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SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- The Samford University basketball team led Saturday's Southern Conference showdown on the road against the first-place Wofford Terriers by 10 points and 25 minutes of the game before the defending SoCon Tournament champs used a late 10-2 run to propel the Terriers to a final 72-62 decision held at Benjamin Johnson Arena.
 
"We had our chances again tonight," said Samford head coach Scott Padgett. "We missed two front ends of one-and-ones in the first half, and instead of being up 10 points, we could have been up by 14 or so. We missed several layups tonight by guys who normally make them, but I can't be any happier with their effort, especially after the performance we had Thursday night at The Citadel."
 
Samford (7-12, 0-6 SoCon) jumped out to an early 10-point lead, 20-10, midway through the first half as the Bulldogs took advantage of a 52.9-percent shooting performance in the opening 20 minutes of play. Behind its hot streak, Samford garnered a 32-31 advantage at the half.
 
Evan Taylor, Samford's highly-talented true freshman from Cincinnati, Ohio, scored 10 points in the first half and finished Saturday's contest with a career-high 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field. Taylor's performance tied his previous personal-best mark of 12 points, which he achieved versus Jacksonville on Dec. 1.
 
In the second half, Samford and Wofford (13-4, 4-0 SoCon) continued to battle back and forth throughout the early portion of the period, before the Terriers went on a 10-2 run to take a 67-55 lead with 1:10 left in the game.
 
Prior to Wofford's run, the Bulldogs only trailed in the game, 57-53, at the 3:35 mark in the second half.
 
Wofford's late run was initiated by Spencer Collins, who scored nine straight points for his squad during the second-half spurt. He also knocked down a key 3-point basket that extended the Terriers' lead to 67-55.
 
Collins, Wofford's 6-foot-4 junior guard from Easley, S.C., scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half, all of which occurred in the final 5:03 of the game.
 
Samford only shot 40.7 percent from the field in the second half and finished 0-for-3 from long range in the final period. The Bulldogs knocked down 8-of-9 attempts from the free-throw line in the second stanza and concluded the game with a 76-percent mark from the charity stripe.
 
"Right now, we're getting better, but we're still a good 5-to-10 plays away from being where we need to be to win these kinds of games," Padgett said. "I don't take any solace in that, but I do know that we got better tonight. We didn't get a win, but we got better."
 
Wofford's leading scorer Saturday proved to be senior All-SoCon performer Karl Cochran. The Terriers' 6-foot-2 native of Marietta, Georgia, scored a game-high 17 points and drained five 3-point baskets. He was the only player on the floor to connect on more than one shot from beyond the arc.
 
"I talked to (Wofford head) Coach (Mike) Young after the game and I told him that No. 2 (Karl Cochran) is a stone-cold killer," said Padgett. "The two shots that he hit late, you couldn't play any better defense than Darius (Jones-Gibson) played on him. Basically, if you didn't block their shot, then they were going to make it."
 
The Terriers finished with four players scoring in double figures, while Samford notched three.
 
The Bulldogs' Darius Jones-Gibson led the way with 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field and logged a team-high 33 minutes of playing time. He also added two rebounds, an assist and a steal.
 
Additionally, Samford received 13 points from true freshman phenom Christen Cunningham, who tallied two assists, a rebound and a steal in 30 minutes of game action. He also finished a near-perfect 7-of-8 from the free-throw line.
 
The Bulldogs' Taylor tied his career-high with 12 points, while Tyler Hood, Michael Bradley and Jamal Shabazz all scored seven points apiece.
 
Wofford shot a sizzling 70 percent from the field in the second half and finished with a 59.1-percent mark for the game.
 
"We didn't win the game, but I thought we built on our foundation," said Padgett. "Obviously, the score wasn't in our favor, but Wofford played a very good game. They didn't play bad tonight. They came and beat us. They didn't look past us at all. They knew that they had to come out and win the game. They made some big-time plays and now we'll just get back in the gym on Monday and get ready to play a very talented Chattanooga team on Thursday at home."
 
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Thursday at 7 p.m. (CT) as the Bulldogs return home to Birmingham, Alabama, to welcome the Chattanooga Mocs to the Pete Hanna Center for a key Southern Rail Rivalry matchup.
 
Thursday's game will be Talladega themed and will also be Samford's "Academy Admit 4 Night". Visit your local Academy Sports and Outdoors store in one of three Birmingham, Alabama, area locations to pick up your "Academy Admit 4" voucher.
 
Talladega SuperSpeedway will also be on hand with a stock car on campus for students and fans to take pictures with. It will be located outside of the Pete Hanna Center.
 
The first 250 students will get a free Talladega t-shirt. Also, two lucky students will have a chance to win $1,000 towards tuition if they make a half-court shot at halftime. We look forward to seeing you there as you root on your Samford Bulldogs. For tickets, please call 205-726-DOGS.

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