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CULLOWHEE, N.C. -- The Samford University basketball team had its four-game winning streak against the Western Carolina Catamounts snapped Saturday as the Bulldogs suffered a 76-71 setback in a road Southern Conference contest held at the Ramsey Center.

"It was a very frustrating night all the way around," said Samford head coach Scott Padgett. "I wasn't happy with our overall execution offensively and I wasn't happy with our rebounding. Christen Cunningham got going there in the second half and we rode him, kind of like we did with Wyatt (Walker) the other night at ETSU. I thought at times, we tried to force the issue offensively and we ended up committing more turnovers than we would have liked."

With the loss, Samford (12-16, 3-12 SoCon) moved to 5-10 on the road this season, including a 1-7 mark against conference opponents. The defeat also proved to be its first to Western Carolina (11-15, 6-7 SoCon) since Jan. 18, 2014.

The Bulldogs' Christen Cunningham scored a career-high 27 points Saturday on 7-of-15 shooting from the field. Samford's talented sophomore guard from Lexington, Kentucky, turned in a perfect 13-of-13 performance from the free-throw line and handed out a pair of assists.

Cunningham notched back-to-back, career-high outings on this road trip. On Thursday at ETSU, he tied his previous career-high of 26 points in a hard-fought 94-90 overtime loss to the Buccaneers.

Samford's Darius Jones-Gibson added 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the floor versus Western Carolina. He also pulled down two rebounds, but committed five turnovers.

True freshman center Wyatt Walker, fresh off his career-high 30-point performance at ETSU on Thursday, struggled with foul trouble early and often against Western Carolina, and finished with eight points, four rebounds and two steals

"When Wyatt got into that early foul trouble, it really hurt us," Padgett said. "He's been playing so well lately, but today we couldn't really get anybody going other than Christen and Darius (Jones-Gibson). It's tough to win on the road when you're playing with only two guys doing all the scoring."

Offensively, Western Carolina was paced by Rhett Harrelson's 19 points on 5-of-6 shooting from 3-point range. The Catamounts' senior entered the contest shooting 40.8 percent from beyond the arc.

"I was very frustrated with our defense on Rhett Harrelson," said Padgett. "Obviously, he did his job and made the shots, but he was basically on one leg out there and was still somehow able to get so much separation from our guys. There were three or four times when we were there at his feet, but we didn't have our hands up."

The Catamounts' Torrion Brummitt scored 16 points and added seven rebounds before fouling out Saturday. Brummitt, Western Carolina's senior power forward from Columbus, Georgia, finished 5-of-8 from the field and 6-of-11 from the charity stripe.

Mike Brown, who entered the game ranked third in scoring in the conference with 16.8 points per outing this season, recorded a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. He also handed out a game-high five assists in 35 minutes of playing time.

In the first half of action, neither team pulled away until Samford registered an 11-0 run to take a 30-20 advantage with 1:39 remaining in the period.

From that point on, the Bulldogs were whistled for three straight fouls and Western Carolina closed out the half with six-consecutive free throws to head into the locker room trailing Samford, 30-26.

"I thought that we were able to make one good run in the first half, but from that point on every time we started to make a run, there would be a foul call that would stop our momentum," Padgett said. "At one point, we were leading by 10 points in the first half, but then Western Carolina ended up shooting six straight free throws to finish off the half and get them back in the game."

In the second half, Samford built up a pair of nine-point leads, but the Catamounts kept charging back and eventually garnered a six-point advantage, 64-58, with 4:12 remaining in the game

The Bulldogs weren't out of it down the stretch as Jones-Gibson scored five points, Walker added three and freshman Matt Rose drained a deep 3-point basket. Following Samford's late flurry, the Bulldogs only trailed by a single point, 70-69, with 35 ticks on the clock remaining.

Then, on Western Carolina's next two possessions, Samford was called for fouls and the Catamounts went a perfect 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.

The Bulldogs' Cunningham tallied a late layup to trim the lead to three, 74-71, with just 13 seconds left to play, and then Samford forced Western Carolina into a five-second call on the baseline to regain possession.

On their final opportunity of the game, the Bulldogs sent a pass out to Cunningham in the corner for a possible tying 3-point basket. Cunningham gathered the ball, stepped back to beyond the 3-point line and tried to get off a shot, but the Western Carolina defender was hanging onto both of his outstretched arms and forced the ball to fly errantly towards the basket.

In lieu of a foul call, the Catamounts' Devin Peterson collected the rebound and scored on the other end to make the final score, 76-71.

A total of 49 fouls were called in Saturday's game. Samford was whistled for 28, while homestanding Western Carolina was penalized for 21.

"We had our opportunities to win the game," said Padgett. "My issue wasn't so much whether it was the right call or the wrong call, but there were just so many calls. When you play the way that we do, it's really hard to get into a rhythm when play is stopped every time down the court."

So far this season, eight of the Bulldogs' losses have occurred by five points or less.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Thursday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs begin play in their final homestand of the 2015-16 campaign against the UNCG Spartans in a SoCon duel to be held at the Pete Hanna Center.