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CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- The Samford University basketball team will take its five-game winning streak into hostile territory Saturday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs face their former Ohio Valley Conference rivals, the Austin Peay Governors, in a key early-season contest to be held at the Dunn Center.
 
Samford (5-1) heads into the matchup riding the positive momentum of its best start to a season in over 19 seasons and a recent championship run at the 2015 Mean Green Showcase earlier this week. In Denton, Texas, the Bulldogs defeated Troy, 83-79, North Texas, 74-72, and Idaho, 75-58, to claim the tournament championship.
 
THE LAST TIME OUT
Samford cruised to a 75-58 victory over the Idaho Vandals on Wednesday as the Bulldogs tallied their fifth-consecutive win en route to the championship title of the 2015 North Texas Showdown hosted by the University of North Texas at The Super Pit.
 
Samford finished the four-team, three-day tournament with a perfect 3-0 record by notching consecutive wins against Troy, 83-79, North Texas, 74-72, and Idaho, 75-58. The Bulldogs are off to their best start since 1996-97, when Samford opened the season with a 7-1 record. The Bulldogs' only loss this year occurred in the team's season opener at Louisville.
 
Samford's Christen Cunningham led the way with a career-high 26 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field. The Bulldogs' sophomore point guard also added three assists and two steals and knocked down 8-of-10 attempts from the free-throw line.
 
Samford's backcourt comprised of Cunningham and Darius Jones-Gibson combined to score 47 of the Bulldogs' 75 points, including an 18-of-22 performance from the charity stripe.
 
Jones-Gibson averaged 20 points per game in the Mean Green Showcase and finished with 21 on Wednesday. The Bulldogs' talented senior from Lexington, Kentucky, only missed a total of two free throws and notched a 10-of-12 performance from the line. Jones-Gibson also added three rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals.
 
Wyatt Walker, Samford's highly-touted native of Jacksonville, Florida, pulled down a game-high eight rebounds against Idaho and scored in double figures for a second straight game with 10 points. Already this season, Walker is averaging 7.5 points and 7.2 rebounds per contest.
 
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
Austin Peay (2-4) opened the season with consecutive losses to Vanderbilt, 80-41, Indiana, 102-76, IPFW, 80-77, and Cal Poly, 73-64, before rattling off back-to-back triumphs over Northern Colorado, 91-76, and Oakland City, 83-55.
 
Austin Peay enters Saturday's game boasting one of the best players in the Ohio Valley Conference in senior center Chris Horton. Horton, a 6-foot-9 native of Decatur, Ga., is averaging a double-double this season with 15.3 points and 12.7 rebounds per contest. Additionally, Horton is shooting a sizzling 84.6 percent (22-of-26) from the free-throw line.
 
Joining Horton as one of the Governors' top scorers this season is sophomore guard Josh Robinson, who is also averaging 15.3 points per game. Khalil Davis rounds out the double-digit scoring with 14 points per contest.
 
SAMFORD vs. AUSTIN PEAY - - THE ALL-TIME SERIES
The Bulldogs will face Austin Peay for the 24th time in school history Saturday. The Governors lead the all-time series by a count of 15-8, but Samford earned a thrilling 68-67 victory last season as the Bulldogs' Evan Taylor knocked down a game-winning shot at the buzzer. Samford owns a 1-7 record when playing on the road against Austin Peay.
 
IN THE LAST MEETING BETWEEN THE TEAMS
Trailing by a point with mere seconds remaining in regulation last season, Samford's Taylor gathered a pass from Cunningham, took three quick dribbles to his right and pulled up for a 15-foot jumper.
 
Taylor fired off the shot with two seconds left and drained the game-winning basket with exactly :0.9 seconds remaining on the clock as the Bulldogs registered a momentous 68-67 victory over the Austin Peay Governors in their home opener held at the Pete Hanna Center.
 
The win proved to be the first of The Scott Padgett Era after Samford opened its 2014-15 campaign with road losses at Purdue and Pittsburgh.
 
As a team, Samford shot 45.5 percent from the floor and drained seven 3-point baskets, but the key numbers proved to be in the intangibles. The Bulldogs registered a 32-3 disparity in bench points and added a 27-16 advantage in fast-break points. Additionally, Samford forced the Governors into 14 turnovers, which led to 21 points.
 
