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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Against the defending Southern Conference Tournament champions and the favorite to win the 2014-15 league title, the Samford University basketball team charged late to nearly upend the Wofford Terriers, 68-65, on Saturday in a key conference showdown held at the Pete Hanna Center.
 
"I'm proud of how our guys fought and they didn't even think about quitting," said Samford head coach Scott Padgett. "There were probably some guys that I should have played more, as well as some guys that probably should have played less, but that's a game where you know that Wofford is going to battle you for every inch on the court for every rebound and every bucket.
 
"If you're not ready to battle them back, then it's going to be obvious. Today, we had some guys who didn't battle, but we also had a lot of guys who did battle and who played very well."
 
Down by 13 points, 61-48, with 2:51 remaining to play, Samford (7-9, 0-3 SoCon) rallied to within 65-61 at the nine-second mark and later connected on a deep 3-point basket at the buzzer to make the final score 68-65.
 
The Bulldogs' Christen Cunningham drained the team's final 3-pointer and proved to be the key factor in Samford's second-half resurgence.
 
Cunningham, the Bulldogs' dynamic true freshman point guard from Georgetown, Kentucky, scored nine of his game-high 20 points in the final two minutes and turned in a perfect 5-of-5 performance from the charity stripe. He also grabbed three rebounds, handed out two assists and tallied a pair of steals.
 
Wofford (10-4, 1-0 SoCon), which is the nation's No. 39-ranked team in the RPI, extended its winning streak against the Bulldogs to three straight games. The Terriers also improved to 9-4 all-time versus Samford.
 
The Bulldogs led by as many as six points Saturday behind a strong first-half performance from junior guard Darius Jones-Gibson. With a game-high eight points at the intermission, Jones-Gibson finished a perfect 3-for-3 from the floor in the opening period as Samford trailed Wofford, 25-24, heading into the locker room.
 
The Terriers closed out the first half with a 9-2 run, and then opened the second stanza on a 13-5 streak to take a 38-29 advantage with 14:41 remaining to play.
 
"During that stretch, I thought our guys did a good job of moving the ball quickly and finding the open shots, but unfortunately we did make those open shots," said Padgett. "Late in the game, I thought that Darius and Christen did a great job of attacking the rim and that proved to be a lot more effective for us."
 
In sparking Samford's late rally, Jones-Gibson scored four points, Michael Bradley added a pair of free throws and Evan Taylor drained a key 10-foot jumper. The Bulldogs kept trimming Wofford's lead down to five points, but the Terriers' Karl Cochran, Eric Garcia and Jaylen Allen continued to make their free throws down the stretch.
 
Samford's loss Saturday snapped its four-game winning streak. The Bulldogs' hard-fought, physical three-point setback proved to be their first loss since falling at Wake Forest on Dec. 14.
 
On Monday, Samford will return to action with a pivotal SoCon home game against ETSU at 7 p.m. Wofford will also be in action Monday night at Chattanooga.
 
The Terriers' leading scorers Saturday were Cochran (15), Garcia (14) and Spencer Collins (10).
 
Samford received 30 of its 65 points from the bench and was paced by Cunningham's 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field. Jones-Gibson followed with 15 points, four rebounds and two assists, while Bradley came off the bench to drop in 10 points and pull down five rebounds.
 
The Bulldogs' Marcus Johnson also added eight points and Taylor chipped in with five.
 
Wofford ended up shooting 46.8 percent from the field Saturday, but was only 4-of-14 from 3-point range. Samford finished with a 41.5 shooting percentage from the floor and connected on six 3-point field goals.
 
The Bulldogs out-rebounded Wofford, 35-32, but only forced the Terriers into nine turnovers.
 
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Monday at 7 p.m. (CT) as the Bulldogs conclude their pivotal midseason, five-game homestand against the ETSU Buccaneers in yet another critical conference test to be held at the Pete Hanna Center.
 
"East Tennessee State has three of the best scoring guards on the same team as anybody in the nation," Padgett said. "Those guys can really score it and I expect Monday's game to be an exciting high-scoring game."

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