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CLEMSON, S.C. -- With 9:29 remaining in the second half Saturday, the Samford University basketball team only trailed Clemson on the road by two points, 55-53. It was then that the homestanding Tigers used a 19-2 run late in the game to take a 74-55 advantage and shift the momentum of the contest for good en route to an 81-59 victory held at Littlejohn Coliseum.
 
Samford (2-8), despite playing without the efforts of senior point guard Christen Cunningham (sickness) and junior center Wyatt Walker (leg), played tough on the road against Clemson (8-1) Saturday. The Bulldogs shot 45 percent from the field and 43 percent from long range in the contest.
 
Junior guard Justin Coleman led Samford with 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the floor. The Bulldogs' lightning-quick native of Birmingham, Alabama, also handed out five assists and pulled down four rebounds. Heading into Saturday's game, Coleman led the Southern Conference in both assists and assists per outing.
 
Without the efforts of Cunningham, Coleman played a season-high 35 minutes Saturday. The game marked the first time in Cunningham's collegiate career that he wasn't listed in the starting lineup for the Bulldogs. He started in the first 110 games of his Samford career.
 
The Bulldogs led by as many as four points early and only trailed Clemson, 35-30, at the half. Samford's Kevion Nolan, who made his first career start Saturday, paced the Bulldogs with eight points at the half.
 
Senior sharpshooter Demetrius Denzel-Dyson finished with 12 points, while Josh Sharkey added seven and Eric Adams chipped in with five, as well as a team-high seven rebounds.
 
Clemson outscored Samford, 46-29, in the second half and used its late 19-2 run to pull away from the scrappy Bulldogs. The Tigers have now won four straight games and remained undefeated at home this season at 5-0.
 
Clemson, which basically gets all of its scoring from its starters this season, finished with five players scoring in double figures. Shelton Mitchell and Donte Grantham both finished with 20 points apiece, while Gabe Devoe, Marcquise Reed and Elijah Thomas posted 14, 13 and 11 points, respectively.
 
Samford outscored the Tigers, 24-3, in bench points, but the Bulldogs committed 22 turnovers in the loss.
 
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Dec. 15 at 7 p.m. (CT) as the Bulldogs return home to Birmingham, Alabama, for a matchup against the Thomas University Night Hawks to be held at the Pete Hanna Center.
 
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