HOUSTON, Texas -- The Samford men's basketball team led from start to finish on its way to an 87-65 win at Texas Southern Thursday night, marking Samford's 11^th-straight victory.
 
With the win, Samford improved to 11-2 on the season. The 11-game win streak is the longest for Samford since the 1998-99 team won 13 games in a row. The longest win streak in Samford history is 14 games by the 1960-61 team. Texas Southern fell to 1-9 with the loss.
 
"This was a great win, we know it is really hard to get a win on the road," Samford head coach Bucky McMillan said. "We knew we had to play well and have some resiliency. We got into some foul trouble and had some guys step up. It was a team effort like it's been all year long. I'm glad to close non-conference play with another win."
 
Samford was led in the win by A.J. Staton-McCray with 18 points and eight rebounds. Achor Achor tallied 15 points and six rebounds for the Bulldogs. Jaden Campbell added 10 points for Samford.
 
For Texas Southern, P.J. Henry led the way with 13 points. Grayson Carter added 10 points for the Tigers.
 
Samford got off to a hot start, racing out to a 12-2 lead with 14:01 left in the first half following a jumper by Garrett Hicks. The Bulldogs pushed their lead to 19 points at 23-4 with 9:32 to go in the opening half after a layup by Staton-McCray.
 
Texas Southern cut the Samford lead to 12 points at 25-13 with 6:26 to go in the first half after a free throw by Kehlin Farooq. Samford pushed the lead back out to 16 points at 29-13 at the 5:25 mark in the first half after a driving layup by Nathan Johnson. Samford took a 20-point lead late in the first half, and the Bulldogs held a 41-21 lead at halftime.
 
The Tigers hit the first two shots of the second half to cut the Samford lead to 41-25, but Samford hit back-to-back shots to push the lead back to 20 points at 45-25 with 17:43 left after a layup by Achor. TSU closed to within 12 points at 61-49 with 10:53 to play after a pair of free throws by Shaqir O'Neil.
 
Texas Southern cut the lead to nine points at 65-56 with 8:10 left after a free throw by Farooq. With Samford leading, 68-59, the Bulldogs went on a 16-2 run to push their lead to 84-61 with 3:58 left in the game after a jumper by Rylan Jones. Samford led by as many as 25 points down the stretch and the Bulldogs came away with the 87-65 win.
 
Samford will return to action on Jan. 3 when the Bulldogs open Southern Conference play by hosting Chattanooga. The game is set for a 6:30 p.m. start from the Pete Hanna Center.




 
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