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CULLOWHEE, N.C. – In its second straight heartbreaking overtime loss, the Samford University basketball team was defeated by the Western Carolina Catamounts, 56-54, in the Bulldogs' regular-season finale held at the Ramsey Center.
 
“This one hurts,” said Samford head coach Bennie Seltzer. “This whole weekend hurts, because we worked really hard to put ourselves in position to win basketball games, and the toughness of getting that one last stop always seems to get away from us. We're going to continue to work and continue to get better, although we're guaranteed just one more game. We're going to go there Friday and play with everything that we have.”
 
With the loss, Samford (11-20, 9-9 SoCon) remained winless all-time at Western Carolina (13-18, 9-9 SoCon) and fell to 0-6 when playing in Cullowhee. Five of the Bulldogs' losses at Western Carolina have been played at the Ramsey Center.
 
Samford finished the regular season as the No. 5 seed in the SoCon standings. Therefore, the Bulldogs will begin play in next week's SoCon Tournament Friday at 1 p.m. (CST) against the 12^th-seeded Furman Paladins.
 
The meeting will mark the third straight opening-round matchup between the Bulldogs and Paladins. In both 2011 and 2012, Furman knocked Samford out of the SoCon Tournament in the opening round of competition.
 
On Saturday, Western Carolina's game-winning shot came courtesy of true freshman Mike Brown. With 3.4 seconds remaining in overtime, the Catamounts held possession on the left sideline with the game knotted at 54-54.
 
Western Carolina's inbounds pass went to the top of the key to Brown where the Charlotte native took a quick dribble to his left and lifted for a 14-foot jumper with a Samford defender in his face.
 
Brown's buzzer-beater hit the front of the rim, bounced high into the air and caromed off the glass. The ball then hit the right side of the rim, rolled back to the base of the bucket and hung there tantalizingly for at least a second before dropping hopelessly through the net.
 
“I have to give credit to Brown, he hit the shot,” said Seltzer. “That was a position that we didn't want to be in, especially late in the game.”
 
With Western Carolina's win, the Catamounts moved to 8-3 all-time against Samford and secured the No. 6 seed in next week's SoCon Tournament. In the first round of play, Western Carolina will square off against the No. 11 seed, which will be either Wofford or The Citadel.
 
“Hats off to Western Carolina and their players,” Seltzer said. “They played today without one of their best players in Trey Sumler and their other guys stepped up and made big plays for them.”
 
Trey Sumler, the Catamounts' junior All-SoCon standout and second-leading scorer in the SoCon, was a late scratch prior to Saturday's game. Western Carolina's 6-foot-2 guard did not play due to a coach's decision.
 
On Samford's final possession of overtime, the Bulldogs' Tyler Hood was whistled for a phantom offensive foul on the baseline. On the play, Samford's sophomore forward from Lenoir City, Tenn., gathered a perfectly-placed entry pass on the right block and spun to his left for an easy layup.
 
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, Hood was called for his fourth foul of the game and Western Carolina took possession with 16 seconds remaining.
 
With approximately three seconds left in overtime, Samford's Tim Williams gave a valiant effort to nearly pick off a pass on the left baseline, but the ball careened out of bounds to give the Catamounts their final possession.
 
Williams, the Bulldogs' 6-foot-8 true freshman from Chicago, Ill., finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds and registered his sixth double-double of the season. The double-double also proved to be Williams' second of the year against Western Carolina. On Jan. 17, Samford's big man turned in a 16-point, 10-rebound game at home versus the Catamounts.
 
Along with Williams' 13 points, the Bulldogs also received 13 points apiece from Raijon Kelly and Hood. Hood finished the game shooting 6-of-12 from the floor and pulled down four rebounds in 35 minutes of playing time.
 
Kelly, Samford's leading scorer this season at 14.5 points per game, finished 6-of-14 from the field and handed out four assists. The Bulldogs' 6-foot-4 sophomore guard also grabbed four boards and logged 42 minutes of playing time.
 
Saturday's back-and-forth game featured 12 lead changes and consisted of 20 ties. Neither team led by more than four points throughout the contest as Samford played its second overtime game in three days.
 
On Thursday, the Bulldogs dropped a heartbreaker at Appalachian State, 70-67, in double overtime.
 
Deep in regulation, Samford's Kelly knocked down a baseline jumper to tie the score at 50-50 with 4:09 left on the clock. From that point on, neither team was able to score for the remainder of regulation as the game went to overtime tied at 50-50.
 
The final 30 seconds of regulation included a pair of frantic possible game-winning attempts.
 
On the Bulldogs' final possession, sophomore Connor Miller drove down the right side of the lane and barely missed a five-foot runner that rolled around the rim and dropped out. Miller's attempt was contested by a pair of Western Carolina defenders and included a large amount of contact and physicality.
 
After Miller's potential game-winner rolled off the rim, the Catamounts screamed down the court and missed a 3-pointer from James Sinclair, as well as a jumper from Brown.
 
Neither team shot the ball well from 3-point range Saturday. Samford finished with its second-worst percentage of the season at 11.1, while Western Carolina went 4-of-17 from beyond the arc for a 23.5-percent outing.
 
The Bulldogs out-rebounded the Catamounts, 41-33, but committed five more turnovers, 14-9.
 
Western Carolina finished with three players reaching double figures and were led by Brandon Boggs and Tawaski King's 12 points apiece. Sinclair also added 10 points and eight rebounds for the Catamounts.
 
Despite only shooting 7.7 percent (1-of-13) from 3-point range in the first half, Samford took a 26-25 advantage into the locker room. The Bulldogs' Hood led all scorers with nine points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field in the opening period, while Clide Geffrard, Jr., followed with seven points on 2-of-5 shooting from the floor.
 
Samford turned in a 42.3-percent shooting performance from the field in the first half, while the Bulldogs' defense limited Western Carolina to an 8-of-24 outing for a 33.3-percent mark. In the opening period, both teams combined to shoot 13 percent (3-of-23) from beyond the arc.
 
Defensively, the Bulldogs held Western Carolina without a field goal for the final five minutes of the first half. In the earlier meeting between the teams this season, Samford held the Catamounts scoreless for an eight-minute stretch.
 
There were five lead changes in the first half alone and the score was tied nine times in the opening 20 minutes of action.
 
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Friday at 1 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs begin play in the 2013 SoCon Tournament against the 12^th-seeded Furman Paladins. Next week's SoCon Tournament will be held at the U.S. Cellular Center in Asheville, N.C.

SoCon Tournament Bracket