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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Against the second-place Chattanooga Mocs Thursday, the Samford University basketball team jumped out to a 10-point lead, held at three-point advantage at the intermission, but misfired from the free-throw line down the stretch as the Bulldogs dropped an 82-76 Southern Conference decision held at the Pete Hanna Center.
 
"This was a tough one, because we did a lot of good things in the game," said Samford head coach Scott Padgett. "Whenever you give away 16 points from the free-throw line, it's tough. When I talked to the team, I didn't question our guys' effort in the game at all, but I did question their ability to talk things out and their communication, because we did make a lot of mistakes because of that. We talk, but we need to talk with a purpose and with some direction."
 
Samford (7-13, 0-7 SoCon) earned a total of 42 trips to the charity stripe Thursday, but only connected on 26 for a lackluster 61.9 percentage from the free-throw line.
 
Despite their shooting struggles, the Bulldogs only trailed Chattanooga (12-7, 5-1 SoCon), 78-74, with 29 seconds left.
 
After Samford's Darius Jones-Gibson scored a layup to trim the Mocs' advantage to four points, Chattanooga's Greg Pryor connected on a trio of free throws in the ensuing 10 seconds of play. During the stretch, Jones-Gibson also connected on a free throw of his own.
 
Samford's Jones-Gibson, who finished Thursday's contest with a season-high 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field, made his sixth free throw of the game with 12 seconds left to play to make the score 81-76 in favor of the Mocs.
 
The Bulldogs were forced to foul Chattanooga's Ronrico White in the last 10 seconds of action as he then connected on a free throw to make the final score, 82-76.
 
Jones-Gibson finished 6-of-14 from the charity stripe for Samford on Thursday, while adding five rebounds, three steals and a pair of assists.
 
The key stretch of the game occurred midway through the second half as Chattanooga rallied for a 14-2 run to take a 71-58 lead with 4:21 remaining to play. The Mocs' scoring burst was aided by seven straight points from Martynas Bareika, as well as five from Tre' McLean.
 
Samford led for 26 of the 40 minutes of the game, but ended up getting out-rebounded by the Mocs, 36-28, including a 14-7 disparity on the offensive boards.
 
"We've lost the last five games, because we've made mental mistakes that were covered on the scouting reports, we've given up way too many offensive rebounds and we've missed key free throws," Padgett said. "All these things can be easily corrected. It just takes dedication and guys wanting to put in the extra work on their own."
 
The Bulldogs shot a game-high 53.3 percent from the field and outshot Chattanooga from long range, 28.6 percent to 25 percent.
 
Samford's Jones-Gibson led all scorers with 24 points, while Evan Taylor and Brandon Roberts both dropped in 13 for the Bulldogs. Junior guard Marcus Johnson added seven points, as Michael Bradley and Tyler Hood followed with six and five, respectively.
 
Chattanooga outscored Samford, 20-5, in second-chance points. The Bulldogs led in bench scoring, 26-22.
 
"Once we play at Mercer on Saturday, we'll have played the toughest league schedule in the SoCon by far," Padgett said. "At the same time, those teams at the top, if you want to win the tournament, you'll have to beat them. Right now, we just need to find a way to take that next step."
 
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at 3 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs return to the road for another tough league test against the Mercer Bears to be held at Hawkins Arena in Macon, Georgia.

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