Jan. 29, 2005

Box Score

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. --- The Samford University basketball team fought back from an 11-point second-half deficit to have a game-winning 3-point shot from Jon Mills rattle out at the end of regulation in a 72-65 overtime loss on the road against the Southeast Missouri Redhawks.

With exactly 6.8 seconds remaining in regulation, Samford (11-8, 6-2 Ohio Valley Conference) took the ball out of bounds on its half of the court with the score knotted at 60-60.

The Bulldogs' came out of a timeout and ran a last-second play to perfection and found Mills open in the left corner for the potential game-winning 3-point basket. On the play, Samford's senior forward from Winfield, Ala., put up the shot from downtown and the ball went halfway down the cylinder before spinning its way out of the goal, sending the game to overtime.

In the overtime period, Southeast Missouri (9-10, 4-4 OVC) rallied to win its third-consecutive game of conference play as the Redhawks' Reggie Golson scored five critical points in the extra period. With the victory, SEMO earned its first win over the Bulldogs in the all-time series.

"This was a very tough loss for us," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillettte. "I don't think that we started off the game playing the way that we needed to and it's always tough to lose in overtime."

Samford was led in scoring by J. Robert Merritt, who finished the contest with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the floor. In the second half of play, Merritt connected on four crucial 3-point field goals and scored 16 of his 20 points in the final 25 minutes of play.

The Bulldogs' Randall Gulina and Jerry Smith also recorded double-digit scoring performances on Saturday. Gulina finished with 15 points, while Smith added 12.

The Redhawks took a 36-27 lead into the half behind the inside scoring of sophomore Terrick Willoughby and senior Dainmon Gonner. Willoughby led all scorers with 11 points at the intermission and shot 5-of-6 in the opening 20 minutes of play.

Gonner, Southeast Missouri's forward from Ft. Worth, Texas, and the leading scorer in the OVC, tallied eight first-half points on 4-of-8 shooting from the floor.

Southeast Missouri jumped out to an early 17-6 lead in the game on Derek Winans' deep 3-point basket from the left-hand corner. The Redhawks' senior hit two 3-point field goals in the first half of play and finished the game with 11 points.

The Bulldogs' senior forward Josh Hare stopped SEMO's early rally by draining a pair of free throws with 11:42 remaining in the half.

Samford went on a 10-1 run late in the opening half of play to cut the Redhawks' lead to 28-22. During the nearly four-minute stretch, Gulina scored eight-consecutive points in his first action in a game since injuring his ankle against Jacksonville State on Jan. 4.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action on Thursday, Feb. 3, as the Bulldogs return home to Birmingham, Ala., for a four-game OVC homestand which begins against the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles in a critical 7 p.m. matchup at Seibert Hall.