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GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The Samford University basketball team failed to have a player reach double figures in scoring for the first time this season Monday as the Bulldogs dropped a 77-57 road decision against the Furman Paladins in a Southern Conference contest held at Timmons Arena.
 
"We didn't play with any defensive intensity today," said Samford head coach Scott Padgett. "We didn't have any offensive pace to start the game. We didn't show any pride. Sometimes you refuse to get beat off the dribble every time down the court, because you simply have pride, but we didn't show any of that in the first half. I thought we competed in the second half, but at that point every single thing would have had to go right to win the game."
 
With the loss, Samford (10-7, 1-3 SoCon) concluded its two-game South Carolina road trip with an 0-2 record. On Saturday, the Bulldogs suffered a heart-wrenching 69-64 setback at Wofford. Samford dropped to 4-6 when playing on the road this season.
 
The Bulldogs will return home to Birmingham, Ala., for the remainder of the week as Samford hosts ETSU on Thursday at 7 p.m. (CST) and Western Carolina on Saturday at 6 p.m.
 
Furman (9-8, 3-1 SoCon) ended its two-game homestand with a momentous 2-0 record. On Saturday, the Paladins snapped Chattanooga's eight-game winning streak by dropping the Mocs, 70-55. Furman has been impressive when playing at home this season and improved to 7-1 in Timmons Arena.
 
Samford jumped out to an early 4-1 lead Monday against Furman, but then the Paladins used a 10-0 run to garner the momentum of the game and took an eventual 23-point lead at the half, 45-22. The Bulldogs only shot 30.4 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes of play, while Furman turned in a 14-for-28 performance from the floor.
 
In the second half of action, Samford trimmed the Paladins' lead to 17 points at 50-33, but then Furman answered with an 8-0 run of its own and later took its largest advantage of the game, 68-40, with 9:29 left to play.
 
"We had a nice little run to start the second half and then they hit that desperation three with just one second left on the shot clock and I could see our guys' shoulders slump again," Padgett said. "We made another little run later on in the half, but then we missed some free throws and threw the ball away a couple times."
 
The Bulldogs would get no closer than 18 points for the remainder of the evening. The defeat proved to be Samford first this season when following a loss. The Bulldogs are now 5-1 this season in games after a defeat.
 
Furman finished with five players scoring in double figures Monday and were paced by Geoff Beans' 16 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field. Beans, the Paladins' sophomore native of Toledo, Ohio, also connected on 4-of-5 attempts from beyond the arc.
 
As a team, Furman shot 47.6 percent from 3-point range, while the Bulldogs finished 1-for-10 from downtown. Samford's Marcus Johnson knocked down the squad's lone 3-point basket of the night to extend the school's consecutive games with a 3-pointer to 739.
 
The last time that the Bulldogs haven't connected on a 3-point basket was nearly 25 years ago on Jan. 19, 1991, at UTSA.
 
The Paladins' Daniel Fowler added 12 points on 4-of-4 shooting from the floor, while Stephen Croone, Devin Sibley and Kendrec Ferrara all chipped in with 11 points apiece.
 
"Croone, Fowler and (John) Davis just drove the ball into the lane all night and then kicked it out to their open shooters," Padgett said. "We need to learn to have faith in our teammates, because when we drove, we just went ahead and shot the ball. It became a one-on-one totally half-court game and our shooters were never really involved. We need to do a better job of passing the ball and we need to do a better job of being consistent."
 
Samford's leading scorer proved to be Christen Cunningham with nine points. The Bulldogs' Jamal Shabazz, Iman Johnson, Matt Rose and Dakota Quinn all finished with eight points each.
 
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Thursday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs begin a two-game weekend homestand against the ETSU Buccaneers in a key league matchup to be broadcast by ESPN3 and held at Samford's Pete Hanna Center.
 
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