BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford Men's Basketball Team took sole possession of first place in the Southern Conference standings with an 83-71 victory over UNC Greensboro in front of a packed Pete Hanna Center on Wednesday evening.
The Bulldogs outscored the Spartans 45-21 over the final 12 minutes to erase a 12-point deficit. Samford finished the half shooting 57 percent and totaling 57 points against a UNCG squad that ranked 28th in the country in defensive field goal percentage coming into the night.
The win bolsters the Bulldogs' record to 19-9 overall and 13-2 in conference play as they continue to add to their highest SoCon win total since joining the league in 2008. UNCG drops to 18-10 overall and 12-3 in conference action.
Bubba Parham led a quartet of Bulldogs that scored in double figures with a season-high 21 points. The senior guard knocked down five of nine field goals, four of seven threes, and seven of nine shots from the free throw line.
Ques Glover (17), Jermaine Marshall (15), and A.J. Staton-McCray (14) all also tallied double-digit point totals, with Staton-McCray hauling in a team-high seven rebounds. Achor Achor added 9 points and five boards off the bench.
Defense prevailed in the first half, with the score reading 13-12 at the 8:19 mark following a layup by Marshall.
From there, Samford outscored the Spartans 13-8 to go up 26-20 following a Jaden Campbell layup. The Spartans closed out the half strong however, scoring nine unanswered to take a 29-26 lead into the break.
The Spartans scored seven of the first nine points in the second half, taking a 38-26 lead following a Dante Tracy layup at the 17:23 mark. After a Parham trey cut Samford's deficit to 39-36 with 15:05 to go, UNCG caught fire with an 11-2 run over three and a half minutes to go up 50-38 with 11:30 remaining.
The Bulldogs kicked it into high gear by rattling off a 15-6 run over the next three minutes. Staton-McCray sent the crowd into a frenzy when his trey at the 8:40 mark capped off the run and cut Samford's deficit to just 56-53.
The Spartans held steady by scoring five of the next seven points to go up 61-55 with 7:20 to play, but The Bulldogs kept attacking and scored eight of the next 10 points to tie it the before eventually outscoring UNCG 28-10 over the final seven minutes.
Samford's hot-shooting second half propelled them to a 45-percent (25-56) field goal efficiency for the evening. The Bulldogs converted eight of 14 threes in the second half to compile a clip of 44 percent (12-27) from beyond the arc while finishing the night at 75 percent (21-28) from the line.
The Bulldogs forced the Spartans to commit 17 turnovers, the most conceded by them in SoCon play this season. Samford turned those miscues into 14 points.
Samford will hit the road for its next league matchup on Saturday, Feb. 18 at VMI. Tip-off from Lexington, Va. is set for 12:00 p.m. (CST).
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