BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Playing at home for the first time in three weeks, the Samford men's basketball team earned an impressive 85-60 Southern Conference win over Western Carolina Saturday afternoon in the Pete Hanna Center.
 
With the win, Samford improves to 11-4 overall and 1-2 in SoCon play. Western Carolina falls to 7-8 overall and 1-1 in league action.
 
"I'm really happy," Samford head coach Bucky McMillan said. "We took a lot of steps forward in probably our most complete game from start to finish. We won both halves versus a good team, a conference team that's showed they're very capable. We challenged our guys in this game more than any other game, they like to play a lot of isolation basketball, they're very good at it, they space well, they're well coached. This is going to be a players' game, can you guard the guy in front of you? And I thought we did an exceptional job of guarding the basketball in the game. I thought we did an exceptional job of sharing the basketball as well, we had 19 assists."
 
Samford was led in the win by Jermaine Marshall with his seventh double-double of the season, scoring 14 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Wesley Cardet was the team's leading scorer with 18 points. Ques Glover had 16 points and five assists for the Bulldogs. As a team, Samford shot 50 percent from the floor, while holding Western Carolina to just 33.9 percent. The Bulldogs outrebounded the Catamounts, 46-32.
 
Western Carolina was led by Nick Robinson with 15 points. Joe Petrakis added 11 points for the Catamounts.
 
Western Carolina jumped out to an early 6-2 lead with 18:31 to go in the first half following a three-pointer by Petrakis. Samford answered by scoring the next seven points to take a 9-6 lead after a jumper by Logan Dye with 16:08 to go in the first half. After Western Carolina came back to tie the score at 11-11, Samford went on a 10-0 run to take a 21-11 lead at the 11:51 mark in the first half after a three-pointer by Cooper Kaifes.
 
The Bulldogs built their lead to 13 points at 33-20 with 6:22 remaining in the opening half following a driving layup by Jaden Campbell. The Catamounts scored the next three baskets to cut the lead to 33-26 with 4:42 left in the half. With Samford leading, 46-35, the Bulldogs scored the final six points of the half to take a 51-35 lead at the halftime break.
 
Samford pushed its lead to 22 points at 62-40 with 13:18 remaining in the game after a pair of free throws by Marshall. WCU came back with a 9-1 run to cut the lead to 63-49 with 11:43 to play following a three-pointer by Petrakis. The Bulldogs extended the lead back out to 18 points at 67-49 at the 8:50 mark after a layup by Marshall.
 
The Bulldogs led by as many as 26 points down the stretch at 83-57. Samford finished with the 85-60 victory.
 
Samford will go back on the road to play at Wofford on Wednesday, Jan. 12. The game is set for a 6 p.m. (CT) start from Spartanburg, S.C.





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