Feb. 4, 2012

Box Score

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The Samford University basketball team battled for its sixth victory in eight games Saturday as the Bulldogs earned a nail-biting 66-61 overtime triumph in Southern Conference play against the Wofford Terriers in front of 2,012 raucous fans at Benjamin Johnson Arena.

"This was definitely another gutsy win for us today," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "Last year, when we played here, we lost by 38 points so this is a very tough place to play. This was a very long road trip for us and I have to give our guys a lot of credit for playing until the very end and pulling out a huge win in overtime. I'm really proud of them and how they've been able to turn this season around."

With the win, Samford (9-14, 6-6 SoCon) ended a five-game losing streak versus Wofford (15-9, 8-4 SoCon) and snapped the Terriers' six-game winning streak on the season. Saturday's loss marked Wofford's first loss at home since a 72-69 setback against Davidson on Dec. 1.

"I can't say enough how hard it is to win against Wofford on the road," Tillette said. "They were 9-1 at home this season heading into today's game and their only loss came against Davidson. This is a very difficult environment to play in and their fans are always loud. So, this was a great accomplishment for our team and I'm very proud of how our guys were able to fight through the adversity."

Samford swept its SoCon road trip this week and moved to .500 in conference play this season. Since opening the 2011-12 campaign with an 0-4 league record, the Bulldogs have been victorious in six of their last eight outings. Samford's recent wins include triumphs against Chattanooga, Elon, Georgia Southern, Davidson, Appalachian State and Wofford.

With 3:11 remaining in regulation Saturday, the Bulldogs trailed Wofford by seven points, 54-47. The Terriers had possession of the ball and were looking to extend their lead to nine. On the play, Wofford's Brad Loesing caught a pass in the middle of the lane before Samford's Jeffrey Merritt stripped him of the ball for a key steal.

On the next possession, Merritt drained his second key 3-point basket of the half to shift momentum of the game and trim Wofford's lead to 54-50. Merritt finished Saturday's contest with 10 points and six rebounds. He also connected on a pair of crucial 3-pointers in the final six minutes of regulation.

Following Merritt's key 3-point basket, the Bulldogs' Raijon Kelly scored on a leaner in the lane and Will Cook cut to the basket for a right-handed layup to even the score at 54-54 with 40 seconds left to play.

On Samford's game-tying bucket from Cook, the Bulldogs' Merritt started the possession by posting up on the left block. Merritt drew a double team from both of the Terriers' big men and found Cook wide-open cutting to the rim from the right flank. Cook finished the contest with 11 points and eight rebounds.

Samford scored the final seven points of regulation Saturday to force overtime. The game marked only the Bulldogs' second overtime contest of the season, and their first win of the year. Earlier this year, Samford dropped a heart-breaking 83-78 overtime decision at home against Mercer on Dec. 7.

Following Cook's game-tying layup, Wofford still had 34 seconds remaining to attempt a game-winning shot.

On the final possession of regulation, the Terriers' Kevin Giltner faked a last-second shot from the left corner. Once in the air, Wofford's senior sharp-shooter found Lee Skinner cutting to the basket. Skinner caught the pass in stride and laid it up from the right side. The ball caromed off the backboard, rolled around the rim and eventually came off the front lip.

Samford's hopes of playing extra time were still intact following Skinner's miss, but then Wofford's Karl Cochran came flying in from the left block to attempt the tip-in. With four seconds remaining, Cochran tapped the ball up towards the basket, it rolled onto the top of the rim, hung tantalizingly on the front for what seemed to be two seconds before it rolled out and into the arms of Merritt to send the game to overtime.

The Bulldogs outscored the Terriers 12-7 in overtime to tally the 66-61 victory. Samford never trailed in the extra period and received four points apiece from both Drew Windler and Kelly.

"With all of the lead changes and everything, there was so much energy in the building and I think both teams were really able to feed off it," said Windler. "It was a well-played game today and we really battled hard to come back. We had guys step it up and make huge plays and both ends of the court. This was a great win and we need to take this momentum and continue to work hard and get better for the remainder of the season."

With 45 seconds left in overtime and the Bulldogs' leading, 60-59, Kelly knocked down a key turn-around jumper to extend Samford's advantage to 62-59. Wofford's Loesing then forced up an off-balance, behind-the-head, reverse layup on the next possession that bounced directly to Cook for the key stop.

Once Cook grabbed the rebound, he quickly passed it ahead to Kelly who found Windler streaking down the court for a thunderous two-handed dunk to give Samford a decisive 64-59 advantage with 27 seconds left to play.

Windler's dunk gave him 16 points in the game on 5-of-12 shooting from the field. He also pulled down six rebounds and finished 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.

"That dunk felt great," said Windler. "Wofford is always such a tough place to play and it was huge for us to get this win today. We're playing with a lot of confidence right now and this was a big week for us to sweep the road trip."

Samford finished with five players scoring in double figures for the second time this season. On Jan. 28, the Bulldogs also tallied five players in double-figure scoring as they knocked off first-place Davidson at home, 77-74.

"All five of our starters scored in double figures tonight and I thought they all played really well," Tillette said. "We definitely asked them to play a lot of minutes today, but they stood to the challenge and were able to get the job done. I'm really happy with this win. It's great to be able to sweep a conference road trip and now we head back home to get ready for key games against UNCG and Elon next week."

Kelly, the Bulldogs' explosive true freshman from St. Paul, Minn., led Samford with 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field. He also tallied four rebounds, four assists, three steals in a career-high 42 minutes of playing time. Kelly once again proved to be clutch from the free-throw line as he knocked down both attempts from the charity stripe in overtime.

Wofford finished with four players scoring in double figure and were paced offensively by Loesing's 17 points on 7-of-19 shooting. The Terriers' senior from Cincinnati, Ohio, also handed out a game-high seven assists.

Giltner added 14 points for Wofford, while Skinner and Cochran dropped in 12 and 10 points, respectively. The Terriers only shot 37.1 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc. Samford knocked down 46.3 percent of its shot attempts and finished 6-of-18 from 3-point range.

Samford handed Wofford its first loss of the season in which it was leading at the half. Heading into Saturday's game, the Terriers were 13-0 when holding an advantage at the intermission.

Wofford took a slight 29-28 advantage into the half as Loesing converted on a driving right-handed layup to beat the buzzer. The score gave the Terriers their one-point halftime advantage as well as game-high nine points at the intermission.

Samford played stifling defense in the opening period and held Wofford without a point for nearly six minutes. From the 10:03 mark in the first half until 4:26, the Terriers were stuck at 18 points. Wofford finally snapped its five-minute, 37-second drought with a pair of free throws from Skinner.

Skinner, the Terriers' freshman forward from Lombard, Ill., tallied eight points in the first half on a 3-for-3 performance from the field.

Samford was paced offensively in the opening period by both Windler and Cook with seven points apiece. The Bulldogs also received four points each from Tyler Hood, Merritt and Kelly.

In the first half, Samford shot 50 percent from the field (12-of-24), but only connected on 2-of-7 attempts from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs' 28.6 3-point shooting percentage was topped by Wofford's first-half mark of 35.7 percent. The Terriers knocked down 5-of-14 shot attempts from long range.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Thursday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs begin a critical two-game North Division homestand against the UNCG Spartans to be held at the Pete Hanna Center.