Box Score
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Samford's Clide Geffrard, Jr., matched his career-high with 24 points Thursday, but the Bulldogs' second-half rally came up just short in a 63-62 home loss to the first-place Elon Phoenix in a hotly-contested Southern Conference battle held at the Pete Hanna Center.
 
“When you allow a team to shoot 67 percent in the first half and you spot them 14 points, especially a team that's as good as Elon, it's going to be tough to come back from,” said Samford head coach Bennie Seltzer. “We fought hard in the second half, but just came up one shot short.”
 
Samford's Raijon Kelly took the potential game-winning shot at the buzzer, but the sophomore guard's 18-foot jumper caromed off the right side of the rim as the Phoenix held on for the one-point win.
 
“We wanted to put the ball in Raijon's hands because he's our most talented scorer,” Seltzer said. “He was able to get a look and that's about all you can ask for when there's only eight seconds remaining and you have to go the length of the floor. We got what we wanted, it just didn't go down.”
 
Kelly, the Bulldogs' 6-foot-4 sophomore from St. Paul, Minn., handed out a career-high 11 assists Thursday and scored 17 points on 6-of-15 shooting to register the first double-double of his young collegiate career. Kelly also moved just six assists shy of tying Samford's all-time single-season assists record of 140, which was set by Ervin Terry in 1978.
 
“The shot felt good coming off my hand,” said Kelly. “The rotation felt good, but I wish I could have been a little more straight up and down with my form, but other than that everything felt good.”
 
With Thursday's loss, Samford (10-18, 8-7 SoCon) had its two-game winning streak snapped and moved to 7-3 all-time against Elon (19-8, 12-3 SoCon). The Bulldogs still hold their own destiny towards recording the fourth-and-final, first-round bye in the upcoming SoCon Tournament.
 
Davidson and Elon, which have both clinched their respective divisions, are locked in to the No. 1 and No. 2 bye positions, while College of Charleston, at 11-4 this season, has all but locked up the third spot. Samford, at 8-7 in SoCon play this year, holds a half-game lead over both Appalachian State and Western Carolina.
 
The Bulldogs will wrap up their regular-season schedule next weekend with road games at Appalachian State (Feb. 28) and Western Carolina (March 2).
 
“It's really amazing that we are still in this position considering how many close games that we just didn't finish off this season,” said Seltzer. “I'm excited that we're still in control of our destiny and that's good to know.”
 
With 26 seconds remaining in Thursday's contest, Kelly gave Samford a 62-61 advantage over Elon by knocking down a 14-foot jumper from the right corner of the lane.
 
The Phoenix then worked the game clock down to 8.2 seconds when Sebastian Koch found Ryley Beaumont on a back-door layup from the right baseline. The bucket gave Elon its final 63-62 lead, but set up Samford and Kelly for the possible last-second shot.
 
“We're not really sure about what happened on their final basket,” Seltzer said. “We haven't had a chance to watch the film yet, but they didn't do anything that we didn't know was coming. It's really hard for me to say what happened.”
 
Beaumount, the reigning SoCon Player of the Week, scored 14 points Thursday and pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds.
 
Samford and Elon finished with 27 rebounds apiece, as the Bulldogs' Tim Williams paced his squad with eight boards. Williams, Samford's 6-foot-8 true freshman forward from Chicago, Ill., also scored 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field.
 
The Bulldogs' Geffrard, Jr., turned in a stellar 9-of-13 shooting performance from the field Thursday and drained a career-high six 3-point baskets en route to tying his personal-best of 24 points. Samford's explosive true freshman native of Pompano Beach, Fla., added four rebounds, a steal and a blocked shot.
 
Elon's Jack Isenbarger paced the Phoenix with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the floor, while Tanner Samson added 11 points, four rebounds and three steals.
 
“We were really slow in our rotations to start the game,” Kelly said. “We tried to double their bigs down low and they were just zipping passes to open players and they can really shoot, so they made us pay for it.”
 
Samford looked a bit lethargic in the first half as Elon sprinted out of the gates to take an early 21-7 lead with 11:15 to play until the intermission. The Bulldogs then used a five straight points from Williams to trim the Phoenix's advantage to 22-15 with 8:07 remaining in the half.
 
Both teams battled back and forth for the remainder of the first period as Elon took a 38-30 lead into the locker room.
 
Samford opened the second half on a 16-3 run and took its largest lead of the game, 46-41, at the 14:07 mark in the final period. The Bulldogs' streak was buoyed by a pair of 3-pointers from both Geffrard, Jr., and Kelly.
 
After Samford's scoring stretch, Elon answered the rally with a 13-2 run of its own to retake the lead at 54-48.
 
The Bulldogs' Geffrard, Jr., knocked down a huge 3-point basket at the 5:26 mark to cut the Phoenix's advantage to 59-56. Samford then built on the momentum to take their late 61-60 advantage with a pair of free throws from Williams and Kelly's clutch jumper.
 
Elon shot a sizzling 52 percent from the field Thursday, but Samford did even better from 3-point range at 60 percent (9-of-15). Geffrard, Jr., finished 6-of-8 from beyond the arc, while Kelly was perfect at 3-for-3.
 
The Phoenix's Samson, Isenbarger and Koch all knocked down a trio of 3-point baskets apiece.
 
“We played better in the second half, but we're not a moral victory type of team,” Seltzer said. “That's not why we play. We play to win, so we've never looked at a loss as a good loss. There's no such thing within our program. I actually feel very terrible right now, because we lost this game and ultimately it's all about winning.”
 
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs play host to the UNCG Spartans in a momentous home finale to be held at the Pete Hanna Center.