Box Score
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- For a second straight year, Samford's Tim Williams opened the season in dominant fashion Friday as the Bulldogs' sophomore forward from Chicago, Ill., recorded a double-double with 19 points and 16 rebounds en route to a 79-62 victory over the Martin Methodist Redhawks.
 
In Samford's 2013-14 season-opener held at the Pete Hanna Center, Williams registered the seventh double-double of his young career and pulled down a career-high 16 rebounds.
 
Last year, as a true freshman, Williams scored a career-high 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the Bulldogs' hard-fought 75-64 season-opening loss at Austin Peay.
 
"I have to give a lot of credit to Martin Methodist," said Samford head coach Bennie Seltzer. "They are an extremely tough basketball team. They play the right way, they play hard and they share the basketball. We knew coming in that this would be a tough game for us. Down the stretch, our guys figured it out a little bit and we got some huge stops there in the second half."
 
Samford (1-0) led by as many as 11 points in the first half and took a 34-26 advantage into halftime.
 
Martin Methodist, which entered Friday's contest boasting a 2-0 record and a pair of road victories against Oakwood University and Fisk University, opened the second period with a 9-0 run and took a 35-34 advantage at the 17:17 mark. The Redhawks' D'Angelo Tucker connected on a pair of key buckets during Martin Methodist's second-half streak.
 
The teams battled back and forth midway through the final frame until Samford used a decisive 18-2 run to garner a 60-45 advantage and to put the game away. During their critical stretch, the Bulldogs' Jordan Capps scored seven points, Tim Williams added six and Raijon Kelly chipped in with five.
 
Capps, Samford's dynamic true freshman from Suwanee, Ga., finished the game with eight points, five rebounds, an assist and a steal in only 16 minutes of playing time. Fellow true freshman Isaiah Williams earned 27 minutes of action at the point guard position and finished with 16 points and five assists.
 
"Ultimately, I thought this was a pretty nice win for us," said Seltzer. "I'm very pleased. We are nowhere close to where we want to be, but we're heading in the right direction."
 
Following Samford's 18-2 run late in the second half, the Bulldogs never led by less than 10 points for the remainder of the game.
 
Samford out-rebounded the Redhawks, 46-37, including a 16-12 margin on the offensive end of the court. The Bulldogs' Tim Williams finished with seven offensive rebounds Friday.
 
"I don't want to seem as if I'm never satisfied, but I still think Tim is only scratching the surface of how good he can really be," Seltzer said. "I see where he had 16 rebounds tonight, but I can already remember three instances where he didn't even go after it. I mean 19 points and 16 rebounds are amazing stats and that's how he's going to have to play if we're going to win."
 
Kelly, Samford's First-Team All-Southern Conference performer, scored 14 points on 6-of-15 shooting from the field Friday and added five assists, four rebounds and a pair of steals. The Bulldogs' floor general from St. Paul, Minn., played a team-high 34 minutes, but also committed a team-high four turnovers.
 
"In the first half, I thought Raijon spent too much of his focus looking to score," said Seltzer. "He wasn't letting the game come to him, so I pulled him aside at halftime and told him to let it come to him. This year, he's not going to have to try to score every time down the court. In the second half, I thought he took some really good shots and that was a key for us tonight."
 
As a team, Samford shot 43.3 percent from the field and turned in a 31.8 mark from 3-point range. The Bulldogs limited Martin Methodist to a 36.7 shooting percentage from the field.
 
Samford junior Connor Miller logged 34 minutes of playing time and finished Friday's contest with seven points, three rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot. Tyler Hood, Brandon Roberts and Michael Bradley all finished with four points apiece.
 
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs travel to Arlington, Texas, for a key road contest versus the UT Arlington Mavericks to be held at the College Park Center.