Box Score
Box Score
Updated Stats

NACOGDOCHES, Texas -- Samford true freshmen guards Brandon Roberts and Isaiah Williams combined to score 34 points Tuesday, but the Bulldogs' basketball team dropped a 98-78 decision on the road against the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks in a 2013 First Bank and Trust Company Roundball Showcase contest held at William R. Johnson Coliseum.
 
"This was a tough loss for us tonight," said Samford head coach Bennie Seltzer. "We hate to lose and I know that we are going to bounce back from this and work that much harder. We can make any excuse that we want about this road trip, but this tough stretch will prepare us for our conference. We're definitely battle-tested and road-tested, so hopefully this will make us better in the long run."
 
Tuesday's matchup marked the conclusion of a six-game road trip for Samford (1-6). The exhaustive stretch included six games in 15 days and encompassed five different states as well as 5,050 miles of travel. The road streak proved to be the Bulldogs' longest since Feb. 8, 1988.
 
Roberts, Samford's explosive native of Decatur, Ala., scored a career-high 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field and knocked down a trio of 3-point baskets. Roberts led four Bulldogs in double-figure scoring as junior Connor Miller added a season-high 16, while Isaiah Williams and Tim Williams finished with 14 and 11, respectively.
 
Jordan Capps, Samford's talented junior from Suwanee, Ga., registered six points and six rebounds as 43 of the team's 78 points were scored by true freshmen.
 
"We love our younger players, but we know that we're also going to have to live with a lot of their mistakes," Seltzer said. "Brandon had a coming-out party tonight, but I told him that 20 points is good, but it's nothing great. We still need to be tougher and we need to stop people on the defensive end of the court. That's what we didn't do tonight. We need to have more pride on defense."
 
With Tuesday's victory, Stephen F. Austin (4-2) extended its home winning streak to 17-consecutive games. Last year, the Lumberjacks climbed their way to a 27-5 overall record and won the Southland Conference regular-season championship.
 
Stephen F. Austin returned six key members from last year's squad and junior Jacob Parker led the team with 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field Tuesday. Parker, who only scored four points in the first half, exploded for 17 in the final 20 minutes of play. He proved to be a perfect 6-of-6 from the field and 5-of-5 from the charity stripe in the second period.
 
"Parker is their best player and he's definitely their toughest player," said Seltzer. "Right now, there's a huge learning curve with our team. We have a young team, but that's not an excuse by any means. We have to play tougher and this was a treacherous road trip. Right now, we need to go back to the lab, go back to work and continue to build toughness."
 
Samford trailed by as many as 17 points in the first half, but battled back to within 36-35 with 1:53 remaining in the opening period.
 
"There were three occasions where we cut their lead to one point, but then on all three occasions we stopped their initial shot, but they were able to get the offensive rebound and score on the put-back," Seltzer said. "Our three keys were defensive rebounds, taking care of the basketball and containing Parker, and we didn't do a good job on any of them tonight."
 
The Bulldogs' early comeback was initiated by Roberts who scored 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting in the first half. Roberts drained his first three 3-pointers of the game and quickly surpassed his previous career-high of six points at the 4:57 mark in the opening period.
 
Freshmen guards scored 23 of the Bulldogs' 37 first-half points as Samford went into the locker room trailing SFA, 43-37.
 
Isaiah Williams, who made the third start of his budding collegiate career Tuesday, scored 10 points on a 4-of-4 shooting performance in the first half. The Bulldogs' talented floor general also handed out a trio of assists in the opening 20 minutes of action.
 
Despite a tough start, Samford outshot SFA, 54.2 percent to 46.7 percent, from the field in the first half, but committed nine turnovers. The Bulldogs were also out-rebounded 17-12 in the opening period.
 
The Lumberjacks' Thomas Walkup paced his squad with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting in the early-going, while reigning Southland Conference Player of the Week Parker was held to four first-half points.
 
SFA opened the final half on a 9-2 run and built a 52-39 advantage with 17:59 remaining to play. The Lumberjacks would hold a consistent 13 to 19 point lead for the remainder of the second period until Justin Doston connected on a free throw with 39 seconds left to play to make the final score, 98-78.
 
SFA concluded Tuesday's game with five players scoring in double figures. Parker led the way with 21 points, while Desmond Haymon added 18 and Walkup chipped in with 15. Additionally, Deshaunt Walker came off the bench to notch 14 points as starting forward Nikola Gajic dropped in 11.
 
Both teams shot the ball well from the field Tuesday. Samford finished with a game-high 57.1 percent mark from the floor, while the Lumberjacks turned in a 55.7-percent total and out-rebounded the Bulldogs, 29-19.
 
"We shot 57 percent from the field, 53 percent from the 3-point line and 81 percent from the free-throw line and if you were to look at those stats, you would have thought we won the game," Seltzer said. "We definitely wouldn't have thought that we lost by 20, so we have some things that we need to get better at."
 
For the first time in his Samford career, sophomore Tim Williams was held without a rebound. The Bulldogs' 6-foot-8 forward from Chicago, Ill., entered Tuesday's contest averaging 9.5 boards per game this season.
 
SFA grabbed 12 offensive rebounds against Samford and outscored the Bulldogs, 19-5, in second-chance points. The Lumberjacks also won the points-off-turnovers battle, 23-6, and outscored Samford, 44-28, in points in the paint.
 
"We turned the ball over way too many times tonight," said Seltzer. "They are a tough team. They play tight man-to-man defense and they thrive off causing turnovers. They don't allow teams to run their offense, so I thought our guys did a good job of making plays."
 
The Bulldogs tallied a final 35-29 advantage in bench points.
 
The Samford University basketball team 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.

Box Score
Updated Stats