BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford men's basketball team picked up an impressive 99-67 win over Alabama State on the first day of the Samford Multi-Team Event Wednesday evening in the Pete Hanna Center.
 
With the win, Samford improved to 3-2 on the young season. Alabama State fell to 1-4 with the loss.
 
"This was a great game by our guys," Samford head coach Bucky McMillan said. "Alabama State's a good team. I think our guys played really well. If we played those guys tomorrow, it could be a two-point game. I was really pleased with the outcome of the game. We had 26 assists in the game, with 13 turnovers as a team. If you do that, you're really passing the ball well. We had 36 field goals and 26 were assisted, that's pretty good."
 
As a team, Samford shot 58.1 percent from the floor, including 45.7 percent from three-point range. Jaden Campbell led Samford individually with 17 points, making 6-of-7 shots overall, including 2-of-3 from beyond the arc. Achor Achor had 13 points, while Rylan Jones added 11 points. Garrett Hicks and Riley Allenspach had 10 points each for the Bulldogs.
 
For Alabama State, Isaiah Range led the way with 15 points. Eric Coleman had 14 points, while C.J. Hines added 12 points for the Hornets.
 
The game was tight early until, with Alabama State leading, 8-7, Samford went on a 14-2 run to take a 21-10 lead with 9:57 left in the first half after a layup by Hicks. The Bulldogs pushed their lead to 14 points at 28-14 at the 7:25 mark in the first half following a jumper by Achor.
 
Alabama State fought back to cut the lead to just four points at 28-24 with 4:51 left in the first half after a three-pointer by Range. With Samford leading, 30-26, the Bulldogs closed the half with an 11-1 run to take a 41-27 lead into the locker room at halftime.
 
Samford opened the second half on a 7-0 run to push its lead out to 21 points at 48-27 with 17:47 left in the game following a layup by Nathan Johnson. The Bulldogs extended their lead to 30 points at 64-34 with 13:35 left after a three-pointer by Campbell.
 
Samford led by as many as 37 points down the stretch. The Bulldogs closed the game with a 99-67 victory.
 
The tournament will resume Friday. Alabama State will take on North Carolina A&T at 1 p.m. and Samford will play Merrimack at 3 p.m. in the Pete Hanna Center.


 
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