Feb. 8, 2003

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Phillip Ramelli scored 19 points, Jon Mills had 17 points, and Tyson Dorsey scored 15 points as Samford never trailed in a 70-43 Atlantic Sun Conference win over Jacksonville Saturday afternoon at Seibert Hall.

Ramelli scored five of the Bulldogs first eight points to help Samford build an early 8-0 lead. JU got as close as 13-8 but the Bulldogs went on an 8-3 run to get the lead to double figures and never looked back in their largest victory of the season.

The Bulldogs (10-12, 6-5 A-Sun) took a 40-19 lead into halftime by shooting 52 percent from the floor in the first half and 41 percent from three point range. The Samford defense held JU to 32 percent from the floor and 16 percent from long range in the opening period.

Mills had 12 of his 17 points in the first half. Ramelli made his first eight shots from the floor finishing 8-9 and 2-2 from three-point range. He also pulled down nine rebounds just missing his second-consecutive double-double. Dorsey went 5-8 from three-point range as the Bulldogs hit 12-33 from beyond the arc. JU took only 13 attempts from long range connecting on just three of them.

The Dolphins (10-12, 5-5 A-Sun) were led by Calvin Warner's 16 points and Kevin Sheppard chipped in 13 points for the visitors.

Samford started the second half just like the first scoring the first eight points of the half. The lead grew to 54-24 with 17 minutes remaining when the Bulldogs hit their only dry spell of the game. The Bulldogs scored just four points over the next 10 minutes as JU went on a 11-4 run to make the score 58-35 at the seven minute mark. The Bulldogs took their largest lead at 70-39 on a three-pointer by Sebastian Sachse with 1:36 to play. JU scored the game's final four points on a pair of lay-ups by Riley Didion.

Samford finished the game shooting 48 percent from the field and 36 percent from beyond the arc and were a perfect 8-8 from the free throw line. The Bulldogs out rebounded the Dolphins 32-29 and committed just nine turnovers in the game.

The Bulldogs went 3-3 against teams from the A-Sun South winning three of the last four. Samford will go on the road for a pair of key A-Sun North games beginning on Feb. 13, at Jacksonville State. The Bulldogs and Gamecocks entered the day tied for third place in the North. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.