Nov. 18, 2011

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - In its first road game of the 2011-12 campaign, the Samford University basketball team dropped a 70-57 decision against the Jacksonville Dolphins at Veterans Memorial Arena (5,181).

Samford (0-2) trailed 42-25 at halftime and mounted a second-half rally to trim Jacksonville's (1-2) lead to 63-54 with 5:11 remaining in the game. The Bulldogs' late charge was led by senior Jeffrey Merritt who scored a career-high 22 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field. Merritt tallied 18 of his game-high 22 points in the second half of play.

Following Kaylin Johnson's driving layup to cut the Dolphins' advantage to 63-54, Jacksonville's Delwan Graham scored three straight points to extend his team's lead to 66-54 with 3:05 left to play.

Samford's Merritt capped off his career-high performance Friday with a resounding fast-break dunk in the final minutes, but the Dolphins used layups from Chris Davis and Glenn Powell to hang on for the 13-point home victory.

Jacksonville's leading scorer Friday was Aloys Cabell, who paced the Dolphins' offensive attack for a second straight game. Cabell, a sophomore guard from Atlanta, Ga., dropped in a team-high 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor versus Samford. He also finished a perfect 4-for-4 from 3-point range. Against Savannah State on Wednesday, Cabell scored a game-high 22 points.

3-point shooting played a key role in Friday's outcome as Jacksonville shot 47.4 percent from downtown. Samford knocked down seven 3-point baskets, but only turned in a 25.9 shooting percentage from long range. Merritt led the Bulldogs with three 3-points field goals, while sophomore Will Cook followed with two.

The Dolphins came out firing on all cylinders and buried six 3-pointers in the first half to take a 42-25 advantage at the intermission. Jacksonville turned in a 54.5-percent outing (6-of-11) in the opening 20 minutes of play, while Samford finished 2-of-13 (15.4).

After Merritt's game-high 22 points, the Bulldogs were aided by Cook's nine points and six rebounds, as well as seven points from Johnson and six points from senior forward John Peterson. Samford freshmen Raijon Kelly and Tyler Hood also chipped in with four points apiece.

Jacksonville finished Friday's non-conference matchup with four players scoring in double figures. Cabell notched his team-high 17 points and was followed by Powell's 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field. The Dolphins' junior forward also added six rebounds, a steal and a blocked shot.

Keith McDougald and Davis both finished the game with 11 points each.

Samford only committed 13 turnovers and scored 21 points off Jacksonville's 18 miscues. The Dolphins out-rebounded the Bulldogs 36-27, but Samford outscored Jacksonville in second-chance points, 17-12.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Tuesday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs return home to Birmingham for a non-conference matchup against the Georgia State Panthers to be held in the Pete Hanna Center.