. "This is always a tough place to play and it was great to get this win. We only turned the ball over 13 times in 45 minutes and that was much better than the other night. So that's good for us, especially with Western Carolina and Appalachian State coming into the Pete Hanna Center to open conference play this week."

At the half, Georgia State held a 31-24 advantage in the game behind the sharp shooting Maynor. Maynor, the Panthers' freshman guard from Snellville, Ga., scored nine points in the first half and knocked down three straight 3-point attempts. He finished the half shooting 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.

Samford held a 15-14 lead with 6:58 to play in the opening period after Merritt and Davis both scored on back-door layups. Since that point in the first half, Georgia State closed out the period with a 17-9 run. Maynor knocked down all three of his 3-pointers during the stretch and Samford went without a field goal from 6:50 to 3:34.

Despite their scoring drought, the Bulldogs shot 9-of-10 from the free-throw line in the first half and fought back to a 31-24 score at the intermission. Samford closed out the half with four unanswered points, a running jumper from Johnson and a pair of free throws from King.

Johnson led the Bulldogs with eight first-half points on 3-of-3 shooting from the field. Samford's 6-foot guard from Baton Rouge, La., knocked down a key 3-point basket and grabbed a pair of rebounds in the opening 20 minutes of play.

The Panthers were led in scoring at the half by Maynor and Brandon McGee. McGee, Georgia State's junior forward from Chicago, Ill., knocked down all four of his field goals and pulled down three rebounds in 15 minutes of play in the first half.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Thursday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs begin play in their 2010-11 Southern Conference schedule at home against the Western Carolina Catamounts at the Pete Hanna Center.