Men’s Basketball Topped at South Carolina State

Saturday, December 17

Orangeburg, SC

2:00 PM

Samford University

6-6, 0-0

South Carolina State

2-11, 0-0

Team	1	2	F
Samford University	35	26	61
SOUTH CAROLINA STATE	40	22	62

Photo by: Chase Cochran | Samford Athletics

Men’s Basketball Topped at South Carolina State

12.17.22 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

ORANGEBURG, S.C. – Despite erasing a 15-point first-half deficit, The Samford Men's Basketball team fell to 6-6 on the season with a 62-61 setback at South Carolina State on Saturday.

Logan Dye (16) and Achor Achor (14) combined for 30 points, with Achor logging a team-high 10 rebounds to collect his first double-double as a Bulldog. Achor also swatted three shots while Dye pulled down six boards.

A.J. Staton-McCray added eight points while Jaron Rillie dished out a team-high five assists.

Both teams scored seven points over the first three minutes and change, but South Carolina State knocked down five of its next seven field goals as part of a 17-2 run to go up 24-9 at the 11:06 mark.

Samford chipped away at its deficit, however, cutting South Carolina State's lead to just 33-28 following an Achor layup at the 2:27 mark that capped off an 11-2 Samford scoring run.

Another Achor basket with 1:32 remaining cut Samford's deficit to just 35-33, but South Carolina State went on to outscore the Bulldogs 5-2 to take a 40-35 lead into the break.

South Carolina State outscored Samford 12-4 over the first five-plus minutes of the second half but Samford caught back up with a 16-2 run over the next eight minutes of action, capped off by a Staton-McCray three at the 6:39 mark to go up 55-54.

A Dye three on the Bulldogs' next possession put them up 58-54 with 6:01 to go and was then followed by a three-minute scoreless spell from both teams before South Carolina State knocked down a trey to make it 58-57 in favor of Samford.

The lead changed three times over the final two minutes, beginning with a South Carolina State trey that put them up 60-59. A Dye floater on the ensuing possession put Samford up 61-60 with 1:28 to play, but South Carolina responded with a basket on its next field-goal attempt to take a 62-61 lead with 58 seconds left.

Neither team converted a field goal the rest of the way. Samford saw two chances to take the lead with less than 10 seconds left, with the first chance being foiled by an offensive foul. Samford stole the ensuing inbound pass from South Carolina State, but a final-second jumper by Staton-McCray's fell short as time expired.

Samford finished the afternoon shooting 40 percent (21-52) from the field, 28 percent (6-21) from three, and 59 percent (13-22) from the free throw line. The Bulldogs registered 29 bench points, 28 points in the paint, and 19 points off South Carolina State turnovers.

The Men's Basketball team will conclude their five-game road trip on Wednesday, Dec. 21 with a 6:30 p.m. contest at Belmont.

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