Feb. 20, 2010

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Despite trailing by as many as 13 points Saturday, the Samford University basketball rallied late for a thrilling 60-54 Southern Conference victory against the Chattanooga Mocs at the Pete Hanna Center. In the win, Samford's Jeffrey Merritt dropped in a career-high 18 points on a 6-of-8 shooting performance from the field.

"Jeffrey played a great game for us today and it was good to see him knock down those shots," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "He's always been a solid player for us and I thought this was the best game of his career. He was really a big difference-maker for us in this victory."

Merritt, whose previous career high of 13 points was also registered against Chattanooga (13-15, 5-10 SoCon), knocked down 5-of-6 of his attempts from 3-point range, including his final five shots. The Bulldogs' 6-foot-6 sophomore from Oklahoma City, Okla., scored 11 of his career-best 18 points in the second half and also pulled down a team-high nine rebounds.

"This was a huge win for us," Merritt said. "Hopefully, this last homestand will help give us some momentum as we head into tournament time and this win allowed us to move into third place in the North. We were in this same position last year and we ended up getting hot and advancing all the way to the semifinals of the SoCon Tournament."

With Saturday's victory, Samford (11-16, 5-10 SoCon) snapped a six-game home losing streak in conference play and swept its annual home-and-home series with Chattanooga. Just 10 days earlier, the Bulldogs tallied a 78-54 triumph over the Mocs in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Samford is 7-6 when playing in the Pete Hanna Center this season, but only 2-6 in SoCon play. The Bulldogs are 4-8 on the road and 3-4 against conference opponents when playing away from Birmingham, Ala.

Samford, Chattanooga and Elon are all tied for third place in the SoCon North Division with identical 5-10 league records. With three more games remaining in conference play, the Bulldogs will currently be listed as the third-place team in the division due to having earned season sweeps against both Chattanooga and Elon.

"The conference race is really starting to heat up and that's what makes Monday's home game against Georgia Southern huge for us," Tillette said. "It will be senior night, which is always emotional and that would be a key win because we're right in the thick of things as we close out conference play. There's a lot of basketball left and Monday night will be a big game for us."

With only 3:37 remaining in Saturday's matchup, Chattanooga's Ty Patterson knocked down a free throw to give the Mocs a late 51-49 advantage.

Samford then came down and connected on back-to-back 3-pointers from Merritt and Trey Montgomery to take a quick 55-51 lead with 2:30 remaining. After Montgomery added a free throw to extend the Bulldogs' advantage to 56-51, Chattanooga's Ricky Taylor drained a 3-point field goal from the right corner to make the score 56-54.

Taylor, the Mocs' sophomore guard from Brownsville, Tenn., finished as the only Chattanooga player in double figures with 11 points. The Mocs shot 38.6 percent from the field Saturday, but were only 8-of-28 from beyond the arc (28.6-percent).

Samford turned in a 40-percent mark from the floor and was 11-of-31 from 3-point range (35.5 percent).

Following Taylor's 3-pointer, the Bulldogs gained possession with 44 seconds left and a 56-54 lead. Samford, knowing that time was on its side, ran down the clock to 20 seconds before running a play. At that point, Montgomery took control of the offense at the top of the key, rubbed off a pick at the 3-point line and drove down the left side of the lane for a clutch game-preserving layup.

On the shot, Montgomery rose high into the air with the ball in his left hand, skied past one Chattanooga defender and twisted past another Moc for the critical Samford basket. Following Chattanooga's final possession of the game, Montgomery then grabbed the rebound after Merritt blocked Keegan Bell's runner and threw a pass down court to Bryan Friday for the easy layup.

With Montgomery's driving layup and Friday's wide-open bucket, Samford closed the door on Chattanooga for its 60-54 victory.

Montgomery led all scorers Saturday and finished with 19 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field. He was 2-for-7 from 3-point range and 5-of-7 from the free-throw line. Montgomery also tallied four rebounds, three assists and a steal.

"It was a relief to be able to come back and get this win against a great team," said Montgomery. "We were finally able to get things clicking at the end of the game and it feels good to get a win at home. I think that tonight our defense really sparked the comeback and we just kept fighting. Jeffrey Merritt played tremendous for us and was outstanding in the second half as well."

Samford's Josh Davis, who scored a career-high 30 points against Chattanooga on Feb. 10, finished with 16 points, six rebounds and a pair of steals. He was 5-of-13 from the floor and 4-of-12 from 3-point range. Bryan Friday proved to be the only Samford player to score off the bench Saturday as the Mocs outscored the Bulldogs 18-5 in the category.

Chattanooga led by as many as 13 points in the first half and took a 28-24 lead into halftime. Samford caught fire in the second period and outscored the Mocs 36-26 in the final 20 minutes of play.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Monday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs host the Georgia Southern Eagles in their final home game of the 2009-10 season. Prior to Monday's contest, Samford will hold a special Senior Night Presentation to honor its four seniors. Fans are encouraged to arrive early.