Samford used a 17-0 run midway through the first half to expand its lead from 17-16 to 34-16 in just a matter of minutes.
 
WHAT'S TRENDING . . .
• Samford rolled to a 3-0 mark at the Mean Green Showcase earlier this week, Monday through Wednesday, to win the championship title of the four-team, three-day competition.
• The Bulldogs' Walker averaged a double-double in the Mean Green Showcase with 10.7 points and 10.3 rebounds per game against Troy, North Texas and Idaho.
• The Bulldogs' 5-1 start is the program's best since a 7-1 mark to open the 1996-97 season.
• Samford has not won six straight games since earning seven consecutive victories on Jan. 12, 2006.
 
THE FOUR HORSEMEN
Samford's top three active leaders in the statistical categories of points, rebounds, assists, steals and 3-point field goals are all a combination of the following four players:  Jones-Gibson, Cunningham, Marcus Johnson and Jamal Shabazz.
 
Here in the early portion of the 2015-16 campaign, Jones-Gibson is ranked first in points (497), rebounds (118) and steals (48). The Bulldogs' senior guard is also listed second in active career assists with 82. Cunningham paces Samford in assists with 145 and is also ranked second on the team in points (422), steals (46) and 3-pointers (16), while being listed third in rebounds (97).
 
Johnson, the Bulldogs' senior guard from Washington, D.C., is ranked third on the team in points (238), assists (68) and steals (28), while Shabazz is tabbed second in both rebounds (107) and 3-point field goals (16).
 
728-STRAIGHT AND STILL COUNTING
The Bulldogs have made at least one 3-point field goal in 728-consecutive games. The last time that Samford did not make a 3-point basket was on Jan. 19, 1991, against UTSA.
 
The Bulldogs' streak of having made at least two 3-pointers in a game was snapped on Dec. 13, 2008, against Saint Louis when Samford turned in a dismal 1-for-14 performance from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs' streak of 476-straight games with two 3-pointers began Feb. 8, 1992.
 
UNLV is the national leader in consecutive games with a 3-point field goal as the Running Rebels have made a 3-point basket in 947-straight games dating back to the 1986-87 season. Kentucky (943) and Vanderbilt (939) are the only other two schools that have made at least one 3-point basket since the rule was adopted prior to the 1986 campaign.
 
PADGETT NAMED FINALIST FOR JOE B. HALL AWARD
Following his inaugural season at the helm of the Samford basketball program, Padgett was named a finalist for the Joe B. Hall award, which is presented annually to the top first-year coach in college basketball.
 
The award is named in the honor of Joe B. Hall who was given the task of following the legendary Adolph Rupp. In his first season at the University of Kentucky, Hall finished 20-8, won the Southeastern Conference and advanced to the NCAA Regional Finals.
 
From 1972 to 1985, Hall would win two-thirds of his games (297-100), receive four SEC Coach of the Year honors and win a National Championship (1978).
 
Padgett, in first season as head coach at Samford, compiled 13 wins and six SoCon victories with the Bulldogs. With a roster comprised of just three seniors and a trio of juniors, Padgett guided his young Bulldogs to early success in his inaugural season heading the program.
 
#FOE = FAMILY OVER EVERYTHING
Since taking over as head coach in 2014, Samford's Padgett has coined the phrase "FOE" as his biggest mantra of the Bulldogs' basketball program. FOE stands for Family Over Everything and has truly resonated with Samford's players ... old and new.
 
"I don't really invent a lot of things, but I've worked under a lot of great coaches and have been around a lot of great people," said Padgett. "My former teammate and boss, Steve Masiello, came up with the saying Team Over Everything, and I kind of liked it, but at Kentucky it was all about Family.
 
"So, I kind of combined those two concepts and now we have Family Over Everything (#FOE). I really believe that this team is a family and that goes with everybody's extended families, as well as the staff and everybody involved with Samford basketball."
 
WHAT'S COMING UP NEXT?
Following Saturday's key road test at Austin Peay, the Samford University basketball team will next be in action Tuesday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs rekindle another OVC rivalry with an in-state showdown at Jacksonville State to be held at the recently-refurbished Pete Mathews Coliseum in Jacksonville, Alabama.
 
For quick score updates, breaking news and links to all of your favorite articles featuring the Bulldogs, please follow @SamfordHoopsFOE and @Samford_Sports on Twitter.

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