Box Score
Samford Stats

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- The Samford University basketball team trailed by just three points, 47-44, early in the second half, but the homestanding Wake Forest Demon Deacons closed out Sunday's game with a 39-24 run to earn the 86-68 non-conference victory over the Bulldogs in front of 6,973 fans at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
 
"In the first half, I thought we did a good job of getting ball movement," said Samford head coach Scott Padgett. "If we didn't have the open shot, we did a good job of moving the ball around until we found the open guy. Unfortunately, in the second half, we didn't quite do it that way and we only finished with three assists in the half, which is not nearly what we want."
 
In the loss, Samford (3-8) finished with two players scoring in double figures. Senior forward Tyler Hood paced the Bulldogs with 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field, while sophomore guard Nnamdi Enechionyia tallied 12 of his 15 points in the first half.
 
Combined, Samford's Hood and Enechionyia drained seven 3-point baskets and finished 7-of-14 from beyond the arc.
 
Enechionyia, the Bulldogs' 6-foot-6 sharpshooter from Springfield, Virginia, went a perfect 3-for-3 from long range Sunday. He also pulled down two rebounds, but committed four turnovers in 28 minutes of playing time. Hood finished 4-of-11 from 3-point range and pulled down a rebound in 28 minutes of game action.
 
Samford shot nearly 60 percent from the field in the first half and knocked down five 3-point baskets in the opening 20 minutes of play.
 
In the second half, the Bulldogs only connected on 37.9 of their attempts from the floor and went 3-of-12 from long range.
 
"I thought we looked much better offensively in the first half," Padgett said. "We put in a lot of extra work this past week and I thought it was paying off, but then in the second half, we had a setback and struggled on that end of the court."
 
On the first possession of the second half, Hood swished a 3-point field goal to trim Wake Forest's lead to 47-44 with 19:43 left in the game. The Demon Deacons then used a 3-pointer from Mitchell Wilbekin and back-to-back layups from Devin Thomas to quickly extend its lead back out to 10 points at 54-44.
 
Thomas, Wake Forest's 6-foot-9 junior from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, registered his second-best scoring output of the season with a game-high 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field. He also pulled down a game-high eight rebounds and handed out a pair of assists.
 
Thomas' best scoring performance of the season occurred in his 2014-15 opener against UNC Asheville with 25.
 
Wake Forest shot a steady 43.8 percent from the floor in the second half and extended its lead to 71-54 with a layup from Dinos Mitoglou.
 
Late in the game, Samford would trim the Demon Deacons lead to 72-60 following a 3-point basket from Enechionyia, but Wake Forest answered with a pair of free throws from Codi Miller-McIntyre and a deep 3-pointer from Rondale Watson.
 
The Demon Deacons continued to hold off the Bulldogs' late rallies and eventually posted their 86-68 non-conference decision.
 
"They only took six more shots from the field tonight, but they shot 32 free throws," said Padgett. "They had a lot of extra possessions and when that happens, this is what you end up with at the end of the night."
 
Wake Forest controlled the intangibles Sunday and shot 21 more free throws than the Bulldogs. The Demon Deacons went to the line 32 times, compared to 11 for Samford.
 
Additionally, Wake Forest finished ahead in the following categories: points in the paint, 48-28; points off turnovers, 23-11; second-chance points, 16-8, and fast-break points, 22-2.
 
"Our performance on the boards tonight killed us," Padgett said. "We gave up 19 offensive rebounds and that is huge. For some reason we played Pittsburgh and Louisiana Tech even on the boards in those games, but then we were dominated here tonight. We need to do a much better job of rebounding the ball and not committing turnovers."
 
Samford true freshman Christen Cunningham scored nine points and dished out a game-high six assists Sunday, while fellow frosh Evan Taylor came off the bench to drop in eight quick points and grab five rebounds in only 18 minutes.
 
"We'll go look at this tape and figure out what's going on, and then we have another big road game at Presbyterian on Tuesday," said Padgett. "Hopefully, we'll be able to be more consistent across the board. We show signs of playing very well at times, but then we also go through times when we are really struggling. We have yet to put together a full game this season."
 
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Tuesday at 6 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs conclude their three-game road swing against the Presbyterian College Blue Hose in a non-conference contest to be held at the Templeton Center in Clinton, South Carolina.

Box Score
Samford Stats