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MACON, Ga. -- In its 2015-16 Southern Conference opener Saturday, the Samford University basketball team turned in a subpar 32.7 percent shooting mark from the field and a 21.7-percent performance from 3-point range in a 69-50 road loss against the Mercer Bears held at Hawkins Arena.
 
"In the first half, we shot 0-for-11 from 3-point range, but we also only shot 5-of-11 from inside the 3-point line," said Samford head coach Scott Padgett. "I thought we were doing a good job of getting inside their zone, and we were getting some open looks, but we just weren't able to knock them down. I have to give Mercer a lot of credit. They really played well and this is definitely a very tough place to play and they have a great atmosphere."
 
With the loss, Samford (9-5, 0-1 SoCon) moved to 4-4 in true road games this season and suffered its fifth-consecutive setback against Mercer (11-3, 1-0 SoCon). Saturday's contest marked the 107^th all-time meeting between the teams as the Bears increased their advantage to 61-46.
 
Mercer has been victorious in eight of its last 10 outings and has not lost at home this season. The Bears own a 6-0 record at Hawkins Arena in 2015-16 and boast an incredible 65-9 mark at home dating back to the 2011-12 campaign.
 
On Saturday, Mercer used a 17-0 run midway through the first half to take control of its SoCon-opening contest held in front of 3,715 orange-clad fans.
 
The Bears closed out the opening period with a 24-4 run and garnered a 36-15 advantage at halftime. Mercer shot 46.9 percent from the field in the first half and registered a 40-percent mark from 3-point range. Conversely, Samford turned in a 22.7 shooting percentage from the field and went 0-for-11 from 3-point range.
 
The Bulldogs outscored Mercer, 35-33, in the second half of action, but could get no closer than 15 points from their SoCon counterparts in the final period.
 
"In the second half, it at least seemed as if we were competing," Padgett said. "The ball still wasn't falling through the hole like we're used to, but I thought we competed well. We won the second half by two, and if we would've given the same effort throughout the first half, then it could have been a totally different game."
 
Samford's Christen Cunningham and Jamal Shabazz both scored 15 points Saturday, but proved to be the only Bulldogs in double figures. True freshman center Wyatt Walker added eight points and four rebounds, while Darius Jones-Gibson notched six points and a pair of assists.
 
Rounding out Samford's scoring were Matt Rose and Marcus Johnson with four and two points, respectively.
 
"We didn't do a good job of moving the ball quickly against their zone," said Padgett. "That was definitely one of the things that we knew we had to do today, but for some reason, we just couldn't get it done. We also knew that we had to hit the boards and we had to rebound. Well, they outrebound us 39-25 overall and 14-9 on the offensive end of the court."
 
Mercer outscored the Bulldogs, 28-12, in the paint and 17-8 off of turnovers. The Bears also outrebounded Samford, 39-25, and tallied a 14-3 advantage in second-chance points. Mercer entered Saturday's contest ranked 11^th in the nation in rebounding margin at plus-11.3.
 
Senior guard Phillip Leonard paced the Bears with 15 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field. The Tulsa, Oklahoma native also went 6-of-8 from the charity stripe and added five rebounds, five assists and a pair of steals.
 
With Leonard's performance at the point guard position, Samford's full-court press was only able to force the Bears into 10 total turnovers. He only committed one miscue in 30 minutes of action.
 
Mercer's Stephon Jelks finished with 12 points and nine rebounds, while Demetre Rivers added 11 points and four rebounds.
 
"We're going to learn from this and we'll get better," Padgett said. "We have another big game against The Citadel on Tuesday and it will be good to get back home and play in front of our crowd. This is conference play now and every game is huge."
 
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Tuesday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs return home to the Pete Hanna Center to face The Citadel Bulldogs in another key SoCon matchup.
 
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