Jan. 5, 2012

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Despite trailing by as many as 13 points early in the second half Thursday, the Samford University basketball team battled back to within 62-61 at the 2:45 mark before the Appalachian State Mountaineers converted on a couple of key plays en route to a 68-63 Southern Conference victory held at the Pete Hanna Center.

Samford (3-10, 0-2 SoCon) was hurt by its free-throw shooting down the stretch and only connected on 2-of-9 of its attempts in the final two minutes of play. The Bulldogs finished the contest with a 10-of-20 outing from the charity stripe.

"We got off to a great start tonight, but then they made a couple of great shots over the top and I think we got a little dazed in the first half," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "We haven't jumped out early on anybody like that in a long time. I bet we thought the game was going to be easier than it was, then all of a sudden we found ourselves down by nine points at halftime."

With 2:24 remaining, Appalachian State (6-7, 2-1 SoCon) extended its lead to 64-61 following a driving layup from Omar Carter. Samford's Jeffrey Merritt then knocked down one of two attempts from the free-throw line before Andre Williamson made a critical turnaround jumper in the lane to increase the Mountaineers' advantage to 66-62.

A few quick possessions later, Samford's Raijon Kelly was fouled on a deep 3-point attempt from the left wing. The Bulldogs' true freshman from St. Paul, Minn., knocked down one of the three free throws with 16 seconds remaining to trim Appalachian State's lead to 66-63. From that point on, the Mountaineers iced the game away with free throws from Carter and Williamson.

"Our players did a great job of battling back, but Appalachian State was able to make too many big plays at the end," Tillette said. "We gave up some key second shots and we missed way too many free throws. We can't be 2-of-9 in the last two minutes of the game from the free-throw line. While I thought we were better tonight, we didn't do enough good things."

With the victory, Appalachian State extended its winning streak against Samford to five straight games. The Mountaineers also increased their advantage in the all-time series to 2-5.

The Bulldogs were paced offensively by three double-digit scorers Thursday. Sophomore center Drew Windler paced the team with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting, while Merritt followed with 14 points on a 5-of-11 performance from the field. Merritt, who also grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season, led Samford with three 3-point baskets.

Kelly played 27 minutes for the Bulldogs Thursday and finished with 10 points, three rebounds and two assists. Senior center Matthew Friday also came off the bench to provide a spark in the game. Samford's 6-foot-8 native of Grapevine, Texas, tallied eight points, four steals, three rebounds and a blocked shot in only 19 minutes of playing time.

"I thought this was probably the best game that we've played since UT Arlington," said Tillette. "If you go back and extract the NAIA games and our games at Kentucky and Maryland, then I thought we really played one of our better games. Appalachian State's seniors really stepped up tonight and I thought Carter really hurt us."

Appalachian State concluded Thursday's game with five players scoring in double figures. Carter, the Mountaineers' leading scorer on the season, led the way with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting, while junior forward Nathan Healy came off the bench to register 14 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and two assists.

Rounding out Appalachian State's scoring were Tab Hamilton, Mike Neal and Williamson who all finished with 12, 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Samford opened Thursday's game with a 16-4 run before the Mountaineers used a 20-4 stretch to take a 24-20 lead at the 6:49 mark in the first half. Appalachian State shot 45.5 percent from 3-point range in the opening period and built a 37-28 lead at the intermission.

Early in the second half, the Mountaineers used a jumper in the lane to increase their game-high advantage to 47-34 with 14:05 to play. Late in the final period, Samford rallied for a 14-6 run to cut Appalachian State's lead down to 60-59 with 3:21 remaining.

Appalachian State won the battle of the boards, 40-31, but Samford only turned the ball over 10 times, as compared to 19 miscues for the Mountaineers. The Bulldogs only shot 39.7 percent from the field and 26.1 from beyond the arc, while Appalachian State scorched the nets from the floor at 54.2 percent. The Mountaineers also connected on 6-of-16 3-point field goals for a 37.5 percentage.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at 6:05 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs return to the road for a conference contest against The Citadel Bulldogs to be held at McAlister Field House (6,000).