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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Samford's Demetrius Denzel-Dyson scored a game-high 25 points Saturday and became the school's 28^th member of the 1,000-point club at home against the Furman Paladins, but the Bulldogs suffered a 94-79 Southern Conference defeat in the matchup held at the Pete Hanna Center.
 
It proved to be fitting that senior Denzel-Dyson reached the 1,000-point mark on Senior Day as the Bulldogs' second-year transfer from UMass became only the third player in school history to accomplish the feat in his first two years at Samford (9-20, 5-11 SoCon). He joined Craig Beard (1982-84) and Tim Williams (2012-14).

Beard was actually in the building Saturday. He is a member of the Bulldogs' 2018 Hall of Fame class that was acknowledged during halftime along with Billy Bancroft, Jimbo Fisher, Michael Marseco, Alyssa Whitehead and the 1998-99 men's basketball team.
 
Samford's 2017-18 senior class was honored prior to the game with a special Senior Day presentation. The Bulldogs' Eric Adams, Denzel-Dyson, Alex Peters, Gerald Smith, Tanner Tapp and Alex Thompson were joined by their family and friends in front of a season-high home crowd of 1,990.
 
Furman (19-9, 10-5 SoCon) jumped out to an early 30-14 lead in the game and was able to hold off a Samford rally midway through the second period.
 
The Bulldogs trimmed the Paladins' advantage to 63-54 following a five-point run at the 14:07 mark in the final half, but then Furman methodically built its lead back to 82-63 following a dunk from Andrew Brown near the eight-minute mark.
 
Samford wouldn't get any closer than 12 points for the remainder of the day.
 
Following Denzel-Dyson's game-high 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field, Triston Chambers and Justin Coleman added tallies of 15 and 14 off the bench, respectively, while Adams posted a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Thompson also scored in double figures with 10 points of his own.
 
Brown led Furman with 20 points, while Preseason SoCon Player of the Year Devin Sibley scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds off the bench. The Paladins' Matt Rafferty added a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Furman outscored Samford in points in paint, 52-28, while the Bulldogs shot a sizzling 45.5 percent from 3-point range.
 
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Friday at 6 p.m. (CT) as the Bulldogs begin their final road trip of the 2017-18 regular season against the VMI Keydets in Cameran Hall located in Lexington, Virginia.
 
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