Box Score
Samford Stats

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- Samford basketball player Evan Taylor scored a career-high 21 points Saturday against the Chattanooga Mocs and connected on a personal-best four 3-point field goals, but the Bulldogs dropped a hard-fought 79-72 decision in a physical Southern Conference contest held at The McKenzie Arena.
 
"I thought Chattanooga did a great job of attacking the glass," said Samford head coach Scott Padgett. "We had a pretty good first half, but their offensive rebounds and second-chance points kept us from getting more than two or four points away from them. We couldn't really go on a run, because when they would miss, they would get the rebound and that would keep us out of transition."
 
Taylor turned in his best performance as a Bulldog on Saturday, but Samford (12-16, 5-10 SoCon) was out-rebounded by Chattanooga (18-9, 11-3 SoCon), 40-30, in its fifth straight loss in Chattanooga.
 
Samford has lost its last five games in The McKenzie Arena, dating back to Feb. 10, 2010, when the Bulldogs registered a 78-54 victory over the Mocs.
 
On Saturday, Taylor exploded for 21 points, a career-high seven rebounds and finished 4-of-6 from 3-point range. He also went 7-of-18 from the field in 33 minutes of playing time.
 
Samford forced Chattanooga into 10 turnovers in the first half as the teams entered the locker room tied at 32-32. In the second half of play, the Mocs only committed four miscues, two of which came in the waning seconds of action.
 
"Chattanooga did a great job of preparing for us," Padgett said. "They went close to 18 minutes in the second half without committing a turnover and they did a really good job of handling our pressure. Their length caused us some trouble and they really rebounded the ball well on the offensive end."
 
Chattanooga incrementally increased its lead over Samford early in the second period and eventually built a seven-point advantage, 47-40, at the 14:42 mark following a pair of free throws from Casey Jones.
 
The Bulldogs would bounce back with four straight points from Tyler Hood and a 3-pointer from Taylor to trim the Mocs' lead to 49-47.
 
With 10:35 to play in the game, Chattanooga put together its most damaging run as the Mocs scored seven straight points to build a 60-51 advantage with 8:45 left to play.
 
Chattanooga grabbed an 11-point lead at the 3:14 point in the contest as the Bulldogs were never able to get any closer than 79-72 with a Darius Jones-Gibson layup at the final horn.
 
The Mocs finished with three players scoring in double figures Saturday. Jones played a huge role in Chattanooga's victory with 21 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals, while Eric Robertson came off the bench to tally 21 points of his own on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and a 5-of-8 performance from 3-point range.
 
"Most of their bench points came from Robertson who came in and banged a bunch of 3s against us," said Padgett. "He had 21 all by himself and they had 24 total bench points as a team. I'm sure it was a big game for him, because he's a native of Huntsville and playing against a team from Alabama."
 
Justin Tuoyo, Chattanooga's athletic 6-foot-10 sophomore center, added 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Mocs, while blocking three shots and altering a number of Samford attempts in the lane.
 
"Tuoyo is a great rim protector and probably should be the SoCon Defensive Player of the Year this season," Padgett said. "I thought that our guys tried to be a bit macho against him. They tried to challenge him and he did a great job of playing straight up and down and altered a lot of shots without getting into foul trouble."
 
Samford shot a sizzling 46.7 percent from 3-point range Saturday and finished with three players scoring in double figures. Taylor's career performance paced the way, while Hood notched 16 points, six rebounds, two assists and a block.
 
The Bulldogs' Jones-Gibson finished with 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the floor.
 
Chattanooga shot 54 percent from the field and 46.2 percent from 3-point range. The Mocs outscored Samford, 42-36, in the paint and blocked 10 shots as a team.
 
"We didn't do a good job of passing the ball around to our second or third options tonight," said Padgett. "We were driving the ball well down the lane, but we didn't kick out enough passes to our shooters on the perimeter."
 
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Feb. 21 at 6 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs welcome the Mercer Bears to the Pete Hanna Center for a huge late-season conference test.
 
Prior to next week's Senior Night game against Mercer, Samford's senior class comprised of Michael Bradley, Brandon Hayman and Hood will be honored with a special presentation for all of their hard work and dedication over the years.
 
The Bulldogs' game with Mercer next week will also be Samford's annual Red-Out Game to honor former player Jim Griffin and in conjunction with the American Heart Association's Heart Month, which continues throughout the month of February.
 
In September of 2009, fifth-year senior forward Griffin passed away in his sleep of a heart condition that had previously gone undetected.
 
Samford retired Griffin's No. 3 jersey and hosted its first "Red Out" game on Feb. 11, 2010, against Elon. The game was the second-highest attended contest in Samford men's basketball history and the team was able to collect over $2,200 to be donated to the American Heart Association.

Box Score
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