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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- In its toughest test of the 2016-17 season, the Samford University basketball team never backed down from the No. 21-ranked Florida State Seminoles in a Monday matinee matchup, but eventually came up short in the hard-fought 76-68 road decision held at the Tucker Center.
 
With the loss, Samford (7-4) had its four-game winning streak come to an end against its highest-ranked opponent of the young campaign. The Bulldogs will next be in action Thursday at 7:30 p.m. (CST) as they return home to Birmingham, Alabama, for a non-conference contest against Florida A&M.
 
Florida State (12-1), one of the hottest teams in the nation, extended its winning streak to eight on Monday. The Seminoles entered the game averaging a 20.4-point margin of victory this season, including wins against Illinois, 72-61, George Washington, 67-48, and then No. 21-ranked Florida, 83-78.
 
Samford held a two-point lead late in the first half of play, but Florida State's Xavier Rathan-Mayes knocked down an off-balance, NBA-range 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer to give the Seminoles a 31-27 advantage heading into the locker room.
 
Rathan-Mayes finished with 15 points, five assists and four rebounds, while Terance Mann scored a game-high 19 points.
 
The Bulldogs closed out Monday's contest with four players scoring in double figures. Junior point guard Christen Cunningham led the way with 16 points on 7-of-15 shooting, while Demetrius Denzel-Dyson followed with 14 points and four rebounds.
 
Samford's Alex Thompson scored 13 points, grabbed six boards and drained a trio of 3-point baskets. The Bulldogs' Triston Chambers also connected on three 3-pointers, while true freshman point guard Josh Sharkey turned in a stellar all-around game with 10 points, seven assists, three rebounds and a trio of steals.
 
Sophomore Wyatt Walker led all players with eight rebounds Monday. He entered the matchup ranked seventh in the nation in rebounds per game.
 
Samford shot 91.7 percent from the free-throw line, but only reached the charity stripe 12 times, connecting on 11. Florida State received 22 trips to the line and finished 16-of-22 in the game.
 
Florida State scored the first six points of the second half and built a 17-point lead with 6:12 remaining in the contest. Samford then used six points from Sharkey, a thunderous two-handed dunk from Denzel-Dyson and layups from both Cunningham and Walker to trim the Seminoles' late lead to 73-64.
 
Denzel-Dyson later closed out the game with a pair of free throws to make the final score 76-68.
 
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Thursday at 7:30 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs return home to Birmingham, Alabama, for a key matchup against the Florida A&M Rattlers to be held in the Pete Hanna Center.
 
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