Feb. 12, 2011

Box Score

CULLOWHEE, N.C. - The Samford University basketball team was defeated in a Southern Conference road game held at the Ramsey Center on Saturday as the Bulldogs dropped an 85-63 decision against the Western Carolina Catamounts.

"I didn't think we were energized enough to guard them effectively today," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "They scored in transition, they scored in the paint, they scored off turnovers and then they made shots from 3-point range, so we were 0-for-4 right there. Offensively, I thought we did some decent things. We scored 63 points, but we committed too many turnovers and we didn't play well on the defensive end."

With the loss, Samford (12-14, 4-10 SoCon) split its annual home-and-home series with Western Carolina (13-13, 9-5 SoCon). Earlier this season, the Bulldogs registered a 63-58 victory over the Catamounts held at the Pete Hanna Center on Dec. 2.

On Saturday, the Catamounts remained undefeated at home this season and improved to 9-0 when playing at the Ramsey Center in 2010-11. Samford has never won in Cullowhee, N.C., and dropped to 0-4 all-time when playing at Western Carolina.

"This is a very tough place to play and Western Carolina is undefeated at home this year," Tillette said. "They played very well today and just beat us in all phases of the game. They were coming off a big win last night and today's game was almost like tournament play for them. They didn't really have a lot of time to digest it, they just came out and played. Especially on the offensive end, they really played well."

With Saturday's victory, the Catamounts won their fourth straight game. Western Carolina has not been defeated since a 75-66 setback at Wofford on Jan. 29.

Samford's Jeffrey Merritt led the team in both scoring and rebounding Saturday. The Bulldogs' 6-foot-6 guard led all scorers with 17 points and pulled down a team-high six rebounds. Merritt shot 6-of-9 from the field and knocked down a pair of 3-point baskets. He also logged a team-high 33 minutes of playing time.

Western Carolina finished with four players scoring in double figures. Junior Harouna Mutombo and senior Richie Gordon each tallied 16 points for the Catamounts. Mutombo turned in an 8-of-14 performance from the floor, while Gordon knocked down 7-of-13 attempts from the field. Gordon, Western Carolina's 6-foot-9 forward also pulled down a game-high eight rebounds.

The Catamounts' guards Trey Sumler and Mike Williams both added 14 points apiece as Western Carolina's starting five accounted for 60 of their 85 total points.

Samford shot 50 percent from the field Saturday, but never held a lead in the game.

Western Carolina jumped out to a quick 11-0 advantage and took a 42-26 lead into the intermission. The Catamounts hit three straight 3-pointers to open the contest and held a 13-4 advantage with 15:42 to play in the opening half.

Samford received 10 points from Merritt in the first period. The Bulldogs' junior guard from Oklahoma City, Okla., paced the Bulldogs' offensive attack and turned in a 4-for-5 performance from the field. Samford's Kaylin Johnson also chipped in with four points in the first half.

Western Carolina's Gordon and Williams both reached double figures in scoring in the opening period. Gordon led all scorers with 12 points and ignited the Catamounts' 14-2 run midway through the half. Following a deep 3-point basket from Kenneth Cole, Western Carolina held a game-high 32-12 lead.

The Catamounts' Williams scored six of his team's first nine points of Saturday's contest and tallied 10 points at the half.

Western Carolina shot a sizzling 55.2 percent from the field and finished 6-of-15 from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs tallied a 33.3-percent outing from 3-point range (6-of-18).

Turnovers proved to be the key factor in Saturday's game. Samford turned the ball over 17 times, while the Catamounts only suffered six miscues. Consequently, Western Carolina outscored the Bulldogs 19-4 in points off turnovers. The Catamounts also led in points in the paint (46-28), second-chance points (8-2) and fastbreak points (10-2).

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Wednesday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs begin a critical two-game homestand against the Wofford Terriers at the Pete Hanna Center.