Dec. 1, 2011

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University basketball team trailed by as many as eight points Thursday in its Southern Conference opener against the Western Carolina Catamounts, but battled back to take a five-point lead with 9:17 to play in the game, 50-45, before coming up short in a 75-71 decision held at home in the Pete Hanna Center.

"This was a tough loss for us and we need to be better at home," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "I just told the team that it's disappointing when we go on the road and play with a spark and the passion that we played with at UT Arlington, and then we come out tonight and I don't see the same warrior spirit that I saw the other night."

Samford (1-4, 0-1 SoCon) suffered its first conference-opening loss in three seasons and dropped to 2-6 in its all-time series with Western Carolina (4-4, 1-0 SoCon).

The Bulldogs were buoyed Thursday by career-high performances from sophomore center Drew Windler and true freshman guard Devin McNeil. The pair combined to score 39 points as 64 of Samford's 71 total points were scored by underclassmen.

Windler, the Bulldogs' 6-foot-9 native of South Milwaukee, Wis., used an impressive array of post moves to score a career-high 20 points Thursday. He also grabbed a career-high seven rebounds and added two 3-point baskets, a pair of blocked shots and a steal. Windler proved to be a key contributor for Samford in the first half and led the team with 12 points at the intermission.

McNeil, a member of the Bulldogs' up-and-coming freshman class and home-grown native of Birmingham, finished Thursday's contest with a career-high 19 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the floor. McNeil came off the bench to play a team-high 31 minutes and tallied three rebounds, three assists and a trio of 3-point baskets.

"Devin had a good game for us tonight," said Tillette. "That was especially good, because he didn't play that well for us the other night. The disappointing part about tonight was that our younger players played well, but that our older players didn't seem to show up. We need to get better performances from them."

Western Carolina used a balanced attack Thursday to register its second straight victory. The Catamounts finished the SoCon opener with four players scoring in double figures and were paced by 18 points on 8-of-15 shooting from leading scorer Harouna Mutombo.

Mutombo, who is the nephew of former NBA great Dikembe Mutombo, played 36 minutes and added five rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals. He scored 11 of his 18 points down the stretch in the second half to spark Western Carolina's comeback.

"I thought we did a poor job of keeping Mutombo in check," said Tillette. "We didn't guard him with any kind of physicality and he seemed to score the ball at will over some of our more experienced defensive players."

Following an acrobatic back-door layup from Tyler Hood and a 3-point basket from Will Cook with 9:17 remaining in Thursday's game, Samford held a 50-45 advantage over the Catamounts. Western Carolina then used a 3-point play from Mutombo, as well as a dunk and a layup from Trey Sumler to take a 55-54 lead with 7:34 left in the game.

The Catamounts would continue their streaky shooting to take a late 66-59 advantage, but then Samford countered with a deep 3-pointer from McNeil, a free throw from Windler and a driving layup from McNeil to cut Western Carolina's lead to 66-65 with 1:47 to play.

On the Catamounts' ensuing possession, with the shot clock winding down, senior guard Keaton Cole knocked down his team-high fourth 3-point field goal of the game to lift his squad to a 69-65 advantage. Cole, a native of Toronto, Ontario, finished with 15 points on 4-of-9 shooting from the field.

"We cut their lead to 66-65 late in the game and then we somehow let Cole, who is one of their best shooters, get an open look and he knocks down a three, and from that point on it was too difficult to come back," Tillette said. "There were also a lot of fouls in the game and I thought that a lot of them were just reaching fouls. We have to do a better job of playing physical."

Following Cole's momentum-shifting 3-pointer with 1:10 left to play, Samford would get no closer than four points, 75-71, as McNeil knocked down a buzzer-beating 3-point shot from half court.

Samford's Cook chipped in with 12 points, five rebounds and four 3-point baskets Thursday, while Western Carolina's Brandon Boggs tallied 17 points and six rebounds in a game-high 39 minutes of playing time. The Catamounts' Sumler tallied a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. He also finished 11-for-12 from the free-throw line.

As a team, Western Carolina shot 20-of-28 from the charity stripe for a 71.4 shooting percentage. Samford turned in a 14-of-22 outing, which was good for a 63.6-percent mark.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Monday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs continue their five-game homestand versus the UTSA Roadrunners at the Pete Hanna Center.