Feb. 4, 2010

Box Score

CHARLESTON, S.C. - In a theme that has become all too familiar for the Samford University basketball team this season, the Bulldogs used an early second-half run Thursday to take a lead in Southern Conference play before The Citadel Bulldogs rallied late to earn a 61-57 victory at McAlister Field House.

Samford (9-14, 3-8 SoCon) used a 21-3 run midway through the game to take its biggest lead of the contest 45-34 with 10:03 remaining. The Citadel (11-12, 5-6 SoCon) then rebounded with a 27-12 run to close out the game for its second victory against Samford this season. Earlier this year, The Citadel rallied for a 51-50 win at the Pete Hanna Center.

"This was an evenly-matched game, but we again opened the game poorly," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "We finally got it right early in the second half, but then The Citadel played better than we did late and was able to get the win. I thought that Josh Davis was outstanding the entire game. Bryan Friday played a lot better in the second half and on our final possession; we had a chance to win."

With 3:35 left in Thursday's game, The Citadel's Ben Cherry tied the score at 51-51 with a deep 3-point basket from the left corner. Cherry's key 3-pointer proved to be his first of two clutch shots as he later gave the Bulldogs a 57-54 lead at the 2:12 mark in the game. Both baskets were nearly identical shots from the left wing.

Despite Cherry's heroics down the stretch, Samford had the ball with a chance to win with 12.8 seconds left in the game.

The Citadel led 59-57 on the Bulldogs' final possession when Josh Davis came around a double screen and fired off a deep 3-pointer from the right flank that would have won the game. Davis' shot looked good in the air, but came up just short as The Citadel added a pair of free throws to hold on for its 61-57 victory.

Samford's Davis led all scorers with 24 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the floor. He finished 4-of-7 from 3-point range and knocked down 6-of-8 attempts from the free-throw line. Davis, the Bulldogs' leading scorer this season, also tallied a team-high seven rebounds.

Senior forward Bryan Friday added 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field. He scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half, including the Bulldogs' first 11 of the period. Friday also pulled down five rebounds and was 4-of-5 from the charity stripe.

The Citadel was led in scoring by Austin Dahn's 15 points. The Bulldogs' junior sharpshooter knocked down a team-high four 3-point field goals, all of which occurred in the first half of play. Late in the game, Dahn scored his only three points of the second period as he drained three-consecutive free throws after being fouled on a deep 3-point attempt.

The only other double-digit scorer for The Citadel was Harrison DuPont. DuPont turned in a 4-of-9 performance from the field Thursday and finished with 13 points. He also grabbed seven rebounds.

Cherry, who proved to be The Citadel's most clutch performer down the stretch, finished with nine points on a 3-of-5 outing from beyond the arc. All nine of his points came in the second half as he connected on all three 3-pointers late in the game.

"The big plays of the game were win Cherry made those 3-pointers late in the second half," Tillette said. "He hit his fifth, sixth and seventh 3-pointers of the year against us tonight. That was definitely a surprise for us."

At the half, The Citadel held a slight 26-23 advantage in Thursday's matchup. Samford trailed by as many as 10 points in the opening period, but fought back to trim The Citadel's lead to three at the intermission.

Samford's Davis scored 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting in the first half, while Kaylin Johnson followed with seven points on a perfect 3-for-3 outing in the opening 20 minutes of play.

"I thought that Kaylin gave us a boost in the first half and did some really good things for us," said Tillette. "He hit some big shots for us, but we really need to get some more production for other people. We played well on the road and finished with 10 assists and only eight turnovers."

The Citadel was led by Dahn's 12 first-half points. The Bulldogs' junior from Columbus, Ohio, knocked down four 3-point baskets in the opening period. Cameron Wells, the conference's third-ranked scorer averaging 18.5 points per game this season, was limited to only two points on 1-of-5 shooting in the first half. The Citadel's All-SoCon performer did lead all players with six rebounds at the intermission.

"I thought we did a great job defensively on Cameron Wells," Tillette said. "He only shot 2-for-10 from the field and finished with eight points. We did a good job of staying in front of him, but overall I didn't think our guard play was where it needed to be."

Davis scored the Bulldogs' first nine points of the game and knocked down his first four field-goal attempts of Thursday's contest. The Citadel's Dahl tallied 12 of his team's first 19 points.

After falling behind early 19-9, Samford bounced back with a quick 7-0 run to make the score 19-16 with 8:34 left to play in the period. During the Bulldogs' scoring stretch, Andy King knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key and both Johnson and Davis added scores on baseline layups.

The Citadel tallied another run late in the first half, but Samford closed out the period with five straight points to make the score 26-23 at the half.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at 3 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs continue their three-game SoCon road trip against the College of Charleston Cougars at Carolina First Arena. Saturday's game will be televised live on SportSouth.