BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford Bulldogs host the Furman Paladins on Saturday, Feb. 25 in a battle for the SoCon Men's Basketball Regular Season Championship.
Tip-off from the Pete Hanna Center is set for 1:00 p.m., with the contest airing live on
CBS Sports Network.
The two teams met earlier in the season, with the Paladins claiming a 91-84 overtime victory on Jan. 25 in Greenville. Furman leads the all-time series, 24-10
Logan Dye led a group of five Bulldogs that scored in double figures with a 19-point, six-rebound effort in the setback.
A.J. Staton-McCray went for 16 points and six boards while
Ques Glover (15),
Bubba Parham (10), and
Jaden Campbell (10) all added double-digit point totals.
The Bulldogs clinched a share of the SoCon Regular-Season Title with their 75-70 win at Chattanooga on Wednesday, marking the first SoCon championship by the Bulldogs since joining the league in 2008.
Samford used its physicality to pull away from Chattanooga in the second half, knocking down 19 of 23 free throws over the final 20 minutes and finishing with 42 rebounds.
Marshall carried the load with a 25-point, eight-rebound performance. The junior forward knocked down a season-high five threes while going 8-8 from the line.
Parham joined Marshall and Dye as the third Bulldog to be named Southern Conference Player of the Week on Monday after averaging 20 points per game, shooting 71 percent from the floor (12-17), and 69 percent (9-13) from three last week.
The Bulldogs' 96-61 win at VMI on Saturday, Feb. 18 got them to 20 wins for just the fourth time in program history and the first time ever that the Bulldogs recorded 20 regular-season wins in consecutive seasons.
Samford Men's Hoops' 15 SoCon wins mark the most by the Bulldogs since joining the conference in 2008, while also tying the 1998-99 team for most conference wins in a season in program history.
The Bulldogs were receiving votes in the most recent CollegeInsider.com Men's Mid-Major Top 25 poll release on Feb. 20. Furman (14) and UNCG (RV) also made an appearance in the rankings.
Samford is projected as a No. 15 seed in the West region in the most recent ESPN NCAA Tournament Bracketology announced on Feb. 21.
The Furman Paladins (23-7, 14-3 SoCon) edged Mercer 70-67 at home on Wednesday evening. Jalen Slawson led the way with 27 points and seven rebounds while JP Pegues added 18 points and five assists.
Mike Brothwell leads the Paladins with a scoring average of 17.4 points per game while Slawson sits second at 16 points per contest and leads the team in rebounding average at 7.2 boards per game.
The Paladins come in leading the SoCon in points per game (81.2), in addition to sitting atop the conference in scoring margin (+11.9) and assists per game (16.6).
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