Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University basketball team showcased its new, fast-paced attacking style of play Saturday in a dominant 92-69 exhibition victory against the Clark Atlanta Panthers held at the Pete Hanna Center.
 
Samford jumped out to an early 12-3 lead in the contest and never looked back. The Bulldogs took their first double-digit advantage at 14:26 in the first half, 20-8, and never led by less than nine points for the remainder of the game.
 
"I thought it was great to see our guys go up against some different competition," said Samford head coach Scott Padgett. "We did a lot of really good things tonight, but we also did some bad things. We'll have some stuff to go over and to look at, but I'm really happy with the effort that we played with. They played hard for 40 minutes and that's what we're looking for."
 
Samford finished Saturday's win with three players scoring in double figures. Junior guard Darius Jones-Gibson led the way with 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field, while Brandon Roberts added 19 points in just 21 minutes of playing time. Roberts also drained two of the team's seven 3-point baskets in the game.


"If you would have asked me who the leading scorer was going to be before the game, I would have said Darius," Padgett said. "That's how it's kind of been in practice. Next up, I would have guess Brandon Roberts and he had an outstanding game tonight. He's really starting to relish his role and he can definitely score in bunches."
 
Jones-Gibson made a huge difference throughout the matchup as he also tallied three rebounds, three assists and two steals in only 20 minutes of playing time.
 
True freshman point guard Christen Cunningham started Saturday's game and looking like a seasoned pro on the hardwood. The Bulldogs' shifty 6-foot-2 native of Georgetown, Kentucky, scored 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field and handed out a game-high six assists. He also pulled down five rebounds and didn't commit a single turnover in 30 minutes of action.
 
"Christen did a great job for us tonight with six assists and no turnovers," said Padgett. "In his first competition as a Division I player, he was calm, cool and collected."
 
Samford took a steady 45-33 lead into halftime and quickly extended its advantage to 63-47 at the 13:18 mark.
 
Padgett's high-pressure, up-tempo, non-stop offensive attack should result in wearing down the Bulldogs' opponents this season. Samford outscored the Panthers by at least 11 points in each half Saturday.
 
The Bulldogs forced Clark Atlanta into 22 turnovers and scored 30 points off the Panthers' miscues. Samford's bench also registered a 46-22 advantage over Clark Atlanta's reserves. The Bulldogs played 14 student-athletes in the contest as 12 different people scored for Samford.
 
"I was very happy with our effort tonight," Padgett said. "I thought we did a great job of doing what I want to do and that's getting out, putting pressure on the other team, and in that regard, we got to see a lot of what we want to do."
 
Also playing key roles for the Bulldogs on Saturday were Tyler Hood, Nnamdi Enechionyia, Evan Taylor and Marcus Johnson.
 
Hood finished with eight points on 3-of-4 shooting from the field and added two steals, an assist and a blocked shot. Enechionyia, who is one of Samford's two returning starters from the end of last season, also scored eight points and pulled down a team-high six rebounds.
 
"I thought Nnamdi did a great job tonight," Padgett said. "He had six rebounds in 11 minutes and really plays a lot bigger than he is. Overall, the effort was great and this has been a good building-block game for us this season."
 
Evan Taylor, the Bulldogs' highly-touted true freshman from Cincinnati, Ohio, tallied seven points on 3-of-3 shooting from the floor and accumulated three rebounds and a trio of steals in 23 minutes of play. Johnson turned in a solid all-around game against Clark Atlanta with six points, four assists, two rebounds and a steal.
 
Samford recorded a 56.9 shooting percentage as a team, including a 38.9 mark from 3-point range. The Bulldogs limited the Panthers to 32.1 shooting from the field and a 4-of-21 (19 percent) mark from long range.
 
"I was really surprised with our free-throw shooting tonight," said Padgett. "In practice and in our scrimmages, that's been one of our strong points, but we only shot 59.4 percent tonight. I thought we shared the ball well and finished with 19 assists, as well as turning them over 22 times. Those numbers are going to win you a lot of games and the effort was the key."
 
Rounding out Samford's scoring was Michael Bradley (3), Gerald Smith (3), Brandon Hayman (2), Alex Peters (2) and Jamal Shabazz (1).
 
Clark Atlanta's Earl Lawrence paced his squad with 17 points, while Cornell Barnett added 13 and Johnell Young chipped in with 10.
 
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Friday at 6 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs begin their regular-season schedule on the road against the Purdue Boilermakers. The game will be held at Mackay Arena in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Box Score