Feb. 23, 2012

Box Score

CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Despite trailing by as many as 14 points in the second half Thursday, the Samford University basketball team clawed back to tie the game at 73-73 with 1:28 remaining in a key Southern Conference contest against the Western Carolina Catamounts at the Ramsey Center. In the final minute of play, Western Carolina drained six-consecutive free throws to hold off the resurgent Bulldogs, 79-77.

"Western Carolina came out and shot 17-of-33 from the arc and that's because they were totally focused out there," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "I told our team before the game that they would be focused and that this road trip mattered, and it mattered to them as well. We didn't start the game with good energy and we allowed them to shoot 3-pointers like they weren't even being guarded."

With the loss, Samford (11-17, 8-9 SoCon) remained winless at Western Carolina (13-17, 7-10 SoCon) and dropped to 0-5 when playing at the Ramsey Center.

The Catamounts tied a school record with 17 3-point baskets Thursday and received a career-high nine triples from senior guard Keaton Cole. Cole connected on six of his 3-point field goals in the opening half and led all scorers with a career-high 28 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field. All of his attempts came from beyond the arc.

"We had no edge about us at all tonight and we couldn't guard Cole," Tillette said. "The whole game plan was to make him dribble to get his shot. He squeezed off 12 tonight and made nine. I don't care if he shoots from 25 feet out. We didn't carry out the game plan. I was very disappointed in how we came out and played and it hurt us because they jumped out to that early lead."

Western Carolina extended its winning streak to three-consecutive games and kept its hopes alive for a first-round bye in the upcoming SoCon Tournament. With a home win against Appalachian State on Saturday and losses from both Samford and Elon, Western Carolina could creep into the second-place position in the North Division.

Samford will close out its regular-season schedule Saturday at Chattanooga. The game is slated to begin at 7 p.m. (CST) and will be the Mocs' Senior Night. With a win, the Bulldogs would secure the second-place position in the North Division and earn a first-round bye in next weekend's SoCon Tournament.

"Western Carolina played well and we knew they would be totally focused," said Tillette. "I tried to tell our team that this would be our most difficult road trip of the year, but we were too late getting into the game. If we'd have started better, then maybe we would have been up by 10 instead of down by 13. Chattanooga is going to be just as tough for us on Saturday and we are going to get their best effort too."

In the midst of Western Carolina's season-best shooting performance Thursday, Samford trailed the Catamounts 51-37 with 16:17 remaining and then 65-52 at the 8:56 mark in the second half.

At that point, the Bulldogs used back-to-back 3-pointers from Tyler Hood and a layup from Matthew Friday to trim Western Carolina's lead to 65-62 with 5:59 to play. The Catamounts, in front of a fiery home crowd, then bounced back for five-straight points to increase their advantage to 70-62 with 4:46 remaining in the game.

Samford then outscored Western Carolina 11-3 to even the game at 73-73 with 1:27 left on the clock. During the Bulldogs' rally, Drew Windler and Raijon Kelly both knocked down key 3-pointers and Jeffrey Merritt scored the game-tying bucket on a back-door layup from the right side of the lane. Samford also received free throws from Windler and Will Cook.

Windler, the Bulldogs' 6-foot-9 sophomore center from South Milwuakee, Wis., scored a career-high 27 points Thursday. He tallied 15 of his team-high total in the second half of play and finished 8-of-15 from the field, 4-of-6 from the 3-point line and 7-of-8 from the charity stripe.

After Samford tied the game at 73-73, Western Carolina's Brandon Boggs turned the ball over and the Bulldogs called a 30-second timeout. Samford then ran a play from Merritt and he backed down a Catamount defender before his turnaround jumper came up short and Western Carolina's Trey Sumler grabbed the rebound with 32 seconds left.

Sumler was fouled on the Catamounts' next possession and knocked down both free throws to give Western Carolina a 75-73 lead.

On the ensuing trip down the court, Samford's Merritt couldn't connect on a baseline layup as Harouna Mutombo came up with the rebound, was fouled by the Bulldogs and made both of his free throws to give the Catamounts a 77-73 advantage with 14 seconds remaining.

As Samford's late hopes were fading, Windler smoothly drained an NBA-range 3-pointer from the right flank to trim Western Carolina's lead to 77-76, but Sumler once again connected on both of his free throws to make the score 79-76.

On the Bulldogs' final possession, Kelly was fouled with 1.1 seconds left in the game before reaching midcourt. He made the first attempt from the charity stripe and intentionally missed the second free throw in hopes of a Samford put-back, but the Catamounts' Sumler grabbed the game-ending rebound.

"We played well to battle back at the end, but we just didn't get it done," said Tillette. "We missed a lot of shots around the rim tonight and we missed two shots from within two feet from the basket. We were too late in giving enough effort on both ends of the floor and we gave them too many opportunities to beat us, and they did."

Along with Windler's career-high 27 points, Samford received 13 points apiece from Hood and Kelly. Hood finished 4-of-8 from the floor and drained three key 3-point baskets. Kelly recorded a 4-of-7 performance from the field, knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and added four assists in the loss.

Western Carolina concluded the game with four players scoring in double figures. Cole led the way with his personal-best 28 points and set the school's single-season record in 3-pointers made. His total of nine Thursday proved to be just one short of the Catamounts' single-game record.

Mutombo tallied 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists against Samford, while Boggs finished with 14 and Sumler nearly registered a triple-double with 12 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.

The Bulldogs outshot the Catamounts from both the field and 3-point range Thursday, but Western Carolina knocked down 77.8 percent (14-of-18) of its free throws, as compared to 59.1 percent (13-of-22) from Samford. The Bulldogs shot 50 percent from the floor and 54.5 percent from long distance.

The Catamounts out-rebounded Samford, 38-32, and bested the Bulldogs, 18-10, in second-chance points. Samford scored 56 of its 77 points in the paint, while Western Carolina earned 65 of its 79 points from either 3-point range or the free-throw line.

Western Carolina knocked down 12 3-point field goals in the first 20 minutes of play and held a 41-35 advantage at the half. The Catamounts entered Thursday's game averaging seven 3-pointers per contest. Cole, Western Carolina's 5-foot-10 guard, connected on six 3-point baskets in the first half and led all scorers at the break with 18 points.

The Catamounts finished the opening period with 13 field goals, 12 of which came from beyond the arc. Western Carolina shot 52.2 percent (12-of-23) from long range in the first half, while Samford turned in a solid 46.2-percent mark (6-of-13) from beyond the arc. Both teams turned in identical shooting percentages of 44.8 in the opening period.

Windler paced the Bulldogs with 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field in the first half. He was followed by Hood with seven, Cook with six and Kelly with five.

Samford trailed by as many as 10 points in the opening period, but overcome a four-minute and nine-second scoring drought to battle within 38-35 until the final possession. The Catamounts closed out the first period in dramatic fashion as Cole drained his sixth first-half 3-pointer at the buzzer to lift Western Carolina to its 41-35 lead at the intermission.

The Catamounts only had four different players score in the opening period, but Cole tallied 18 and Boggs added 12, all on 3-point baskets. Mutombo and Sumler chipped in with six and five points, respectively.

"This loss was disappointing," Tillette said. "Our basketball team has gotten better. We opened our league 0-4, and if you would have told us that we'd have a chance to finish at 9-9 with the best SoCon record we've ever had, everybody would have gone for that, but we're a better basketball team than what we showed tonight. This was a game that we should have won, but we didn't."

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs close out their regular-season schedule with a key road contest at the Chattanooga Mocs. Saturday's SoCon finale will be held at The McKenzie Arena in downtown Chattanooga, Tenn.