Dec. 17, 2011

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University basketball team turned in its highest scoring output in over three years Saturday as the Bulldogs breezed to a 90-64 victory against the Spring Hill Badgers at home in the Pete Hanna Center. The win concluded Samford's season-long, five-game homestand.

On Tuesday, the Bulldogs will travel to Lexington, Ky., for a showdown against the third-ranked Kentucky Wildcats to be held at Rupp Arena. The contest will be televised live on ESPN2 beginning at 6 p.m. (CST).

Samford's 90 points scored Saturday against Spring Hill (7-3) was its highest total since losing at UT Martin, 101-94, in triple overtime March 4, 2008, in the opening round of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.

"I thought offensively we did a lot of good things today," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "We did give up a lot of offensive rebounds, but to their credit, they were very aggressive. I thought we started the second half much better defensively. We looked a little tired at times, but we've had a lot of tough practices in a row and now we have to continue to practice hard and continue to get better."

Samford (3-6) turned in a 51.7-percent shooting performance Saturday and knocked down 11-of-24 attempts from beyond the arc for a 45.8 3-point field-goal percentage. The Bulldogs entered the game ranked No. 3 in the nation in 3-point field goals per contest with 10.6.

Sophomore Drew Windler led Samford in scoring with a career-high 23 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field. The Bulldogs' native of South Milwaukee, Wis., also pulled down five rebounds and went 7-of-9 from the free-throw line.

Windler scored 14 of his personal-best 23 points in the first half as Samford built an early 16-6 lead and cruised to a 40-24 advantage at the half. The Bulldogs opened the final period with a 20-7 run and took a substantial 60-31 lead with 14:59 left in the game.

"Drew keeps getting better and better, as does Tyler Hood," Tillette said. "All of our younger guys keep improving. Look at Brandon Hayman. He had eight offensive rebounds and he just goes to the glass every time. There were a lot of positives in this game today, but we still need to get better in a lot of areas. Transitionally, we were terrible and we'll need to work on that in the next couple of days."

Samford led by as many as 34 points Saturday following a driving layup from true freshman Brandon Hayman. With 7:14 remaining in the contest, the Bulldogs held an 80-46 lead over Spring Hill.

Sophomore Will Cook and redshirt freshman Tyler Hood both added double-digit scoring performances for Samford. Cook finished with 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field and added a perfect 5-of-5 outing from the charity stripe. Hood also shot well from the free-throw line as he turned in a 5-of-6 performance en route to scoring 12 points in only 20 minutes of playing time.

Spring Hill was paced offensively by 16 points from Todd Martin, 15 points from Jake Thelen and a 10-point performance from Brett Williams. The Badgers' trio combined to score 41 of the team's 64 total points.

For the second straight game, Samford shot over 50 percent from the field and over 40 percent from 3-point range. The Bulldogs also handed out 20 assists on 30 field goals and only committed 10 turnovers.

"I thought we had good looks tonight," said Tillette. "We also played unselfishly and only had 10 turnovers as compared to 20 assists. I think we've been making a lot of good improvements, but we still have a long ways to go. The more we work at it, the better we get, and our better days our ahead of us. We have a lot of talented young players on this team."

Samford played four true freshmen Saturday, a redshirt freshman, four sophomores and three seniors. The Bulldogs' seniors combined to play 53 minutes, while the underclassmen played the remaining 147 minutes of the game.

Hayman, Samford's native of Braselton, Ga., pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds Saturday, including eight on the offensive end of the court. He also finished with eight points and four assists.

Fellow true freshman Devin McNeil started at the point guard position and finished with eight points, four rebounds and four assists in only 15 minutes of playing time. Connor Miller and Raijon Kelly, both true freshmen guards, scored six points apiece.

Senior Matthew Friday added five points and three rebounds, while Kaylin Johnson and Levi Barnes both knocked down 3-point baskets. Senior guard Jeffrey Merritt only scored two points, but played a key role with five rebounds and five assists.

With Saturday's win, Samford can now turn its attention to No. 3-ranked Kentucky. The Bulldogs have never faced Kentucky and have never played in historic Rupp Arena.

"We've played in front of big crowds before, but we're not trying to think about that right now," said Windler. "When we play at Kentucky, we'll just be thinking about what goes on between the lines. Our five guys will be playing their five guys, and we know they are talented, but that's what we look forward to. They are at the top of the college game and we always strive to be the best that we can be."

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Tuesday at 6 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs hit the road for a showdown against the third-ranked Kentucky Wildcats to be held in Rupp Arena (23,500) in downtown Lexington, Ky. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN2 and will be called by Mark Jones and Dan Dakich.