Nov. 22, 2011

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University basketball team charged back to within six points late in the second half of play Tuesday, but Georgia State used four quick points from Jihad Ali to hold on for a 55-47 nonconference victory at the Pete Hanna Center. Ali paced the Panthers with a game-high 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field.

"This was a tough loss for us tonight, but I thought we competed," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "This is a group that demonstrates a lot of character in every game and we just need to get better. I haven't had a chance to look at the film yet, but a lot of our mistakes were self-imposed. We just shot ourselves in the foot. We need to correct some little things as the season goes on and by that time our freshmen will have grown up a bit."

Samford (0-3) trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half before battling back to cut Georgia State's lead to 26-21 at the intermission. The Bulldogs only shot 30 percent from the field in the opening period, but the Panthers didn't shoot much better at 38.1 percent.

Georgia State (2-3) out-rebounded Samford 25-12 in the opening half and closed out the game with a 43-27 advantage on the boards.

"In the first half, I thought that we just didn't get into the best position to rebound the ball," Tillette said. "Our guys were getting too close to the goal and the ball was just going over their heads. We told them to make some adjustments at halftime and then in the second half I thought we did much better rebounding the ball."

Samford rallied back from a 13-point deficit early in the second half to move to within six points, 46-40, at the 6:24 mark. The Bulldogs' John Peterson knocked down a key 3-point basket to trim the Panthers' lead to six. Peterson, a senior forward from Boca Raton, Fla., scored a team-high 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting from the field. He also knocked down three 3-point field goals.

"I thought John did a really nice job of shooting the ball tonight," said Tillette. "He really gave us a spark, and then he also had a couple of 3-pointers rim out. He had one from the corner that just rolled out and Will Cook also had one that just rimmed out."

Following Peterson's 3-point basket at 6:24, Georgia State's Ali knocked down a key 3-point basket of his own to increase the Panthers' lead to 49-40. The teams then traded baskets down the stretch as Georgia State held on for the 55-47 victory.

For the first time this season, Samford's bench was outscored by an opponents' as the Panthers' reserves finished with 25 as compared to 15 from the Bulldogs. Georgia State's Ali came off the bench to score 20 of the team's 25 bench points.

Peterson proved to be the only Samford player in double figures Tuesday. Guards Devin McNeil and Cook both followed with seven points apiece, while Drew Windler added six on 2-of-6 shooting from the field.

The Bulldogs' Brandon Hayman and Matthew Friday came off the bench to tally four points apiece. Samford senior Jeffrey Merritt led the team in rebounds with six.

"Right now, we have three more practices to get better and to get ready for another road trip," Tillette said. "We'll see who wants to put in the effort to work hard in practice this week and then we'll look to get a win on the road against UT Arlington."

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs face off against the UT Arlington Mavericks in a nonconference showdown to be held at Texas Hall (3,600) in Arlington, Texas.