FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The Samford men's basketball team faced its toughest test of the earlier season tonight as it played a road game against an SEC side in the No. 21-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks. The Bulldogs hung around all night long in their second game in three days before falling 79-75. Samford drops to 2-2 overall on the season after the defeat while the Razorbacks move to 3-1. 

Impotently, the Bulldogs got off to a strong start in a hostile environment tonight. They jumped out to a 5-4 lead in the opening minutes and had five points from Cade Norris in the first four minutes. The home side answered with a run of their own and held the lead for the remainder of the opening half. They led by as many as twelve, but Samford was always there within an arm's reach. 

Six different Dogs scored in the opening 20 minutes of play. The majority of the offense came off the bench thru Zion Zilburn, who scored 11 points in nine minutes of action in the first half. He went 4-of-5 from the floor and 3-of-3 from deep as he kept the Bulldogs in the game. Cade Norris finished with seven in the half while Samford's lead trio of Keaton Norris, Dylan Faulkner, and Jadin Booth had five points apiece. Entering the game as the leading scorer in the nation, Booth struggled from the floor on the night as he went 1-for-7 in the first half and finished just 3-of-15 for the game. The Bulldogs trailed 45-35 at the halftime break. 

The second half was a series of runs back-and-forth between the two sides as the Bulldogs opened the second half on an 11-3 run to immediately cut the Arkansas lead down to two. The ranked home side had an answer as they grew the lead back to nine and then Samford cut it back down to just three. The Razorbacks would go on to lead by as many as 15 points with seven minutes left, but the Bulldogs weren't out of the game as they quickly got the deficit to single digits but ran out of time falling, 79-75. 

Booth scored nine in the second half while the Norris brothers combined for 14, and Faulkner added eight. After being outshot 51 to 37 percent in the first half, the Dogs held Arkansas to just 39 percent shooting in the second half and answered with 46 percent from the floor themselves. The Dogs have connected on double-digit three pointers in every contest this season, and that continued as they made 10, but on their lowest percentage of the season as they went 10-for-29. The Dogs held their own on the backboard throughout the night to the much bigger Razorback team 38-37, but the difference in the game was the home side going plus eight from the free throw line and winning the fast break battle 22-9.

Wilburn and Cade Norris each finished with team and career-highs of 15 points for the Bulldogs. Cade, Faulkner, and Jaxon Pollard all had six rebounds each to lead the Samford side.

The Bulldogs are back in action in two days as they finish their road trip on Sunday afternoon against Central Arkansas. Tip is scheduled for 1 p.m. as the Bears enter the game with a 1-2 record. 

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