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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Samford's Darius Jones-Gibson scored a career-high 31 points and pulled down a personal-best 10 rebounds Monday as the Bulldogs earned a decisive 94-79 home-opening victory against the Auburn-Montgomery Warhawks in front of 1,273 red-and-blue clad fans at the Pete Hanna Center.
 
"We had a great crowd tonight, but I'm very sorry that this is what they had to watch," said Samford head coach Scott Padgett. "I'm disappointed in our effort and other than a six to eight minute stretch there early in the second half, we didn't play like the team that we need to. We did share the ball extremely well tonight, which was something that we didn't do at Louisville."
 
Jones-Gibson's 31 points surpassed his previous career-high of 24, which he achieved at home against Chattanooga on Jan. 15. He career-high rebound total Monday proved to be three better than his previous best of seven at Louisiana Tech on Nov. 28.
 
Samford (1-1) shot 50 percent from the field as a team, while Jones-Gibson turned in a stellar 12-of-18 outing from the floor. The Bulldogs knocked down a total of 36 field goals against Auburn-Montgomery (4-0), but only three came from beyond the arc. Samford finished 3-of-15 from 3-point range.
 
"I thought Darius had a great game tonight, but I was disappointed in him in the first half, because his first two shot attempts were 3-pointers," Padgett said. "That was exactly what Auburn-Montgomery wanted us to do. They were sitting back in a zone and hoping that we would shoot from the outside. In the second half, we did a much better job of driving and getting to the rim."
 
The Warhawks, who are competing at the NAIA level for a final season this year, consider their games against Division I opponents as exhibitions, therefore they boast a 4-0 record on the season. Against opponents from higher divisions, Auburn-Montgomery is 0-3 this season after also coming up short at Troy, 97-70, and South Alabama, 88-68.
 
Samford finished Monday's victory with four players scoring in double figures.
 
Jones-Gibson led all scorers with 31 points, while Christen Cunningham added 18 on 6-of-10 shooting and true freshman Matt Rose finished in double figures for a second straight game. Additionally, Eric Adams came just one rebound shy of a double-double by posting 10 points and nine rebounds.
 
Wyatt Walker, the Bulldogs' highly-touted true freshman from Jacksonville, Florida, accumulated eight points and six rebounds in 13 minutes of game action.
 
Senior Jamal Shabazz tallied six points, four rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot Monday, while Iman Johnson added four points, four rebounds and three assists.
 
"I thought we rebounded the ball well, but we had a lot more size than they did," Padgett said. "We also finished with 26 assists on 36 made baskets, so that was a good ratio for us tonight. The disappointing thing is that I felt our team went out there and was just hoping to trade buckets, instead of playing some tough man-to-man defense."
 
Auburn-Montgomery, which was leading South Alabama at the half Friday, 42-35, received a career-high 26 points on 10-of-24 shooting from junior Reagan Eubanks against Samford on Monday. Eubanks knocked down six 3-point baskets and notched six steals in 40 minutes of playing time.
 
Samford jumped out to a quick 11-5 lead Monday, but trailed 34-30 with 1:21 left to play in the first half.
 
The Bulldogs then scored the final five points of the opening period to garner a 35-34 lead and shift the momentum of the game.
 
Down the stretch in the first half, Samford's Cunningham scores on a driving layup and is fouled for the three-point play with 27 seconds left. The Bulldogs then force an off-balance 3-pointer and Jones-Gibson screams down the court for a layup at the buzzer.
 
In the second half, Samford quickly increased its lead to 51-40 as Adams slammed home a high-flying two-handed dunk.
 
Auburn-Montgomery was able to trim the Bulldogs' advantage to 57-50 at 12:44 in the second half, but then Jones-Gibson scored four points and Rose added two to keep the game out of reach. Samford's biggest lead of the evening was 19 points, 83-64, late in the final period following 3-point basket from the corner off the hands of Cunningham.
 
Samford outscored the Warhawks, 64-34, in the paint, as well as 21-14 in second-chance points.
 
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at 6 p.m. (CT) as the Bulldogs remain at home to face the Kennesaw State Owls in another key regional matchup to be held at the Pete Hanna Center.
 
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