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NACOGDOCHES, Texas -- The Samford University basketball team will complete play in its longest road stretch in over 25 years Tuesday as the Bulldogs square off against the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks in a 2013 First Bank and Trust Company Roundball Showcase game to be held at William R. Johnson Coliseum.
 
Samford (1-5) enters the contest in the midst of a six-game road stretch. Since defeating Martin Methodist on Nov. 8, the Bulldogs have played consecutive road games at UT Arlington, No. 23 Indiana, Louisiana-Monroe, East Tennessee State and Western Kentucky. Samford's current road trip is the longest in school history since a similar six-game stretch from Jan. 28 - Feb. 8, 1988.
 
During their six-game road trip in 1988, the Bulldogs played consecutive games at Stetson, Georgia Southern, New Orleans (UNO), Centenary, Houston Baptist and Lamar.
 
On Saturday, in Samford's most recent outing, the Bulldogs turned in their best performance of the 2013-14 campaign, but dropped a heartbreaking 67-64 loss on the road against the WKU Hilltoppers.
 
With just 1.3 seconds remaining, Samford trailed WKU, 67-64, but had possession of the ball at midcourt. Junior Connor Miller took the ball out of bounds for the Bulldogs and fed a cross-court pass to Raijon Kelly where he picked up the ball just across the timeline.
 
Kelly gathered the pass on the right side of the court, took a quick dribble and lofted a possible game-tying attempt that nearly found the bottom of the net. Kelly's last-second shot bounced off the side of the rim as the Hilltoppers held on for a three-point victory, 67-64.
 
Samford used a stellar defensive performance midway through the second half to take a 51-43 advantage over the Hilltoppers with 8:08 remaining to play in the game. The Bulldogs forced WKU into eight turnovers during the five-minute stretch and embarked upon a key 12-0 run.
 
From 17:44 to 11:59 in the second half, Samford didn't allow a single Hilltopper point and received baskets of its own from Kelly, Michael Bradley, Tim Williams and Brandon Hayman.
 
At the 7:54 mark in the second half, the Hilltoppers' T.J. Price knocked down a runner and then a deep 3-point basket to trim Samford's lead to 51-48 with 6:18 remaining in the game.
 
On the next two possessions, WKU's George Fant scored four straight points to tie the score at 52-52 before Brandon Price connected on a 3-point basket to give the Hilltoppers a 55-52 advantage.
 
Down the stretch, Samford's Isaiah Williams would tie the score again at 57-57, while Tyler Hood and Kelly would score layups to trim the WKU advantage to one point. With four seconds in the game, T.J. Price made a pair of free throws to give the Hilltoppers their 67-64 lead before Kelly's final game-tying attempt.
 
Stephen F. Austin (3-2) has also been in the midst of a long road stretch.
 
Since opening the season with a 90-64 home victory against Texas-Tyler on Nov. 8, the Lumberjacks have played four-consecutive road games at Texas State, Texas, Marshall and ETSU. SFA went 2-2 during the stretch with a win at Texas State, 64-57, and an overtime triumph at Marshall, 80-73.
 
SFA heads into Tuesday's contest with aspirations of bouncing back from a 66-58 defeat at ETSU on Saturday.
 
In the loss, junior Jacob Parker recorded his second straight double-double performance. The double-double was the third of the season for both Parker and the Lumberjacks. SFA's native of Bixby, Okla., finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds.
 
Parker shot 8-of-14 from the field and 1-for-3 from beyond the arc, while making both of his free throws in 33 minutes played. The 12 rebounds was a career-high for the forward, breaking his previous mark of 11, which he set one game prior at Marshall on Nov. 21.
 
At ETSU, Parker was one of two Lumberjacks to score in double-figures, joined by senior Deshaunt Walker. The native of Silver Springs, Md., recorded 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting. Three of the Walker's five made buckets came from beyond the arc in 19 minutes off the bench. Walker accounted for 13 of SFA's 16 points off the bench.
 
SFA took an early lead and pushed it to as high as 10 points (18-8) on a made 3-pointer from Walker with 11:10 remaining in the first half, but ETSU then scored 16-consecutive points to take a 24-18 advantage before eventually taking a 32-26 lead into halftime.
 
The lead at the break would hold for the Buccaneers, as the Lumberjacks were only able to pull within four points on two separate occasions in the second half, en route to the 66-58 final.
 
The Bulldogs will face SFA on the hardwood for the first time in school history Tuesday. SFA is a member of the Southland Conference, boasts an enrollment of 12,845 and was founded in 1921.
 
Tuesday will mark Samford's second game in Texas in exactly two weeks. On Nov. 12, the Bulldogs began their current six-game road trek in the Lonestar State versus UT Arlington.
 
Samford placed a pair of Bulldogs on the Preseason All-Southern Conference Team this season, which was released on Oct. 17.
 
Last year, Kelly earned all-league honors, while teammate Tim Williams was named the league's Freshman of the Year. In 2012-13, Kelly became Samford's all-time, single-season leader in assists as he set the school record with 151 and surpassed former Bulldog-great Ervin Terry's previous-best total of 140.
 
Kelly finished the campaign ranked 12th in the SoCon in scoring at 14.1 points per game and was ranked second in the SoCon with 151 assists for an average of 4.7 per game.
 
Williams, the Bulldogs' talented 6-foot-8 sophomore from Chicago, Ill., is coming off a stellar freshman campaign at Samford. In 2012-13, he led all conference freshmen in both scoring (14.2 ppg) and rebounding (7.1 pg). Overall, he finished the season ranked sixth in the league in rebounding and 11th in scoring.
 
The Bulldogs have made at least one 3-point field goal in 663-consecutive games. The last time that Samford did not make a 3-point basket was on Jan. 19, 1991, against UTSA.
 
The Bulldogs' streak of having made at least two 3-pointers in a game was snapped on Dec. 13, 2008, against Saint Louis when Samford turned in a dismal 1-for-14 performance from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs' streak of 476-straight games with two 3-pointers began Feb. 8, 1992.
 
UNLV is the national leader in consecutive games with a 3-point field goal as the Running Rebels have made a 3-point basket in 866-straight games dating back to the 1986-87 season. Vanderbilt (860) and Kentucky (857) are the only other two schools that have made at least one 3-point basket since the rule was adopted prior to the 1986 campaign.
 
Following Tuesday's road contest at SFA, Samford will next be in action Friday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs return home to face the Campbellsville University Tigers in the final game of the 2013 First Bank and Trust Company Roundball Showcase to be held at the Pete Hanna Center.

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