JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -- The Samford men's basketball team went on the road and captured a key Southern Conference win over ETSU, 75-72, Saturday afternoon at Freedom Hall.
 
With the win, Samford improved to 18-3 overall and 7-1 in Southern Conference play. ETSU fell to 10-11 overall and 2-6 in league action.
 
"This was a great win by our team," Samford head coach Bucky McMillan said. "It had the feeling of a Conference Tournament game. You have to be able to win in so many different ways, and we didn't shoot it the best, it wasn't the prettiest game, but it was a really gritty game."
 
Samford was led in the win by Nathan Johnson with 18 points. Jaden Campbell had 12 points and seven rebounds, while Rylan Jones scored 10 points, including two huge three-pointers late in the game.
 
"They shot it really well from three, better than I've seen them shoot it in a lot of games this year, so our guys had to find a way to persevere in other ways," McMillan said. "We did that by holding them to a low shooting percentage from the field overall, they shot 37 percent and we only had nine turnovers. But we had to have huge play out of guys when Achor got into foul trouble. We had Riley Allenspach come in that first half and was phenomenal as a freshman and Nathan Johnson played one of his best games. That's what it takes, you've got to have guys step up and that's what we did."
 
For ETSU, Gabe Sisk and Ebby Asamoah shared the team lead with 15 points each. Quima Peterson scored 12 points for the Bucs. Jadyn Parker had 10 points and 11 rebounds, while Jaden Seymour also tallied 10 points for ETSU.
 
Samford took an early 4-0 lead with 18:03 left in the first half after a pair of free throws by A.J. Staton-McCray. ETSU fought back to take an 11-9 lead with 14:15 left in the half following a layup by Karon Boyd. The Bucs extended their lead to six points at 19-13 at the 11:15 mark in the first half after a three-pointer by Asamoah.
 
Samford fought back to take a 22-21 lead with 8:25 left before halftime after a layup by Riley Allenspach. The Bucs came back to take a 30-28 lead with 4:39 to go in the first half after a three-pointer by Sisk. Samford, however, fought back to take a 36-34 lead at halftime.
 
Samford pushed the lead out to seven points at 41-34 with 18:20 to go after a layup by Campbell. The Bucs fought back to cut the lead to two points at 43-41 with 15:14 left after two free throws by Seymour. Samford scored the next five points to push the lead to seven points at 48-41 after a three-pointer by Garrett Hicks with 14:00 remaining.
 
ETSU closed to within three points again at 56-53 with 9:18 remaining following a three-pointer by Asamoah. After ETSU tied the score at 62-62, back-to-back three-pointers by Jones gave Samford a 68-62 lead with 2:59 to play. Samford extended its lead to nine points at 73-64 with 1:37 to play on a three-pointer by Johnson. ETSU came back to within three points at 75-72 and had the ball in the closing seconds but the Bucs were unable to get a tying shot to fall and Samford held on for the three-point win.
 
Samford will return home to host Wofford on Wednesday, Jan. 31. The game is set for a 6:30 p.m. start from the Pete Hanna Center.


 
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