Jan. 30, 2012

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University basketball team lost at home for the first time since Jan. 5 on Monday as the Bulldogs suffered a lackluster 68-52 defeat against the College of Charleston Cougars in a Southern Conference matchup held at the Pete Hanna Center.

"The better team won tonight," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "They showed up to play and they were hungry. We were not hungry and we looked completely disinterested in the game. Our effort was inferior and every physical mistake we made was a manifestation of our approach to the game. We made mental mistakes too, but I think it boiled down to the fact that we were a step slow on both ends of the floor. It was just a terrible, terrible effort."

With the loss, Samford (7-14, 4-6 SoCon) dropped to 5-7 at home this season, but came up short at the Pete Hanna Center for only the second time in January. The Bulldogs entered the contest riding the positive momentum of a three-game home winning streak and a thrilling 77-74 triumph over first-place Davidson on Saturday.

"I was concerned about a letdown after the Davidson game, plus you have to factor in that we haven't had a full practice in about a week," Tillette said. "Our guys need to understand that this type of effort beats no one in our league, especially now that we turn the calendar to February, because that is always the toughest month to get any kind of win. Wins are at a premium, especially in our league this year."

With its win, College of Charleston (13-9, 5-6 SoCon) snapped a season-long four-game losing streak and tallied its first victory since breezing by Elon, 63-44, on Jan. 14. The Cougars were coming off consecutive defeats against Davidson, Georgia Southern, Furman and Wofford.

College of Charleston also remained undefeated versus Samford. Monday's win propelled the Cougars to a 12-0 all-time mark against the Bulldogs.

Additionally, Monday's win signified the first career victory for College of Charleston interim head coach Mark Byington. Byington was named the Interim Head Coach on Friday after Head Coach Bobby Cremins stepped down for the remainder of the year due to health issues.

"What's ironic is that College of Charleston didn't change too many things and they actually did a lot of the things that Davidson did against us Saturday," said Tillette. "They switched every screen, that's what Davidson did as well, but obviously this was a different result. We were just a step slow and couldn't penalize them, so they just did it with impunity. We just didn't have an edge to our game tonight."

Samford was out-rebounded 23-14 in the first half of play as College of Charleston took a 38-28 advantage into the break. The Bulldogs shot 47.8 percent from the field in the opening period, but were only 2-of-7 from 3-point range.

Despite Samford's first-half woes, the Bulldogs still held a 24-22 advantage with 4:57 remaining in the opening 20 minutes. Tyler Hood scored on a driving, one-handed off-balance layup to give Samford the two-point advantage before College of Charleston's Antwaine Wiggins answered with back-to-back 3-point baskets to give the Cougars a 28-24 lead.

Wiggins finished the first half with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field and his late offensive outburst propelled College of Charleston to a decisive 16-4 run to close out the period.

"They came out 100 percent in the first half and we didn't," said Samford freshman guard Raijon Kelly. "We realized we weren't playing our best at the first media timeout when our coaches got on us about playing so flat. We tried to pick it up, but College of Charleston played really hard and kept their foot on our throat. We just couldn't get up."

Midway through the second half of play, Samford's Kelly drained a 27-foot 3-point basket to cut the Cougars' lead to 50-42, but College of Charleston answered with a layup from Wiggins, a 3-pointer from Andrew Lawrence and a jumper from Matt Sundberg to make the score 57-42 with 4:05 left to play. The Cougars would then hit their free throws down the stretch to tally the 68-52 win.

Samford finished Monday's game with three players scoring in double figures. Freshmen Hood and Kelly paced the squad with 11 points apiece, while sophomore center Drew Windler tallied 10 points, seven rebounds and two assists. Senior Matthew Friday also chipped in with six points off the bench for the Bulldogs.

"I think that we came out a bit nonchalant tonight and we were too relaxed," Kelly said. "I think that we thought since we beat a big team like Davidson we could just do it again and that it would even come a little easier. We thought that we would earn everybody's respect right way, but that doesn't happen in this league, especially when you come out flat."

Wiggins, College of Charleston's senior All-SoCon preseason selection, continued to be a thorn in Samford's flesh Monday as he dropped in a game-high 25 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the field. The Cougars' 6-foot-7 forward also grabbed six rebounds and connected on a game-high five 3-point field goals.

College of Charleston also received 14 points from Sundberg and 11 points from Lawrence. Despite only scoring six points for the Cougars, sophomore forward Trent Wiedeman grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds and registered two assists, two blocks and a steal.

"I felt like they were more ready to play and they were more physical than we were," said Kelly. "We came out flat and were not willing to fight back as hard as we should have. We took the first hit and we just never recovered from it. They just kept punishing us by rebounding the ball and they did whatever they wanted. That's what hurt us tonight."

College of Charleston only shot marginally better than Samford from the field, 37.1 percent to 36.8 percent, but knocked down 11 3-point baskets on a 34.4-percent outing from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs only connected on 6-of-26 3-pointers for a 23.1-percent mark.

"This was definitely one of our worst shooting performances of the year," Tillette said. "I can't say for sure that it was our worst, but College of Charleston is athletic. They're as good as a team as Georgia Southern and Wiggins is a phenomenal player. We just couldn't keep them off the glass. They had 12 offensive rebounds at halftime, so it was a disappointing effort and it starts with me. I just didn't get our team ready to play."

The Cougars also out-rebounded Samford 43-34, including a 17-11 total on the offensive end of the court. The Bulldogs did outscore College of Charleston, 24-16, in the paint.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Thursday at 6 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs begin an arduous two-game SoCon road swing against the Appalachian State Mountaineers at the Holmes Center (8,325) in Boone, N.C.