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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- In the opening game of the 2014 Maui on the Mainland Invitational held at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock on Saturday, the Samford University basketball team nearly overcame a lackluster defensive performance to rally past the Cal State Northridge (CSUN) Matadors at the Jack Stephens Center.
 
Instead, CSUN shot a sizzling 61.4 percent from the field and held on for the 79-72 win.
 
"I think our team really needs to reevaluate its strengths and remember what it's supposed to be," said Samford head coach Scott Padgett. "We played really good in the first half against Austin Peay, but since then we just haven't played very well at all. Our effort has gone down and today our effort wasn't even really there until the last seven or eight minutes of the game."
 
Samford (1-3) drained 10 3-point field goals Saturday and was paced by senior Tyler Hood's 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field. Hood, the Bulldogs' 6-foot-6 forward from Lenoir City, Tennessee, finished 5-of-7 from beyond the arc and added four rebounds in 31 minutes of playing time.
 
"I thought Tyler Hood had a really good game shooting the ball," Padgett said. "I also thought we did a decent job on the offensive boards and we turned them over 17 times, but we turned the ball over 17 times as well. This was the first time that I was truly disappointed in our guys and how they played this season."
 
The Bulldogs' Brandon Roberts and Christen Cunningham also tallied double-figures in scoring against CSUN (2-2) and combined to shoot 10-of-25 (40 percent) from the floor Saturday.
 
Roberts poured in a season-high four 3-points baskets in the contest and registered 16 points on 5-of-15 shooting from the floor, while Cunningham tallied 11 points, four assists and a rebound. Cunningham, Samford's talented true freshman from Georgetown, Kentucky, registered a 5-of-10 shooting performance from the field in 28 minutes of action.
 
Behind a trio of early 3-pointers from Hood, Samford jumped out to a quick six-point lead, 14-8, at the 15:06 mark. The Bulldogs held their advantage in the period for approximately four minutes, but then CSUN used an 11-0 run en route to taking a 37-31 lead into the half.
 
"The effort in our press was lackadaisical," said Padgett. "We didn't get after them like I would have liked to until late, but at that point it was too late to turn it on."
 
The Matadors outscored Samford, 24-4, in points in the paint in the opening 20 minutes of play.
 
CSUN was triggered throughout Saturday's contest by seniors Stephen Maxwell and Stephan Hicks. The Matadors' duo combined to scored 48 of the team's 79 points and shot 16-of-22 from the floor. Both players finished 8-of-11 from the field and tallied 24 points apiece.
 
"This was a very frustrating game for us, because for the second time in a row, we did a very poor job of sticking to the game plan and shutting down the guys that we needed to," Padgett said. "We knew what Hicks wanted to do with the ball and how we wanted to shut him down, but guys didn't listen to the game plan. Maxwell's a great player, and the game plan was to help on him every time down the court, but that didn't happen either."
 
Early in the second half, CSUN used an 11-5 run to build its advantage to 48-36 with 16:24 remaining in the game. The Matadors would later use a layup from Devonte Elliott to garner their largest lead of the day, 58-45, at the 7:09 mark.
 
Samford, despite falling behind by double digits, never gave up down the stretch.
 
The Bulldogs used quick 3-pointers from Roberts and Hood, as well as layups from Michael Bradley and Roberts to trim CSUN's lead all the way down to 60-55 with 4:55 remaining in the contest.
 
Bradley, Samford's 6-foot-10 senior from Chattanooga, Tennessee, finished the game with six points and a team-high seven rebounds.
 
Down the stretch, the Matadors knocked down 14 free throws in the final four minutes of action and eventually held off the resurgent Bulldogs. Samford again trimmed the lead to five, 75-70, following three free throws from sophomore guard Nnamdi Enechionyia, but couldn't get over the hump as CSUN held on to the 79-72 win.
 
"We'll get the opportunity to redeem ourselves tomorrow, but that's just it, it's an opportunity and our guys need to settle in and get locked in to what they do," Padgett said. "We're not going to score 90 points and beat teams offensively. If we're going to win, it's going to be with defense. They shot 61 percent against us today. To me, that's one of the most embarrassing things since I've been a coach."
 
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Sunday at 3:30 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs conclude play in the two-day, four-team event against either Missouri-Kansas City or Arkansas-Little Rock. The contest will be held at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's Jack Stephens Center.

Box Score
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