Box Score
Samford Stats

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- With two seconds remaining in Monday's Southern Conference contest against the ETSU Buccaneers, Samford's Christen Cunningham pulled up for the possible game-tying basket from the left elbow, but the freshman point guard's 12-foot jumper rimmed out as the Bulldogs suffered a hard-fought 76-74 decision held at the Pete Hanna Center.
 
"When you see that we committed 16 turnovers and that ETSU hit 10 threes, you'd almost be surprised it was a close game," said Samford head coach Scott Padgett. "The thing that's the most frustrating for me is that the game was there for the taking. We had the lead at 72-69 and told our guys the exact play that they were going to run, but then we had a mental breakdown coming out of the timeout."
 
Samford (7-10, 0-4 SoCon) led by three points, 72-69, with 2:34 remaining in Monday's league showdown. The Bulldogs' Darius Jones-Gibson scored on a driving layup to give Samford its largest lead of the game.
 
On the ensuing possession, ETSU's Rashawn Rembert connected on a 3-point basket from the right flank to even the score at 72-72 with 2:19 left to play.
 
Rembert, the Bucs' senior guard from Tampa, Florida, finished with 18 points and connected on three of ETSU's 10 3-point field goals.
 
"We knew that the ball was going to go to Rembert for the 3-pointer, but we didn't get a hand in his face like we should have and he had a much better chance to make the shot," Padgett said. "If he would have missed that shot then they would have had to foul us and we could have possibly been up four or five points on the next possession."
 
In the final two minutes of play, the teams held a free-throw shooting contest and the Buccaneers garnered a 76-74 advantage with only 21 seconds to play. Samford then took possession of the ball and called timeout to set up the final play of the game.
 
"I'll take total blame on the last play," Padgett said. "I thought for sure Darius would be able to find room to the rim and possibly make the layup or at least get fouled. Instead, the lane pretty much closed up and there really wasn't much there. I should have drawn up a better play."
 
The Bulldogs' Jones-Gibson started the action on the last possession by attempting a drive down the right side of the lane. He was cut off below the free-throw line and passed the ball out to Cunningham at the top of the key.
 
Cunningham drove to his left, stopped, took a pair of quick dribbles to his right and then pulled up for the potential game-winning jumper. The ball landed just on the inside half of the right portion of the rim, rolled slightly towards the back of the goal and then bounced out to conclude the game.
 
"Right now, we're playing a good 32 to 34 minutes of high-intensity basketball, but it needs to get to 40," said Padgett. "That's the first thing we write on the board in every locker room that we go to, and maybe tonight we played 36, but if it would have been 40 we would have won the game. If we played 40 tough minutes every game this season, instead of being 7-10 right now, we probably would be 13-4. I really believe that."
 
The basket would have been Cunningham's fourth of the contest. He finished with 10 points, seven assists and five rebounds, while turning in a perfect 4-for-4 performance from the free-throw line.
 
With Monday's win, ETSU (8-4, 3-1 SoCon) improved to 4-0 all-time against the Bulldogs.
 
The Buccaneers' leading scorer was senior guard Jalen Riley, who came off the bench to drop in 26 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field. He knocked down four 3-point baskets, handed out a game-high eight assists and finished 8-of-9 from the free-throw line.
 
Samford boasted four players in double figures Monday as junior guard Marcus Johnson led the team with a career-high 20 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field. Johnson also drained 5-of-6 3-point baskets and tallied two assists.
 
"Marcus is really starting to understand his role and what we want him to do," Padgett said. "He had the 20 points and he did it very efficiently. He only took eight shots and he's not turning the ball over anymore. He makes good decisions and he can really knock down those open shots."
 
Following Johnson's career-best performance, Jones-Gibson followed with 15 points, three rebounds and a trio of assists, while finishing 9-of-12 from the charity stripe.
 
Senior forward Tyler Hood scored 11 points and moved just two points shy of reaching the prestigious 1,000-point mark for his career. The Bulldogs' talented sharpshooter from Lenoir City, Tennessee, ended the game with 998 points in his illustrious Samford career.
 
Evan Taylor, the Bulldogs' high-flying true freshman from Cincinnati, Ohio, earned his first start of the season Monday and registered eight points, three assists and a pair of rebounds. Junior Jamal Shabazz came off the bench to add six points, four rebounds and two blocked shots.
 
"To me, there's no such thing as a moral victory," said Padgett. "There's only victory or defeat. I'm here to win championships. These guys came here to win championships. Not just to play and be average at 7-10, but we're here to win championships and we're going to win championships, so I'm not happy with moral victories or taking solace in the fact that we only lost by two points. That's not me. A loss is a loss."
 
Samford shot a sizzling 54.5 percent from the field and 56.3 percent from 3-point range, but committed 16 costly turnovers.
 
The Bulldogs also out-rebounded ETSU, 28-24, and bested the Buccaneers, 11-3, in second-chance points.
 
"When we go hard as a team, we go really hard, but we just need to start doing it for all 40 minutes," Padgett said. "The margin of error for us is minute. We're getting better, but we still have a long way to go."
 
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Thursday at 6 p.m. (CT) as the Bulldogs hit the road for the first time in over three weeks against The Citadel Bulldogs in a key league contest to be held at the McAlister Field House in Charleston, South Carolina.

Box Score
Samford Stats