CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- The Samford men's basketball team jumped out to an early lead and never looked back on its way to an impressive 78-56 win at Chattanooga Saturday afternoon at McKenzie Arena.
 
With the win, Samford improved to 20-3 overall and 9-1 in Southern Conference play. Samford has now won at least 20 games in three-straight regular seasons for the first time in program history. Reaching 20 wins in just 23 games marks the second fastest to 20 wins in program history and the fastest at the NCAA Division I level. Chattanooga fell to 15-8 overall and 7-3 in SoCon games.
 
Samford had a strong defensive performance in the game, holding Chattanooga to just 35.2 percent shooting, while making 50.9 percent of its own shots.
 
"Overall, this was an incredible team win," Samford head coach Bucky McMillan said. "Everybody came in and contributed in the game. When you go on the road, one thing that will always travel is defense, and we held a great offensive team, a well-coached team to 35 percent from the field. They make a lot of three-pointers, and we held them to six. When you do that, you have a great chance to win. I'm really happy with our team, I thought we got back to locking in on defense."
 
Samford was led in the win by Jaden Campbell with 16 points. Achor Achor and A.J. Staton-McCray scored 12 points each, while Garrett Hicks added 11 points. Jermaine Marshall, seeing his first action since Dec. 21 at Texas Southern due to injury, tallied eight points.
 
For Chattanooga, Honor Huff led the way with 16 points. Myles Che scored 15 points for the Mocs, while Trey Bonham added 13 points in the loss.
 
Samford got off to a hot start, racing out to a 9-0 lead with 16:42 to go in the first half following a jumper by Staton-McCray. Chattanooga fought back to cut the lead to five points at 15-10 with 13:57 left in the half after a four-point play by Huff. Samford then went on a 9-0 run to push its lead to 14 points at 24-10 with 10:33 left in the first half after a layup by Marshall.
 
Chattanooga cut the lead to 10 points at 25-15 at the 7:40 mark in the first half after a three-point play by Myles. Samford pushed its lead back out to 16 points at 35-19 with 3:31 left in the half after a free throw by Achor. Samford led by as many as 22 points down the stretch in the first half at 43-21, and the Bulldogs held a 43-23 lead heading into the locker room at halftime.
 
Chattanooga opened the second half with a 17-5 run to cut the lead to eight points at 48-40 with 14:16 to go after a three-pointer by Huff. Samford answered with a 9-2 run to push its lead back out to 15 points and 57-42 with 9:10 to go after a layup by Marshall.
 
The Mocs cut the lead to 12 points at 59-47 with 7:54 left in the game following a layup by Bonham. The Bulldogs increased their lead back to 16 points at 69-53 with 4:45 to go after a three-pointer by Hicks. With Samford leading, 69-56, the Bulldogs closed the game with a 9-0 run to take the 78-56 win.
 
Samford will remain on the road to play at UNC Greensboro on Thursday, Feb. 8. The game is set for a 6 p.m. (CT) start from Greensboro, N.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).