Jan. 14, 2006

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - With the score knotted at 85-85 and the game seemingly headed for a second overtime period, the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles' Milone Clark connected on a 35-foot heave with mere tenths of a second remaining to upend Samford, 88-85, in Seibert Hall on Saturday.

"This was a tough loss for us today, but it's a long season and the most important thing for us is to see how we rebound from this," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "Things like this happen in life, but we have a long way to go. There's still a month and a half left in the season and there will always be ups and downs."

Samford (10-5, 6-2 Ohio Valley Conference) suffered its first defeat since Dec. 8 on Saturday, and had its seven-game winning streak snapped. The Bulldogs' previous loss was a 62-61 defeat at home against Jacksonville State.

With its last-second victory, Tennessee Tech (11-5, 6-2 OVC) extended its winning streak to three-consecutive games and will conclude its three-game road trip against Austin Peay on Monday.

Samford led by two, 84-82, with 23 seconds remaining in overtime when Tennessee Tech's Anthony Fisher drained a hotly-contested 3-pointer from the right wing to give the Golden Eagles a one-point advantage, 85-84. The lead was Tennessee Tech's first of the extra period.

On the ensuing possession, the Bulldogs broke through TTU's full-court press and Jerry Smith found Travis Peterson open underneath the basket. Peterson collected the pass and went up for the layup, but was fouled by Derek Stribling.

Peterson made the first of his two free throws to even the score at 85-85, but missed on his second attempt. As a team, Samford shot 59.5 percent (22-of-37) from the free-throw line in the game.

With four seconds remaining in overtime, Tennessee Tech's Clark grabbed the rebound and hurriedly rushed up the court just beyond the timeline and launched the deep 3-point attempt to win the game.

"We missed free throws, we turned the ball over at the end of the game and we did things that helped them win," Tillette said. "We just let this one slip away, but I also have to give them credit because they made two incredible shots."

At the end of regulation, Samford led by three points, 76-73, with seven seconds remaining when Fisher hit a 3-point basket from the right wing to send the game into overtime.

Fisher, Tennessee Tech's leading scorer on the season, finished with 13 points on 4-of-9 shooting from the floor.

The Golden Eagles' Belton Rivers led all scorers with 27 points, while Samford's Randall Gulina and J. Robert Merritt each finished with 21 points to lead the Bulldogs. Gulina's point total equaled his career-high, which he set Thursday.

Smith added 15 points for Samford and was 5-of-8 from the free-throw line.

The Bulldogs shot 55.3 percent from the floor as a team and finished 11-of-21 from beyond the arc. Gulina led Samford with three 3-point baskets. Tennessee Tech also shot well from the field at 53.8 percent and connected on 47.6 percent of its 3-point attempts.

"I thought that we were a step slow defensively the whole game," said Tillette. "We were allowing them to go by us off the dribble, but as it was, we got enough stops at the end of regulation and in overtime to have a lead in the game. We just weren't able to close the door at the end and that's the disappointing part."

Samford led by as many as 17 points in the first half and took a 41-31 advantage into the intermission.

The Bulldogs' Smith paced all scorers with 10 points in the opening half and turned in a perfect 4-of-4 shooting performance from the field. J. Robert Merritt scored nine points and grabbed five first-half rebounds.

In the opening period, Samford shot 66.7 percent from both the floor and from beyond the arc, but committed seven turnovers.

Tennessee Tech turned the ball over six times in the first half and was led in scoring by both Derek Stribling and Rivers. Each of the aforementioned Golden Eagles scored seven points and dished out two assists.

"We responded well earlier this season from the Jacksonville State loss and now we have to respond from this," Tillette said. "Right now, we just have to go on the road and get better."

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action on Thursday as the Bulldogs square off against the Morehead State Eagles at 6:45 p.m., in Morehead, Ky.