Bulldogs Take Exhibition Win Over Alabama A&M At Ballin’ In Boutwell Game

Tuesday, October 13

BIrmingham, Ala.

7 PM

Samford University

0-0,0-0SoCon

Alabama A&M

0-0,0-0SWAC

Team	1	2	F
Samford	32	39	71
Alabama A&M	25	36	61

Box Score (PDF)

Bulldogs Take Exhibition Win Over Alabama A&M At Ballin’ In Boutwell Game

10.13.26 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford men's basketball team picked up a 71-61 win over Alabama A&M in the Ballin' In Boutwell exhibition game Tuesday evening at Boutwell Auditorium in downtown Birmingham.

"This was kind of what I expected," Samford head coach Lennie Acuff said. "I thought we did some good things. I thought we had some pockets where we played well and we had some pockets where we didn't play very well. It's what you expect for the first time out. We played 12 guys, we subbed an awful lot, which we won't do that in a regular-season game. I thought we got off to a good start in each half, which is important."

Cooper Noard led Samford in scoring with 15 points. Ty Davis had 12 points and 11 rebounds, while Will Shaver had 12 points and 10 rebounds. Cade Norris dished out eight assists for Samford.

For Alabama A&M, Bilal Abdur Rahman led the way with 15 points. Devin Brown had nine points and 11 rebounds for Alabama A&M.

Samford jumped out to a fast start, racing out to a 10-2 lead with 16:15 left in the first half following a three-pointer by Noard. After Alabama A&M cut the lead to five at 10-5, Samford went on a 7-2 run to take a 10-point lead at 17-7 with 11:57 left in the opening half after a three-pointer by Braeden Macvicar.

Alabama A&M scored the next five points to cut the lead to five again at 17-12 at the 9:51 mark in the first half after a pair of free throws by Abdur-Rahman. Samford answered with a 7-0 run to push the lead to 12 points at 24-12 with 8:07 to play in the half after two free throws by Isaiah Campbell-Finch. Alabama A&M fought back to cut the lead to three points at 25-22 late in the half, but Samford took a 32-25 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Samford extended its lead to 15 points at 44-29 with 14:19 to play after a basket by Noard. Alabama A&M closed to within 10 points at 50-40 with 10:27 to play after two free throws by Abdur-Rahman.

Samford pushed the lead back out to 14 points at 57-43 at the 6:19 mark after two free throws by Campbell-Finch. A 6-0 Alabama A&M run cut the lead back to eight points at 57-49 with 5:31 to go after a three-pointer by Jayden Jackson. Samford extended the lead back out to 11 points at 62-51 and the team held on for the 71-61 win.

Samford has two more exhibition games left before starting the regular season. The Bulldogs will play exhibition games at Jacksonville State on Oct. 26 and at Auburn on Oct. 29. Samford will open the 2026-27 regular season by playing host to Berry on Nov. 2 at 6:30 p.m. at the Pete Hanna Center.

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).