Feb. 25, 2012

Box Score

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The Samford University basketball team was outscored 57-40 in the second half Saturday as the Bulldogs were upended by the Chattanooga Mocs 86-78 in the regular-season finale for both teams. Samford held a 38-29 lead at the half, but Chattanooga's Keegan Bell knocked down five second-half 3-pointers to lead the Mocs to victory at The McKenzie Arena.

"We just came up short the whole week," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "The problems we've had this week stem from our defensive inability. We weren't energized to guard people. We scored 77 points against Western Carolina and we scored 78 points tonight, but we lost both games, so we really need to focus on guarding people and committing to that end of the court in order to keep people in the 50s."

Samford (11-18, 8-10 Southern Conference) concluded the regular season as the fourth-place team in the SoCon North Division and will face Furman Friday at 5 p.m. (CST) in the opening round of the 2012 SoCon Tournament. The 12-team, four-day competition will be held at the newly-renovated U.S. Cellular Center in downtown Asheville, N.C.

Furman heads into the SoCon Tournament as the fifth-place team in the South Division. The Paladins concluded the 2011-12 regular season with a 14-15 overall record and an 8-10 mark in conference play. In Samford's final home game of the season, the Bulldogs held on for a 55-49 win against Furman at the Pete Hanna Center.

"Our team has shown the capability of playing with anyone in the league this season," Tillette said. "The thing about this year is that you can say that same thing about basically any team in the conference. We play Furman on Friday and they were a tough opponent for us in our last home game. They are a very physical team and we need to be more physical and tougher, especially defensively."

Chattanooga (11-20, 5-13 SoCon) finished sixth in the North Division and will square off against Georgia Southern Friday at 1 p.m. Georgia Southern concluded the season as the No. 3 seed from the South Division.

The Mocs snapped a four-game losing streak Saturday and tallied their second victory in their last 13 contests. Chattanooga and Samford split the annual home-and-home series this season with both teams winning on their home court. The Bulldogs' victory occurred Jan. 14 in a regionally-televised game held at the Pete Hanna Center, 81-70.

On Saturday, the Mocs exploded for 57 points in the final period and were paced by Bell's 21 second-half points. All 21 of Bell's points came in the final half as Chattanooga's senior from Huntsville, Ala., turned in a 6-of-8 shooting performance from the field and a 5-of-8 outing from beyond the arc. In the first half, Bell finished 0-for-3 from the field.

"We've had the worst of all worlds," Tillette said. "It's true that Keegan Bell was hitting shots against us, but he also had six assists in the second half, so we couldn't keep him in front of us either. They also got a bunch of offensive rebounds, which means that we didn't do too much on the defensive end at all. Chattanooga is a talented team and they were picked to win our division for a reason."

Following a pair of free throws from Tyler Hood, Samford held an 11-point lead, 40-29, at the 19:43 mark in the second half. Since that point, Chattanooga ended the game on a 57-38 run.

Saturday's contest was tied at 55-55 with 10:30 remaining when Bell sandwiched a Hood free throw with back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Mocs a 61-56 lead with 8:58 left to play. Following a pair of free throws from Chattanooga's Dontay Hampton and a jumper from the Bulldogs' Raijon Kelly, Bell knocked down another 3-point basket to make the score 66-58 at the 5:58 mark.

Despite Bell's hot shooting, Samford never gave up down the stretch and used free throws from Drew Windler and Hood, as well as a jump shot from Kelly to trim Chattanooga's lead down to 66-62 with 4:04 remaining.

After the final media timeout, the Mocs answered the Bulldogs' mini-run with a free throw from Z. Mason, a 3-pointer from Ricky Taylor and a pair of free throws from Bell. At that point, Chattanooga forced Samford to foul as the Mocs led 72-62 with 1:50 left to play.

Down the stretch, the Bulldogs were able to connect on a pair of 3-pointers from Will Cook and a deep triple from Kelly, but Chattanooga knocked down 14 free throws in the final two minutes to hang on for the 86-78 win.

Samford finished with four players scoring in double figures and were led in scoring by Kelly who tallied a career-high 21 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field. The Bulldogs' true freshman from St. Paul, Minn., also grabbed five rebounds and made a number of jaw-dropping drives to the basket.

Hood added 16 points for the Bulldogs in his home state of Tennessee. The Kingston native shot 4-of-11 from the field and finished 5-of-6 from the free-throw line. Cook, Samford's high-flying sophomore from Dallas, Texas, registered the first double-double of his collegiate career Saturday with 15 points and 11 rebounds. He also knocked down a trio of 3-point baskets.

The Bulldogs' Windler tallied 13 points, five rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal against Chattanooga.

The Mocs were led by Bell's 21 points, while Jahmal Burroughs followed with 19 points and seven rebounds. Chattanooga's 6-foot-6 senior from New Orleans proved to be a force in the paint Saturday and finished a perfect 8-for-8 from the field. Fellow seniors Omar Wattad and Taylor added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Samford closed out the first half with a 19-4 run and took a 38-29 advantage into the locker room. During the Bulldogs' scoring stretch, Windler tallied eight-straight points and both Cook and Connor Miller drained key 3-point baskets. Kelly also added a deep jumper from the right baseline and a free throw from Jeffrey Merritt.

Windler paced Samford's offensive attack with 10 first-half points, while Kelly added eight and Hood, Miller and Cook all chipped in with five points apiece.

Chattanooga started the game on fire and led by as many as nine points in the first half. The Mocs opened Saturday's contest with two layups from Burroughs and three deep 3-point baskets from Wattad. Following Wattad's third 3-pointer of the first four minutes of play, Chattanooga held an early 13-4 lead at the 16:54 mark.

"We talked all week about getting off to a better start, but then again tonight, we didn't," said Tillette. "We put together a good run late in the first half and we had opportunities to increase our lead even further. We just didn't capitalize on our chances and we couldn't put 40 minutes together."

The Mocs' leading scorer at the half was Burroughs with 10. He was followed offensively by Wattad's nine and four from Mason.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Friday at 5 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs square off against the Furman Paladins in the opening round of the 2012 SoCon Tournament to be held at the newly-renovated U.S. Cellular Center in downtown Asheville, N.C.

2012 SoCon Tournament Bracket