Feb. 25, 2010

Box Score

CULLOWHEE, N.C. - The Samford University basketball team wasn't able to get its 3-point shooting on track Thursday as the Bulldogs only shot 22.7 percent from beyond the arc in a 61-44 Southern Conference loss against the Western Carolina Catamounts at the Ramsey Center.

The teams were tied 26-26 at halftime before Samford (11-18, 5-12 SoCon) turned in a lackluster 18.2-percent outing from 3-point range in the second half of play as Western Carolina (20-10, 10-7 SoCon) outscored the Bulldogs 35-18 in the final period.

"This was a tough loss to take, but I thought we competed hard all night," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "We were cold shooting the ball and we missed some easy shots around the basket. We just need to be better for two halves. We played a good first half, but that just didn't translate to anything in the second half."

Samford opened the second half of play with back-to-back layups from Trey Montgomery and Matthew Friday to take its final lead of the game at 30-29. Following Friday's layup off of an inbounds play at the 17:35 mark in the second half, Western Carolina's Richie Gordon slammed home an alleyoop dunk from the left side of the lane that sparked its decisive 18-5 run.

During the Catamounts' second-half outburst, Brandon Giles scored six straight points, Gordon recorded another fast-break dunk and Brigham Waginger and Jake Robinson both connected on deep 3-point baskets.

Western Carolina, following its 18-5 run midway through the second half, held a 47-35 advantage with 6:51 to play in the game.

"In the second half, I thought that they did a really good job of taking away our back cuts, and then when we got the ball down low, we weren't able to really finish in the post," Tillette said. "I don't think we did a great job of scoring around the basket. We had some really good looks, but they just weren't able to go down tonight."

The Catamounts' second-half rally was aided by a 7:19 Samford drought. After Friday's layup to give the Bulldogs' their 30-29 lead at the 17:33 mark, Samford did not score again until Andy King drained a 3-point basket from the top of the key with 10:14 remaining. During their scoring drought, the Bulldogs committed five turnovers (four on consecutive possessions) and tallied one missed shot.

"We had way too many turnovers tonight," said Tillette. "In the first half, we only turned the ball over four times, but then we finished the game with 12. We also turned the ball over in space where we allowed them to take it down and score an easy basket. There's no good turnover, but a better one would be if we at least threw it out of bounds. Then, at least they couldn't score off of it."

Western Carolina's Giles led all scorers with 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field. He also knocked down a game-high four 3-point baskets and finished 4-of 7 from beyond the arc. The Catamounts' Keaton Cole added 11 points, while Gordon chipped in with 10 points and five rebounds.

Waginger, Western Carolina's point guard finished the game with seven points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Samford's Josh Davis led the team with 13 points on 4-of-12 shooting from the floor, while Montgomery added 10 points and five assists. With his scoring performance Thursday, Montgomery became the 21st player in Bulldog history to reach the 1,000-point plateau. Heading into the game, Samford's talented 6-foot-4 guard boasted 994 points in his career.

The Bulldogs were out-rebounded 31-24 and turned the ball over three more times than the Catamounts, 12-9. Western Carolina finished the game with a 40.9-percent outing from 3-point range (9-of-22), while Samford was only 5-of-22 (22.7 percent) from beyond the arc.

"They shot the ball well tonight and obviously we didn't," Tillette said. "Their guys who were starred shooters hit a couple of big shots, but the person that really hurt us was Giles. I thought that the loss was due to a combination of factors tonight. They rebounded the ball better than we did and they also made some big shots over the top of us."

Samford got off to a slow start Thursday and trailed by as many as nine points in the first half. The Bulldogs only shot 44 percent in the first half of play and was 3-for-11 from beyond the arc. Western Carolina turned in a 47.8 shooting percentage in the opening 20 minutes of play and finished 4-of-11 from beyond the arc.

Despite its slow start, Samford closed out the half with a 10-2 run and entered the intermission tied at 26-26. With 3:58 remaining in the first period, the Bulldogs trailed 24-16 before Friday scored on back-to-back layups and Davis and Josh Bedwell knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers.

After an eight-foot jumper from Giles, which was Western Carolina's only bucket during the final four minutes of play, Samford's Bedwell drained a deep 3-point basket from the right corner to even the score at 26-26 with 51 seconds remaining.

The Bulldogs' Montgomery tallied a team-high eight points at the half, while Davis added six and Friday chipped in with four. The Catamounts were led in scoring by Giles' eight first-half points.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at 2 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs conclude its two-game, season-ending road trip with a SoCon matchup against the Appalachian State Mountaineers to be held at the Holmes Center (8,325) in Boone, N.C.