ORANGEBURG, S.C. - The Samford men's basketball team took to the road in non-conference play tonight to face South Carolina State. A free-flowing first half turned into a slow-pace second, but Samford came out on top in the Bulldog against Bulldog battle with an 88-81win. The victory moves Samford's record to 8-2 on the season.

Both teams came out of the gate on fire from the floor. Each side was over 57 percent shooting from the field in the first half, and Samford was able to knock down 11 threes in the opening 20 minutes. The Bulldogs were led by Trey Fort who was scorching early, scoring 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting from deep. Jaden Brownell chipped in with an efficient 11 points while Collin Holloway got into double figures in the first half. 

Samford assisted on 12 of their 20 makes in the first half, as Collin and Josh Holloway had three while Rylan Jones had four. The Dogs never trailed and led 54-46 at the half.

A slow pace in the second half led to just 21 shots for Samford, compared to the 35 they took in the first half. Despite the limited looks, they still shot it 52 percent in the half and 55 percent for the game. The home side did a better job defensively on Fort in the second 20 minutes of play, but he still ended the night with a career-high 25 points.

Brownell went on to finish 7-of-9 from the floor and with 17 points while the Dogs got strong contributions from the bench unit from Larry Olayinka, Lukas Walls, and Riley Allenspach. The trio combined to score 21 points led by Allenspach's 10. 

The home side cut the Samford lead down to two on multiple occasions late, but a big three from Josh Holloway and an Olayinka layup put an end to their runs. Entering the night as the highest-scoring team in the nation, the Bulldogs came in slightly below their total for the season with 88 points, but they never trailed in the game and led by as much as 13.

The Bulldogs return home and are back in action on Sunday against a good Austin Peay side at the Pete Hanna Center. Tip is at 2 p.m. as the Governors enter the game with a 4-4 record on the year and losers of 4 of their last 5 games.

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