VALPARAISO, Ind. -- The Samford men's basketball team earned its 10^th-straight win in a 79-61 victory at Valparaiso Tuesday afternoon at the Athletics-Recreation Center.
 
With the win, Samford is now 10-2 on the season. The 10-game win streak is the longest for a Samford team since the 1998-99 team won 13 games in a row. The school record for longest win streak is 14 games by the 1960-61 team. Valparaiso fell to 4-8 with the loss.
 
"This was a great win," Samford head coach Bucky McMillan said. "It's always hard to win on the road. We had different guys step up today. It was a big game by Garrett Hicks and Nate Johnson. You've got to win in different ways. Tonight, our zone played a big factor, our guys did a great job of communicating in that."
 
Samford was led in the win by Garrett Hicks with 15 points. A.J. Staton-McCray had 13 points, while Achor Achor added 10 points for the Bulldogs. Rylan Jones dished out a game-high seven assists.
 
Cooper Schwieger led Valparaiso with 15 points. Sherman Witherspoon added 11 points for the Beacons.
 
Valparaiso scored the first five points of the game, but Samford answered with a 12-2 run to take a 12-7 lead with 12:47 left in the first half following a three-pointer by Jaden Campbell. Valparaiso fought back to tie the game at 16-16, but Samford scored the next six points to take a 22-16 lead with 8:57 left in the half after a three-pointer by Dallas Graziani.
 
Samford pushed its lead to 12 points at 30-18 with 4:22 left in the first half after a driving layup by Staton-McCray. Samford held a 35-27 lead heading into the locker room at halftime.
 
Valparaiso cut the Samford lead to just six points at 40-34 with 17:21 left in the game. With Samford leading, 46-40, the Bulldogs went on an 11-2 run to take a 57-42 lead at the 9:32 mark after a three-pointer by Nathan Johnson.
 
Samford stretched its lead out to 18 points at 64-46 with 6:47 to go after a layup by Achor. Valparaiso closed to within 12 points at 64-52 with 5:04 to go. Samford, however, answered with a 13-4 run to take a 21-point lead at 77-56 with 1:10 to go after a layup by Lukas Walls. Samford finished with the 79-61 win.
 
Samford will play at Texas Southern Thursday evening. The game is set for a 6 p.m. start from Houston, Texas.




 
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