Feb. 7, 2004

Box Score

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - J. Robert Merritt led Samford with 16 points and Eddie Harper chipped in 11 points but it was Austin Peay that came away with their 17th-straight Ohio Valley Conference victory as the Governors defeated the Bulldogs 61-56 Saturday night.

Austin Peay (14-7, 11-0 OVC) used a 13-4 run midway through the first half to build a 25-17 lead. The Govs took a 31-23 lead into half and built the lead to as many as 15 points 41-26 at the 15:07 mark of the second half.

Jon Mills hit a three-pointer and Merritt hit a pair of threes as the Bulldogs (10-11, 5-5 OVC) began to claw their back. Samford pulled to within three points at 56-53 on a layup by Harper with 3:41 remaining. Harper scored eight of his 11 points after the intermission.

"I thought we started the second half in a frenzy," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "We had to sit our three seniors to get the game slowed down and we began to comeback. We got a lift from Anthony LoPiano, Sebastian Sachse, and Jon Mills who all played well tonight."

Sachse played 15 minutes and scorecd four points and had three assists. Mills finished with three points, and LoPiano did not score but helped the Bulldogs handle the Govs full-court pressure.

Adrian Henning and Corey Gibson led the Govs with 13 points each and Anthony Davis finished with 10 points. APSU went 9-10 from the free throw line in the first while Samford did not shoot a foul shot in the opening period. In the second half samford went 8-11 from the strip while APSU was 7-11. Both teams committed 13 tournovers.

Samford will return to action on Thursday as it travels to Eastern Kentucky for a 7:30 p.m. game.