Feb. 13, 2010

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University basketball team was outscored 35-22 in the second half of play Saturday in a hard-fought Southern Conference loss against the Wofford Terriers at the Pete Hanna Center. The Bulldogs led by as many as 13 points in the game, but only tallied eight field goals in the second half en route to a 59-54 defeat.

"I thought we played really well for the first 18 minutes of the game and then it seemed as if we couldn't get things going," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "I felt that late in the first half, we had a lot of opportunities to extend our lead, but we would miss a wide open shot or commit a turnover. It's a disappointing loss because I thought we had a really good chance to win the game today."

With Saturday's defeat, Samford (10-16, 4-10 SoCon) dropped to 6-6 at home this season with all of its losses coming in SoCon play. The Bulldogs have been defeated in six straight SoCon games at the Pete Hanna Center and haven't won at home since Jan. 8.

Samford opened conference play with a 55-31 home win against Elon on Dec. 3, but have since dropped consecutive games to UNC Greensboro, College of Charleston, The Citadel, Appalachian State, Western Carolina and Wofford (19-8, 11-3 SoCon) at the Pete Hanna Center.

Last season, the Bulldogs concluded conference play with a 6-4 record at home.

"I never would have believed that we would be 1-6 at home in conference play this season," Tillette said. "Playing at home is usually one of our strong points, but Wofford is a very good team and they just played better than we did down the stretch. Wofford is 11-3 in the conference and they could easily win the league. They've beaten both South Carolina and Georgia this season, so we knew they were good."

Wofford extended its SoCon-best winning streak to six-consecutive games and improved to 12-1 in its last 13 outings. The Terriers have also been victorious in 15 of their last 17 contests, only losing to Kent State 73-66 and College of Charleston 70-68 during the stretch.

Four players finished with double figures in scoring for Wofford as the Terriers were paced by 15 points from Junior Salters. He poured in 13 of his team-high 15 points in the second half and hit a number of key shots late in the game. Salters also finished with three steals, two assists and a pair of blocks.

Joining Salters in the scoring column Saturday were Tim Johnson (13), Noah Dahlman (12) and Cameron Rundles (10). To go along with his 13 points, Wofford's Johnson pulled down a season-high 16 rebounds as the Terriers out-rebounded the Bulldogs 33-26.

"We let them get too many offensive rebounds and they scored 10 second-chance points," said Tillette. "They were a physical team, but we still need to do a better job of getting to the boards. Also, late in the game, we turned the ball over way too many times. We finished the game with 12 turnovers and 10 of them were in the second half. We can't have that and still expect to win."

Samford led by as many 13 points in the first half and took a 32-24 advantage in the intermission. Senior guard Trey Montgomery led the Bulldogs with 17 points and tallied 13 of his game-high total in the opening period. Montgomery finished the game shooting 5-of-10 from the field and 6-of-7 from the charity stripe.

Midway through the second half, Samford held a 38-32 advantage in the game before Wofford exploded for a 14-2 run. During the stretch, Salters scored seven points and Dahlman added four as the Terriers would take a decisive 46-40 advantage with 6:42 remaining to play.

For the remainder of the half, Wofford's lead hovered around the six-point mark until Samford's Kaylin Johnson drained an NBA-range 3-pointer with seven seconds remaining. Johnson's deep basket trimmed the Terriers' advantage to 57-54.

On the ensuing possession, the Bulldogs extended their pressure defense, but Wofford was able to get the ball inbounds to Rundles. Rundles was immediately fouled by Montgomery and connected on both of the free throws to ice the game at 59-54.

"This was a tough one to lose, but we have to bounce back and use this week as a chance to get better," Tillette said. "We don't play again until Saturday, so we'll take the next two days off from work, but then we'll come back here Tuesday and practice very hard for the next few days. We only have four regular season games remaining and we need to improve as a team before we play Chattanooga."

Samford's Matthew Friday earned his second straight start and finished with seven points, eight rebounds, two blocks and an assist. The Bulldogs' sophomore center from Grapevine, Texas, turned in a 3-for-4 performance from the field and was 1-for-1 from 3-point range.

"I thought Matthew played a great game," said Tillette. "His stat line was positive and he provided some muscle for us in the paint. He did a great job of rebounding the ball and was scoring as well. I like that he only had one turnover and that one really wasn't his fault. He did a really good job for us today."

Matthew's older brother, Bryan, added eight points for the Bulldogs, while Johnson chipped in with eight of his own. Junior Josh Davis, who poured in a career-high 30 points against Chattanooga on Wednesday, was limited to four points on only five shot attempts.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Feb. 20 at 2 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs continue its three-game homestand against the Chattanooga Mocs.