Jan. 22, 2012

Box Score

GREENSBORO, N.C. - The Samford University basketball team suffered a heartbreaking 61-60 Southern Conference loss against the UNCG Spartans on Sunday as sophomore guard David Williams knocked down a leaner with 2.8 seconds remaining to snap the Bulldogs' two-game winning streak.

With the last-second victory, UNCG (6-14, 4-4 SoCon) extended its season-long winning streak to four straight games.

On UNCG's final possession, which began after a 30-second timeout at the 11.8 mark, the Spartans' Trevis Simpson started a drive from the right flank. He moved into the lane, lost his balanced, tripped for a few steps and then completely lost control of the ball with seven seconds remaining.

Despite being surrounded by four Bulldogs, the loose ball somehow ended up in Williams' hands. Off balance, he puts up the game-winning basket with 2.8 seconds remaining on the clock. The shot gave UNCG its 61-60 buzzer-beating victory.

"We started the game poorly, and I don't know if that's due to the long road trip, but I thought we shook that off and played with a lot of character," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "Our guys really battled back and we did a lot of good things. We found a way to have a lead and I thought we found a way to have a win. I thought that was a very questionable no-call on that travel at the end."

Just prior to Williams' game-winner, Samford (5-13, 2-5 SoCon) took a 60-59 advantage in Sunday's SoCon battle as sophomore Drew Windler knocked down a clutch 3-point basket from the right corner with 19.2 seconds remaining. Windler finished the game with a team-high 19 points and connected on a trio of key 3-point field goals for the Bulldogs.

Samford's offense started clicking in the second half of play as it quickly erased an eight-point UNCG halftime lead. The Bulldogs outscored the Spartans 33-26 in the final period and led by five points, 51-46, with 5:07 remaining.

Down the stretch, UNCG's Derrell Armstrong scored nine of the Spartans' 15 points and proved to be a huge factor in Sunday's outcome. Armstrong, a stocky 6-foot-1 guard, came off the bench to lead all scorers with 27 points on a 10-of-22 shooting performance from the field.

Despite Armstrong's heroics, Samford received some clutch offensive performances of its own from Windler, Jeffrey Merritt and Tyler Hood.

Merritt, on his 22nd birthday, registered his fourth double-double of the season Sunday as he finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds. The Bulldogs' senior team captain from Oklahoma City, Okla., shot 5-of-8 from the floor, knocked down all five of his field-goal attempts and added three assists, a block and a steal.

"Our team is young, but we've come a long ways in 10 days," said Tillette. "Merritt gave us a great effort today and he gives us that effort all the time. He's been spotty offensively as of late, but I told him to move his feet more when he's down on the block and I think he took that to heart. He was very effective for us down low and that was a huge factor for us in the game."

Samford's Hood, who is coming off a season-high 25-point outing at Elon Thursday, also continued his scoring prowess with 15 points Sunday. He played 32 minutes, pulled down four rebounds and went 4-of-5 from the charity stripe.

As a team Sunday, the Bulldogs turned the ball over 23 times, which was Samford's second worst outing of the season. On Dec. 28, the Bulldogs committed a season-high 25 points in a 74-58 loss at Sam Houston State.

"We didn't take care of the ball today and that was a huge reason why we didn't win," Tillette said. "They pressured us and that was effective, but I also thought that we had some mental fatigue there down the stretch. They scored a lot of their points off our turnovers and that put us behind the 8-ball."

UNCG scored nearly half of its points off Samford turnovers Sunday. The Spartans outscored the Bulldogs 27-8 in points off turnovers and only committed seven miscues of their own.

Samford outshot UNCG 44.7 percent to 32.4 percent, but both teams shot an identical 28.6 from 3-point range. The Bulldogs dominated the glass Sunday and out-rebounded the Spartans 43-34. UNCG tallied 16 offensive rebounds and attempted 71 shots. Samford finished the contest with 47 shot attempts and 12 offensive rebounds.

"UNCG has a lot of depth and they were really able to go deep in their bench and keep up the pressure on us for the entire game," Tillette said. "We haven't seen that a lot and I'd like to think that we'll be fresher the next time that we see them. Also, our guys need to do a better job and make better decisions. We also missed a lot of key free throws down the stretch."

Samford finished Sunday's game shooting 14-of-19 from the free-throw line, but missed three critical attempts from the charity stripe in the final 1:32 of the game. The Spartans turned in a 7-of-9 outing from the free-throw line.

During a key stretch, UNCG knocked down a pair of 3-point baskets from Drew Parker and Armstrong in the final 44.9 seconds of the first half to take a 35-27 advantage into the break.

Samford trailed by as many as 11 points in the game, but battled back to trim the Spartans' lead to 29-27 with 2:05 remaining in the opening period. The Bulldogs' Hood sparked his squad's comeback with a team-high 12 first-half points. He shot 4-of-10 from the field in the period and went 3-of-3 from the free-throw line.

Samford's Windler chipped in with seven points on 2-of-6 shooting from the floor, while Merritt notched four points and three rebounds in the first 20 minutes of play.

UNCG's Armstrong came off the bench to tally a game-high 16 first-half points. The Spartans' junior transfer from Allegany Community College finished 6-of-10 from the field and scored 11 straight points for UNCG midway through the period.

Both teams suffered significant scoring droughts in the first half. Samford was held scoreless from 13:32 to 8:43 before Hood tallied a put-back to make the score 23-14.

The Bulldogs' defense stiffened halfway through the opening period and kept the Spartans without a score for a 5:31 stretch which lasted from 10:36 to 5:05. UNCG's scoring drought was ended by a pair of free throws from Aloysius Henry.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Thursday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs begin play in a three-game homestand against the Georgia Southern Eagles in a SoCon cross-divisional contest to be held at the Pete Hanna Center. Thursday's matchup will be broadcast live on ESPN3.