Jan 20, 2003

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.- Eddie Harper and Bryan Boerjan each scored career highs with 18 and 15 points respectively and Samford went 10-13 from the free throw line over the final 4:19 to claim a 74-62 Atlantic Sun victory over Jacksonville State in front of 2, 749 in Seibert Hall Monday night.

Free throw shooting proved to be the difference in the game as Samford went to the free throw line a season-high 34 times and made a season-high 24 for 71 percent from the line. JSU, on the other hand, was just 9-21 for 43 percent from the line.

The victory gives Samford its second straight win and moves the Bulldogs to 7-9 on the year and 3-2 in the A-Sun. The Gamecocks dropped to 10-5 on the year and 4-2 in conference. Omar Barlett led JSU with 19 points but was just 5-15 from the free throw line and was 3-10 from the line in the second half. Poonie Richardson had 18 points for the Gamecocks.

Jacksonville State took a 41-32 lead into halftime by shooting 68 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes. The second half was an entirely different story. Samford stepped up its defense and allow the Gamecocks to shoot just 26 percent in the second half. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs caught fire shooting 65 percent after halftime to finish the game at 51 percent. Samford is 5-0 when it shots better than 50 percent in a game and the Bulldogs are 7-3 when they score 60 points or more.

Bryan Boerjan had a career-high with 15 points on Monday.

The game was tied 51-51 with 9:02 remaining. Harper and Tyson Dorsey hit on back-to-back three-pointers to force a JSU time out with the Bulldogs leading 56-51 with 7:15 to play. Dorsey has now hit at least one three in eight straight games.

JSU pulled to within 59-57 when Barlett converted a lay-up and was fouled by Phillip Ramelli with 5:14. Ramelli fouled out with eight points. Barlett missed the free throw and would miss four of five from the stripe in the final five minutes.

Samford did not miss on its free throws down the stretch as Cornell Felton made six of six from the stripe in the game as he finished with 12 points, a career-high seven rebounds, and five assists. The Bulldogs out rebounded JSU 36-25 and claimed a season-high 13 offensive rebounds.

Samford will wrap up its three-game conference home stand on Thursday night as it hosts Mercer in a 7 p.m. game at Seibert Hall.