Dec. 31, 2010

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - For the fifth time this season, the Samford basketball team overcame a 10-point deficit to rally for a thrilling come-from-behind victory. Friday's comeback win was held at the Pete Hanna Center and featured a 55-51 triumph against the Eastern Michigan Eagles. The game was Samford's final non-conference matchup of the regular season and extended the Bulldogs' winning streak at home to three.

"This was a tough win and obviously this team has some resiliency, but we can't keep living on the edge like this," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "We're getting ready to start the bulk of our conference season and we have eight games in January, five of which are on the road. If we can't play more consistently for longer stretches, then we're not going to be able to come back. We need to be more consistent."

Samford (9-5) trailed Eastern Michigan (2-10) by 10 points, 31-21, with 18:45 to play in the second half before using a quick 14-4 run to tie the game at 35-35 with 14:06 remaining.

During the Bulldogs' rally, Jeffrey Merritt, Andy King and Josh Bedwell all drained 3-point shots, senior Josh Davis connected on a pair of free throws and Gregg Wooten completed a 3-point play to ignite Samford's rally. The Bulldogs outscored the Eagles 34-22 in the second half of play and knocked down 12-of-13 attempts from the free-throw line in the final period.

"Our free-throw shooting was key for us down the stretch and that's good because we always need to make our free throws," Wooten said. "A lot of our games seem to come down to the end with free throws and we spend a lot of time at practice working on them. Today we went to the line with confidence and we knocked them down."

Samford was led in scoring by Wooten's 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field. The Bulldogs sophomore from Memphis, Tenn., was also 4-of-5 from the charity stripe and added three steals and a pair of rebounds. Eight of Wooten's 13 points were scored in the second half.

Davis and Merritt both finished with 11 points apiece Friday. Davis connected on all six of his free-throw attempts in the game and tallied three rebounds and a trio of steals. Merritt turned in a 4-of-6 shooting performance from the field and littered the stat sheet with three rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block.

Eastern Michigan was led in scoring by senior forward Brandon Bowdry's 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field. The Eagles' 6-foot-6 native of St. Louis, Mo., paced his team with 36 minutes of playing time and registered six steals and three assists. Darrell Lampley, Eastern Michigan's speedy point guard, added an additional 12 points, seven assists, five rebounds and four steals.

"Bowdry's a good player and our game plan was to make him earn all of his points," said Tillette. "He definitely did earn them and he's a really good player. He finished with 19 points and six rebounds, but he averages a double-double. That's why we went to the 1-3-1 zone at the end of the game was to keep the ball out of his hands. It was difficult for them to get him the ball and that helped to change the game."

The Eagles made their first four field-goal attempts of the game and jumped out to an early 11-5 lead in the contest. Eastern Michigan shot 54.5 percent from the field in the first half and took a 29-21 advantage into the locker room at halftime.

Samford only shot 33.3 percent from the floor in the opening period, but turned in a 50-percent outing in the final half to pull through with the victory.

"In the first half, the coaches let us make our own decisions on the offensive end, but in the second half, they took more control and it worked better," said Wooten. "They helped lead us to success and that was the difference in today's outcome."

With 1:52 remaining in the game, Eastern Michigan held a 49-47 lead until the Bulldogs' Davis stole the ball from Antonio Green and charged down the court for a game-tying layup. Samford then knocked down four straight free throws to take a 53-49 advantage.

"When we changed up the defense, I think it took them out of the offensive rhythm that they had," said Wooten. "We went to the 1-3-1 and it's really been something that we've been working on lately. We're just trying to slow down the rhythm of the other team and that's what happened today. That worked out for us perfectly."

The Eagles' Lampley would trim the Bulldogs' lead down to 53-51 with five seconds to play, but then Davis secured the four-point victory by making both of his free throws prior to Eastern Michigan's final heave at the buzzer.

Eastern Michigan out-rebounded Samford 26-19 and outscored the Bulldogs 20-12 in the paint, but Samford dominated the Eagles in bench scoring 27-2 and finished with a 23-6 advantage in points off turnovers. The Bulldogs forced Eastern Michigan into 21 miscues, while Samford committed 16 turnovers.

"We certainly struggled at times today," Tillette said. "We had 16 turnovers and only 11 assists, so we have to be better than that. It was sort of frustrating and Eastern Michigan was ready to play, but we fought hard in the game and we were able to find a way to win."

Friday's game was only the second all-time meeting between Samford and Eastern Michigan. With the win, the Bulldogs improved their record to 2-0 against the Eagles.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Thursday at 6 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs begin their 2011 Southern Conference schedule with a road contest against the UNC Greensboro Spartans. Samford's key SoCon matchup will be held at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C.