Feb. 15, 2012

DAVIDSON, N.C. - The Samford University basketball team suffered its worst Southern Conference defeat of the 2011-12 campaign Wednesday as the Bulldogs dropped an 81-54 decision against the Davidson Wildcats at Belk Arena.

"Davidson is a very good team and tonight they played really well," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "I don't think we were invested in this road trip. I don't think our guys gave enough effort. It was almost like they'd done some things well, so they thought they could just come in here and play well. It was a bad night all the way around for us, but I thought Davidson also played very well."

With Wednesday's loss, Samford (10-16, 7-8 SoCon) had its road winning streak snapped at two games. Nearly two weeks ago, the Bulldogs completed an arduous four-day road trip with consecutive victories against Appalachian State and Wofford.

"Tonight, we just didn't do what we'd done in weeks past," Tillette said. "Hopefully, our guys understand that in this league you need to show up to every game ready to play with great effort, great resolve and great toughness in order to play well. On Saturday, College of Charleston beat Davidson and then they went on the road and lost at UNCG. That was a bit of a letdown game for them and this was definitely a letdown game for us as well."

Davidson (20-6, 14-2 SoCon) bounced back from an 86-78 loss at College of Charleston on Saturday with its largest margin of victory since defeating The Citadel, 80-51, on Jan. 21.

The Wildcats remained nearly impossible to beat at Belk Arena on Wednesday and improved their home record to 12-1 this season. Davidson's lone loss at Belk Arena in 2011-12 was an 87-83 decision against Vanderbilt on Dec. 7. Since then, the Wildcats have rattled off eight consecutive home victories and will play host to No. 24-ranked Wichita State on Saturday as a part of the Sears BracketBusters competition.

Samford has never been victorious in Davidson and dropped to 0-4 in the series on the road.

The Wildcats led by as many as 32 points Wednesday and finished with four players scoring in double figures. With its victory, Davidson secured the SoCon South Division title.

JP Kuhlman paced all scorers with 16 points for the Wildcats and turned in a 6-of-10 shooting performance from the field. Davidson's junior guard also knocked down four 3-point baskets and grabbed a trio of rebounds.

The Wildcats' Jake Cohen added 15 points, five rebounds, four blocks and a pair of steals Wednesday, while Chris Czerapowicz scored 14 and Tyler Kalinoski chipped in with 10.

As a team, Davidson shot 43.5 percent from the floor and 48.3 percent from 3-point range. The Wildcats connected on 14-of-29 attempts from beyond the arc and out-rebounded Samford 43-29. Davidson also held the advantage in offensive rebounds, 17-4, and scored 11 second-chance points.

Samford, mere days after finishing with five players scoring in double figures against Elon on Saturday, concluded Wednesday's game with only Raijon Kelly reaching the double-digit mark. Kelly, the Bulldogs' true freshman guard from St. Paul, Minn., scored a team-high 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field and tallied Samford's first 10 points of the second half.

Following Kelly's scoring outburst to open the second period and four straight free throws from Will Cook, the Bulldogs put a minor dent in Davidson's lead, 57-36, with 14:32 left to play.

At that point, the Wildcats answered with back-to-back 3-pointers from Kalinoski and Czerapowicz to give their squad a decisive 65-36 lead. Samford would get no closer than 26 points down the stretch to close out the game.

Samford dropped to 4-8 on the road this season and 1-7 all-time against Davidson.

"There are no excuses," said Tillette. "I didn't have the team ready to play and I take full responsibility for that. We'll go back to work tomorrow and look at film. We'll get the guys to pay attention to some things that they didn't do right and then we'll just work hard and get ready for Furman on Saturday."

The Bulldogs' Devin McNeil came off the bench to score nine points on 4-of-6 shooting from the floor, while Cook added eight and Windler finished with five.

At the half, Davidson held a commanding 46-22 lead over Samford. The Wildcats scored the first eight points of the game, but then the Bulldogs used a jumper from Kelly and four straight points from Cook to cut Davidson's lead to 8-6.

Following Cook's free throws at 15:50 in the first half, the Wildcats reeled off a 26-2 run and kept Samford scoreless for six minutes and 18 seconds. With Davidson leading, 34-8, the Bulldogs' scoring drought came to an end at the 9:32 mark with a running one-handed leaner from Windler.

The Wildcats led by as many as 28 points in the first half and knocked down 9-of-16 3-point attempts in the opening 20 minutes of play.

Davidson turned in a 41.7 percent shooting mark in the first half and shot a sizzling 56.3 percent from beyond the arc. The Wildcats were led in scoring by Kuhlman as he knocked down four 3-point field goals for a total of 12 first-half points.

The Bulldogs tallied a 36-percent outing from the field in the opening frame, but only shot 25 percent from 3-point range. Turnovers dogged Samford in the first half as the team committed eight miscues. Davidson only turned the ball over once in the opening 20 minutes of play.

"Offensively, we really struggled and we didn't shoot the ball well at all," said Tillette. We missed some easy shots around the basket and we just didn't have the resolve to compete. Davidson played well, but we can't control external things. We can only control the things that we can control. We didn't take possession of what we were able to do and I hope that our guys can learn from this experience and use it to get better."

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at 4 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs play host to the Furman Paladins in a Senior Day contest to be held at the Pete Hanna Center. Prior to the game, Samford seniors Matthew Friday, Kaylin Johnson, John Peterson and Jeffrey Merritt will all be honored with a special Senior Day presentation.