Jan. 27, 2005

Box Score

CHARLESTON, Ill. - The Samford University basketball team dropped its first game in nearly a month on Thursday as the Bulldogs lost a hard-fought road Ohio Valley Conference matchup versus the Eastern Illinois Panthers, 74-65, at Lantz Arena.

"I thought that we started the game poorly and we ended the game poorly," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "We had a chance at one point to go up by seven, but then we turned the ball over and allowed them to dribble the ball up the floor. The second half was probably our worst defensive half this year and you can't win ball games like that."

Samford (11-7, 6-1 OVC) was defeated in its first contest since Dec. 30 and the Bulldogs snapped a six-game winning streak. The loss was Samford's only defeat of the 2005 conference season and the team moved into a tie for first place in the OVC with Tennessee Tech.

The Bulldogs' senior Bryan Boerjan registered a career-high 17 points and dished out three assists in 29 minutes of play. Samford's 6-7 forward shot a perfect 4-of-4 from the free-throw line and finished the game 5-of-10 from the field.

J. Robert Merritt, the reigning OVC Player of the Week, led the Bulldogs with 22 points and four rebounds. He finished the contest shooting 6-of-11 from the floor and 4-of-8 from 3-point range. Heading into Thursday's matchup, Merritt was the 14th-ranked player in the nation in 3-point shooting percentage (46.7).

Eastern Illinois (7-11, 2-5 OVC) won its second game in three tries and improved to an impressive 6-2 record at home this season.

The Panthers were led by 21 points from Josh Gomes and a 19-point performance from senior Emanuel Dildy. Dildy, Eastern Illinois' shooting guard from Chicago, Ill., knocked down four 3-point baskets in the second half, including a critical shot from downtown with 6:32 remaining in the game.

The basket gave the Panthers a four-point lead, 55-51. Dildy scored 14 of his 19 points in the second half and finished the game shooting 5-of-7 from 3-point range.

"We couldn't guard their shooters late in the game," Tillette said. "We were giving them good looks from outside and they were scoring on us inside as well. That's what happened. I thought that we had enough good things going on offense. For us to score 65 points on the road is plenty good enough, but Eastern (Illinois) shot 65 percent in the second half, and was 7-of-9 from 3-point range."

For only the fifth time this season, Samford's opponent shot a better percentage from beyond the arc, as Eastern Illinois turned in a 61.1 percentage from 3-point range. The Bulldogs finished 11-of-27 from downtown, but EIU was 11-of-18 on its 3-point attempts.

Both teams shot well from the free-throw line on Thursday.

Samford finished with a 70.6 percentage from the charity stripe, but the Panthers finished with a near-perfect 15-of-16 mark from the line. All 16 of Eastern Illinois' free-throw attempts came in the second half of play.

At halftime, Samford held a 28-26 advantage in the game as the Bulldogs had five players score at least five points in the opening 20 minutes of play.

Boerjan led the way for Samford with seven points on 2-of-6 shooting in the first half, while Josh Hare scored six and the trio of J. Robert Merritt, Joe Ross Merritt and Jon Mills tallied five points apiece. Hare, the Bulldogs' senior from Cleveland, Tenn., finished the contest with 10 points and three rebounds.

Samford shot 50.0 percent from the floor in the opening half of play and 42.9 percent from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs attempted 14 3-point baskets in the first half and connected on six.

Eastern Illinois jumped out to an early 6-0 lead in the contest as Dildy and Aaron Patterson registered back-to-back 3-point baskets to open the game.

The Bulldogs' senior from Winfield, Ala., Mills, stopped EIU's early rally with a crucial layup from the left side. Mills finished with seven points on 3-of-5 shooting from the floor.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action on Saturday as the Bulldogs conclude their four-game conference road trip in Cape Girardeau, Mo., for a critical 7:30 p.m. matchup against the Southeast Missouri Redhawks.