Jan. 28, 2006

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - In what was its most impressive home performance of the conference season, the Samford University basketball team coasted to an 84-68 victory over the Austin Peay Governors on Saturday in front of a frenzied crowd in Seibert Hall.

Sophomore Travis Peterson scored a career-high 22 points in only 25 minutes of play and shot 7-of-9 from the floor. The Bulldogs' 6-foot-10 center from Glendale, Ariz., also grabbed five rebounds.

Randall Gulina and J. Robert Merritt also scored in double figures for the Bulldogs on Saturday.

Gulina finished with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field, while Merritt, the third-ranked player in the nation in 3-point shooting, added 19 points and was 6-of-8 from beyond the arc. All six of his field goals came from beyond the arc.

"This was a good win for us today and I'm proud of our guys," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "We're really shooting the ball well right now and we're leading the conference in field-goal percentage. I also think that we played unselfishly. We had 22 assists and only committed nine turnovers."

With the win, Samford (14-5, 10-2 Ohio Valley Conference) extended its winning streak to four-consecutive games and has been victorious in 11 of its previous 12 contests. The Bulldogs' lone loss during the stretch was an 88-85 overtime defeat versus Tennessee Tech.

Samford improved to 7-2 at home this season and has compiled an 81-23 record at Seibert Hall under Coach Tillette.

"We're playing with tons of confidence right now," said Peterson. "Our defense starts everything off for us and we've really been devoted to playing tough defense this year. We also did a good job of winning all of the hustle plays today."

Austin Peay (11-10, 6-6 OVC) lost its third-straight game and shot a below-average 43.1 percent from the floor.

The Governors were led in scoring by freshman Landon Shipley. The 6-foot guard from St. Louis, Mo., earned 15 points and connected on 3-of-6 of his 3-point field goal attempts.

Austin Peay's Zac Schlader was held to 11 points on Saturday. The Bulldogs' matchup zone defense was keyed to limit his touches and Governors' 6-foot-9 center only attempted 10 shots. Heading into the game, he was averaging 15.3 points per game.

"Last year, they (Austin Peay) came in here and killed us in the OVC Tournament," Peterson said. "Schlader had a big game against us then and we knew that today Ryan (Woolsey) and I had to stop him from getting the ball in his hands. We were able to do a good job of fronting him and denying any passes."

Samford led by as many as 25 points in the first half and took a 46-24 advantage into the intermission.

The Bulldogs shot 57.1 percent in the opening period and Peterson led all scorers with 15 points. Gulina, who scored Samford's first six points of the game, had 10 heading into halftime.

After a layup from Jerry Smith at the 12:53 mark in the second half, Samford held a 33-point lead, 61-28. The Bulldogs' junior point guard finished with seven assists for the third-straight game.

The atmosphere was electric in Seibert Hall on Saturday and Samford's players put the crowd in a frenzy with four thunderous dunks and four blocked shots.

Jason Black, the Bulldogs' redshirt freshman from Martin, Tenn., threw down a pair of the team's dunks, while Peterson also had two and blocked a shot. Sophomore Ryan Woolsey tied his career-high with two blocks.

"This has been a good stretch of wins for us, but it's a fragile thing and we have a very tough game coming up on Monday," said Tillette. "We have to go play at Murray State and you're only as good as your last game."

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action on Monday as the Bulldogs meet the Murray State Racers in a first-place showdown scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m., in Murray, Ky.

The game can be heard live on WVSU 91.1-FM or via the Internet at either www.samfordsports.com or www.al.com/WVSU.