Feb. 19, 2011

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University basketball team suffered a heartbreaking 70-63 home Southern Conference loss Saturday as the Furman Paladins stormed back in the second half to register a come-from-behind win at the Pete Hanna Center.

Samford (12-16, 4-12 SoCon) led by as many as 14 points and held a five-point lead, 63-58, with 3:01 remaining in the contest. Furman (20-7, 12-4 SoCon) scored the final 12 points of the game and outscored the Bulldogs 42-26 in the second half.

"This was our game and we let it slip away," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "We just fouled too much and we committed some ridiculous turnovers. We're getting better at competing and that's what it takes to win at this level. The first half was one of the most complete halves that we've played in conference this year. I felt we got a lot of contributions from a lot of people, but in the second half we just fouled them too many times and gave them a lot of easy points."

Samford opened Saturday's game with a quick offensive outburst and held a 16-6 lead with 11:51 to play in the half. Following a pair of free throws from John Peterson at the 6:17 mark, the Bulldogs held their biggest advantage of the day, 26-12.

Furman closed the first half with a deep 3-point heave from Jordan Miller at the buzzer to cut Samford's advantage to 37-28 at the intermission. The Bulldogs had eight different players score in the opening period and were being led offensively by Jeffrey Merritt and Drew Windler with eight points apiece.

Furman's Amu Saaka tallied 15 points and five rebounds in the first half.

"Furman switched to a zone in the second half and it was nothing we haven't seen before," Tillette said. "It was a 2-3 zone, but we started back-rimming shots and then committing turnovers. To start the second half, we missed two wide-open 3-pointers then we committed a foul and turned the ball over twice. That's not a good way to begin a half."

The Paladins scored the first 10 points of the second period and took their first lead of the game, 38-37, following a jumper from Colin Reddick at 15:31.

Down the stretch, Samford used a pair of 3-pointers from Kaylin Johnson, another 3-point field goal from Bedwell, a driving layup from Gregg Wooten and a pair of free throws to build its lead back to seven points, 62-55, with 4:08 to play.

At the 3:11 mark, Samford's Peterson knocked down a free throw in what would end up being the Bulldogs' final point of the game. Following Peterson's free throw, Samford held a 63-58 advantage.

In the final three minutes of play, Furman used a layup from Darryl Evans, a dunk from Saaka and then eight straight made free throws to tally the comeback victory.

The Paladins' Saaka led all scorers with 23 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field. Furman's 6-foot-6 forward also pulled down nine rebounds and went 4-of-6 from beyond the arc. Sebirumbi added 12 points for the Paladins and made 6-of-7 attempts from the charity stripe.

Samford was paced offensively by Merritt's 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the floor. The Bulldogs' junior guard from Oklahoma City, Okla., also contributed with three rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals.

"We had a good week of practice this week and we fought hard in both of these games against Wofford and Furman," said Merritt. "We knew that today was going to be a tough game. Furman is one of the top teams in the conference, so we knew it was going to be a battle for 40 minutes. The last three minutes, we just let it slip away."

Bedwell, the Bulldogs' senior from Hartselle, Ala., chipped in with 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting from the field. Samford's 6-foot marksman was also 3-of-6 from 3-point range and handed out four assists.

The Bulldogs' defense forced Furman in to 14 turnovers Saturday, but Samford committed 16 turnovers of its own. The Bulldogs shot 53.7 percent from the field and 43.5 percent (10-of-23) from beyond the arc.

Furman out-rebounded Samford 31-19 and scored 13 second-chance points, as compared to three for the Bulldogs.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Monday at 6 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs square off against the first-place College of Charleston Cougars in a regionally-televised matchup to be broadcast live on CSS from Carolina First Arena in downtown Charleston, S.C.