Jan. 27, 2011
Box Score
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -
The Samford University basketball team broke out of its recent slump in dramatic fashion Thursday as the Bulldogs used a late second-half rally to defeat the Elon Phoenix 69-67 in a critical Southern Conference contest held at the Pete Hanna Center. In the victory, Samford's John Peterson scored 14 of his career-high 16 points in the second half of play.
"This was a good win for us and it feels good to snap our losing streak," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "It wasn't particularly artistic at the end, but the thing for us was that we didn't even play at all on Saturday. It was embarrassing and we practiced our tails off this week. I thought our togetherness paid off tonight. We didn't play very well at the end of the game, but we were able to get the win.
With the victory, Samford (11-10, 3-6 SoCon) put an end to its five-game losing streak. Thursday's win was the Bulldogs' first triumph since defeating UNC Greensboro on the road on Jan. 6. Samford will continue its current three-game homestand Saturday at 4 p.m. (CST) with a home matchup against UNC Greensboro.
Elon (10-11, 4-6 SoCon) had its two-game winning streak snapped and dropped to 1-5 all-time against the Bulldogs. Earlier this season, the Phoenix picked up its only win over Samford with a 67-54 victory in Elon, N.C.
In the waning seconds of Thursday's game, the Bulldogs' Gaby Bermudez was fouled by Elon's Gary Pope and went to the line with nine seconds remaining and Samford holding a slight 68-67 lead. Bermudez, the Bulldogs' senior point guard from Miami, Fla., made the first of two free throws, but Elon's Lucas Troutman grabbed the rebound off Bermudez's miss on the second shot and quickly found Chris Long at midcourt.
Long, the Phoenix's senior floor general from Charleston, W.Va., sped down the right side, turned towards the baseline and fired a skip pass across court to a wide open Jack Isenbarger on the left flank. Isenbarger, who had already knocked down a trio of 3-pointers in the game, grabbed the pass and fired a potential game-winning shot at the buzzer.
Isenbarger's shot hit the back rim and caromed out to give Samford the 69-67 victory.
"As soon as that last shot went up I said it's either back or in," Tillette said. "With the momentum he had, I knew that it was either going to be right in or he was going to hit the back rim. Lucky for us, it hit the back rim."
Samford led 29-25 at the half, but Elon opened the second period with a quick 9-3 run and took a 34-32 advantage with 15:12 remaining in the game.
The Phoenix led by as many as five points in the second half, 55-50, with 5:49 left to play, before Samford's Peterson and Andy King ignited the Bulldogs' offense for a 16-3 run to take a 66-58 advantage at the 1:31 mark.
During Samford's rally, Jeffrey Merritt and Peterson both scored on pretty back-door cuts before the Bulldogs' Peterson, King and Bedwell combined to hit four straight 3-pointers.
Peterson drained the first 3-point basket to give Samford a 57-55 lead, then King knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to increase the advantage to 63-58 with 2:03 to play. Bedwell's key 3-point field goal from the left wing gave the Bulldogs their biggest lead of the night at 66-58 with only 1:31 left in the game.
"We were up eight and had the ball, so I figured it was almost over," said Tillette. "The next thing I knew, they were right back in it and had a chance to win. Their Chris Long just kept hitting those 3-pointers and we couldn't put them away."
Long led all scorers with 21 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field and turned in a 6-of-12 performance from 3-point range, including three in the final 1:04 of the game. It was Long's 3-point basket with only 12 seconds remaining that trimmed Samford's lead to 68-67 before Bermudez was fouled.
Peterson paced Samford with 16 points on a perfect 6-of-6 outing from the field. The Bulldogs' junior forward from Boca Raton, Fla., finished 4-of-4 from beyond the arc and pulled down four rebounds.
"John Peterson was huge for us tonight," Tillette said. "He came off the bench to make four 3-pointers and Jeffrey hit two big ones as well. Andy King made two huge 3-pointers for us and he also made a couple of really good passes on back-door cuts. Andy finished with five assists and no turnovers, so he had a good game."
Samford's Bedwell was also perfect from the field Thursday as he went 4-of-4 from the floor and 3-for-3 from the free-throw line. The Bulldogs' senior from Hartselle, Ala., finished with 12 points and three rebounds.
Merritt turned in a solid all-around game for Samford with 12 points, six rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block. He was also 5-of-10 from the field and 2-for-3 from beyond the arc.
Bermudez played a key role Thursday and tallied six points, two steals and an assist. He turned in a 2-of-3 performance from the floor in 22 minutes of action.
As a team, Samford shot 53.2 percent from the field and 57.1 percent (12-of-21) from 3-point range. Elon also connected on 12 3-point baskets, but attempted 15 more than the Bulldogs.
The Phoenix out-rebounded Samford 42-26 and 20-4 on the offensive end of the court.
"The area where we were the most deficient tonight was on the offensive glass," said Tillette. "They are hard to rebound against, because they spread you out so much as a defense. They are such good shooters that it made us try to rebound from such weird angles."
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at 4 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs play host to the UNC Greensboro Spartans in another key SoCon matchup to be held at the Pete Hanna Center.