Jan. 26, 2012

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University basketball team earned its third win in four games Thursday as the Bulldogs tallied a 57-55 victory in a critical Southern Conference home matchup with the streaking Georgia Southern Eagles. The gritty, nail-biting triumph occurred at the Pete Hanna Center and snapped Georgia Southern's two-game winning streak.

"When you don't play your best and you find a way to win against a team that is that athletic, I really feel good about it," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "We made plenty of mistakes tonight, but we attacked their pressure well and we were able to get some easy buckets on their end. Our team was able to execute against their full-court pressure and that was huge for us in this win."

With the triumph, Samford (6-13, 3-5 SoCon) improved its record at home this season to 4-6 and registered its second straight victory in the Pete Hanna Center. On Jan. 14, prior to a two-game road swing, the Bulldogs reeled off an 11-point home victory against Chattanooga, 81-70.

On Thursday, Chattanooga squared off at home with first-place Davidson and dropped a heartbreaking, 64-63 decision on a last-second free throw. Davidson is Samford's next opponent as the Wildcats head to Birmingham for a Saturday showdown beginning at 4 p.m. The Bulldogs have never defeated Davidson.

Against Georgia Southern (8-12, 6-4 SoCon) on Thursday, Samford's hard-fought win came down to the final possession.

After a potential game-winning 3-point basket from the Eagles' Jelani Hewitt rimmed out, the Bulldogs' senior leader Jeffrey Merritt out-fought three Georgia Southern big men for the rebound and was fouled on the play.

"That was definitely the biggest rebound that I've had all season," said Merritt. "It might be one of the biggest ones that I've had in my career. I definitely wanted to go get that ball so no one else would get it."

Merritt connected on the second free throw to give Samford a 57-55 advantage with less than five seconds remaining. Following a timeout, the Eagles inbounded the ball to halfcourt where their speedy point guard Ben Drayton III grabbed a quick pass and screamed down the left sideline. He arrived at the free throw line extended with about a second remaining, jump-stopped towards the goal and fired a shot off the backboard.

The shot would have tied the game at 57-57 and forced overtime, but the ball skimmed off the front of the rim and fell directly into the arms of Samford's Raijon Kelly.

Merritt, the Bulldogs' hard-nosed guard from Oklahoma City, Okla., once again turned in a stellar all-around game. In another key performance from Samford, the senior finished Thursday's game with eight points, seven rebounds and six assists. Merritt also played a game-high 38 minutes and didn't commit a turnover.

Heading into Thursday's game, Merritt was ranked fifth in the SoCon with a 1.7 assist/turnover ratio.

"I was a little tired out there tonight, but I know that I just need to run through it and I'll do whatever I can to help the team win," Merritt said. "They came out with five dunks in the second half, but in the timeout we just committed to play through it, because it's a long game. We also did a great job of playing as a team. We didn't rely on any single player and we all did the little things in order to win."

Late in the second half, Samford's Kelly knocked down a clutch 3-point basket to give his squad a 53-48 advantage. The Eagles' Hewitt then answered with a deep 3-pointer of his own, before the Bulldogs' Drew Windler connected on a driving layup with 3:35 remaining to extend Samford's lead to 55-51.

Down the stretch, the teams traded free throws until Georgia Southern's last-second attempt caromed off the rim.

Windler, who scored the key basket for the Bulldogs, finished with a team-high 18 points on 5-of-12 shooting from the field. Samford's sophomore center only pulled down one rebound Thursday, but knocked down a pair of crucial 3-point baskets and went a perfect 6-of-6 from the free-throw line.

Fellow sophomore Will Cook added nine points, five assists, four rebounds, a block and a steal for Samford, while Hood chipped in with eight points. The Bulldogs also received six points from Matthew Friday, five points from Kelly and a deep momentum-shifting 3-pointer from true freshman Devin McNeil.

Georgia Southern's Hewitt led all scorers with 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the floor. The Eagles' sophomore sniper from Mirimar, Fla., also knocked down a game-high five 3-point field goals and added a team-high six assists.

Eric Ferguson, Georgia Southern's high-flying forward from Statesboro, Ga., concluded Thursday's contest with 14 points and five highlight-reel dunks. Ferguson ignited the Eagles' second-half rally with four straight dunks to open the final period. He finished 6-of-8 from the field and added four rebounds.

"Georgia Southern has an extremely athletic team," Tillette said. "Our entire league is athletic, but they are definitely one of the top teams in that category. Tonight, we found a way to be more gritty and more cerebral and still be tough. We were able to execute, but it was difficult because they are a very hard team to guard."

Georgia Southern outshot Samford 48.9 percent to 40 percent, but the Bulldogs only committed 10 turnovers. Two weeks ago to the day, in the Bulldogs' 58-53 road loss to the Eagles, they committed 19 turnovers. Samford won the points-off-turnovers category Thursday, 15-7, while Georgia Southern out-rebounded the Bulldogs, 34-22.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at 4 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs continue their three-game SoCon homestand against the first-place Davidson Wildcats in another key matchup to be held at the Pete Hanna Center.