Jan. 17, 2011

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - In a contradictory script for the Samford basketball team this season, the Bulldogs surrendered a 13-point lead with 15:01 remaining Monday as The Citadel Bulldogs mounted a second-half rally to earn a 61-50 Southern Conference win at the Pete Hanna Center. The Citadel (6-13, 2-5 SoCon) outscored Samford (10-8, 2-3 SoCon) 38-19 in the second half to pull off the road victory.

Typically this season, Samford has been the team to charge back for come-from-behind wins. Heading into Monday's showdown, the Bulldogs had already tallied four comeback victories in 2010-11 when trailing by at least double digits in the second half.

"We had the 13-point lead there in the second half and we felt as if we could pull away from them," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "You never know when games are going to turn and I thought we started to shoot the ball too quickly. Also, there were a couple possessions where they got offensive rebounds and scored, and then they came back and got another second shot and scored again. So, there were some key plays here and there that really turned the momentum of the game."

Samford led 31-23 at the half, but struggled from the field down the stretch and only shot 21.2 percent from 3-point range in the final period. The Bulldogs' starters were limited to 16 total points in Monday's contest, while The Citadel's starting five accumulated 52 of the team's 61 points.

Senior point guard Cameron Wells, The Citadel's three-time All-SoCon performer, paced his squad with 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field. A native of Houston, Texas, Wells took charge in the second half and scored 18 of his 22 points in the final period. He also pulled down eight rebounds and handed out a pair of assists.

Zach Urbanus also finished in double-figure scoring for The Citadel. The Cadets' senior guard from Austin, Texas, tallied 13 points on 3-of-8 shooting from the floor, but drained a key 3-point basket with 1:50 left in the game to give The Citadel a 54-48 lead.

"I thought that at the end of the game, Urbanus's 3-pointer was a killer," said Tillette. "We didn't get him covered, and then we went to the 1-3-1 and that was when (Austin) Dahn was able to hit his shot from the corner. Those two baskets really hurt us late in the game."

Samford was paced offensively by senior center Andy King's season-high 18 points. The Bulldogs' native of Omaha, Neb., came off the bench to shoot 5-of-10 from the field and 4-of-8 from 3-point land. King also finished a perfect 4-of-4 from the free-throw line and grabbed three rebounds.

Samford's bench outscored The Citadel's reserves by a lopsided total of 34-9.

"I thought we played well at times, but we just didn't play well for long periods of time," Tillette said. "You never know when things are going to turn against you, so you just have to always be on guard. It looked like we slacked down for a little while and then the momentum was hard to get back."

Gregg Wooten, Samford's sophomore guard from Memphis, Tenn., also came off the bench to provide a scoring spark for the Bulldogs. He finished with 11 points, three rebounds and a pair of assists while shooting 3-of-6 from the floor. Wooten was also a near-perfect 4-of-5 from the charity stripe.

Samford's Jeffrey Merritt and Josh Davis also chipped in with nine and seven points, respectively. Davis, who entered the game ranked 22nd on the Bulldogs' all-time scoring list with 1,010 career points, was forced to leave Monday's contest after landing awkwardly on his head following a hard foul from The Citadel's Bo Holston.

"We just looked tentative offensively, especially once Josh went out of the game," Tillette said. "We put some penetrators in, but then our other guys stood around in the offense. We just didn't play to our strengths there in the second half. We need to be better both inside and outside, and we need to be more consistent for longer periods of time."

Following a turnaround layup by King with 15:01 remaining in the game, Samford held a 38-25 advantage over The Citadel.

The Cadets then knocked down four-consecutive baskets to trim the Bulldogs' lead to 38-33 with 10:08 to play. From the 15:01 mark, The Citadel closed out the game with a lopsided 36-12 run. During the come-from-behind rally to end Monday's contest, Wells scored 17 of his game-high 22 points.

"Wells is difficult to guard," said Tillette. "He's very difficult to guard and we have to do a better job of scoring on the other end. We had three starters who didn't score tonight. Drew (Windler) didn't scratch, Gaby (Bermudez) didn't score and then Josh Bedwell didn't score either. Two of the guys we were counting on, Davis and Bedwell, were 1-of-13 from the arc. It's really disappointing how we played offensively."

Samford only made five field goals in the second half and shot 31.4 percent from the floor in the final 20 minutes of play. The Citadel out-rebounded the Bulldogs 35-30, but Samford led in second-chance points 9-8.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Thursday at 6 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs begin a critical two-game SoCon road trip against the Furman Paladins to be held at Timmons Arena in Greenville, S.C.