BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford men's basketball team wrapped up a second-straight Southern Conference regular-season title with an 87-71 win over ETSU Saturday afternoon in the Pete Hanna Center.
 
"What an accomplishment for our guys, for our program and for all of the people associated with the program, to win the SoCon this year and be the one seed going into the tournament," Samford head coach Bucky McMillan said. "To be able to go back-to-back and bring home two SoCon championships, the first two Samford has had in back-to-back seasons, I'm so excited for our university and all of the people, not just our players and coaches, but everybody associated with the university and our fans, I'm so happy for them."
 
The win also assures Samford of the No. 1 seed in the upcoming SoCon Tournament for the first time since joining the league. Samford is now 25-4 overall and 14-2 in SoCon play. The 25 wins are the most in a season in program history. The game was played in front of 4,523 fans, the second-largest home crowd in Samford basketball history. ETSU fell to 14-15 overall and 8-10 in league play.
 
"It was a really good first half, everybody came in and was popping," McMillan said of the game. "Our crowd was unbelievable. I was really glad we were able to play well in that first half for them. The second half wasn't our best, it wasn't terrible. We got away from who we are, so that is why they were able to kind of come back. But then we put our first group guys back in and they were able to space it back out."
 
Samford was led in the win by Jaden Campbell with a career-high 28 points. Rylan Jones had 19 points and five assists, while Garrett Hicks had 14 points and Jermaine Marshall added 10 points.
 
For ETSU, Ebby Asamoah led the way with 19 points. Jaden Seymour tallied 17 points for the Bucs.
 
Samford jumped out to an early 7-2 lead with 18:09 to go in the first half following a three-pointer by Jones. ETSU scored the next five points to knot the score at 7-7 with 16:22 left in the opening half after a layup by Quimari Peterson.
 
With Samford leading, 16-15, the Bulldogs went on a 20-2 run to push their lead to 36-17 with 6:30 remaining in the first half after a layup by Marshall. Samford pushed its lead to 27 points at 53-26 with 1:06 to go in the opening half after a three-pointer by Campbell. Samford took a 53-27 lead into the locker room at halftime.
 
The Bulldogs pushed their lead to 28 points at 55-27 with 19:56 to go following a pair of free throws by Campbell. With Samford leading, 67-41, ETSU went on an 11-0 run to cut the lead to 15 points at 67-52 with 11:15 to go after a pair of free throws by Seymour.
 
Samford pushed the lead back to 20 points at 75-55 8:49 left in the game after a layup by Hicks. ETSU could get no closer than 16 the rest of the way as Samford came away with the 87-71 win.
 
Samford will next play at Wofford on Wednesday, Feb. 28. The game is set for a 6 p.m. (CT) start from Spartanburg, S.C.




 
FOLLOW THE BULLDOGS
For the latest news and information on Samford men's basketball, visit the official website for Samford Athletics at SamfordSports.com. Fans can also follow the Bulldogs on social media at /SamfordSports (Facebook), @SamfordMBB (Twitter), and @SamfordMBB (Instagram).