March 2, 2007

Box Score

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Samford University basketball team's 2006-07 campaign came to an end Friday in the semifinal round of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, as the Bulldogs dropped a 65-55 decision against the No. 1-seeded Austin Peay Governors.

For only the second time in school history, Samford (16-16) advanced to the semifinals of the OVC Tournament, which is annually held at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in downtown Nashville, Tenn.

The Bulldogs trailed by six points at the half, but fought back to take a 44-43 lead with 8:41 remaining in the game. At that point, regular-season champion Austin Peay (21-10) embarked on a late 16-5 run to take a 59-49 advantage with less than a minute to play.

"I thought that we competed well, but down the stretch they made big plays and we didn't," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "We had some open shots, some good open looks that just didn't go down. Travis (Peterson) had an unfortunate play where the ball slipped out of his hand on a lay-in and we missed some free throws. They just made more big plays down the stretch."

Both teams finished the game with four players scoring in double figures.

Samford's Randall Gulina led all scorers with 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and was 5-of-6 from the free-throw line. The Bulldogs only shot 56.3 (9-of-16) from the charity stripe Friday after tallying an 87.5 (21-of-24) performance against Murray State on Tuesday.

Junior starters Travis Peterson and Joe Ross Merritt both finished with 11 points against Austin Peay.

Peterson, the Bulldogs' 6-foot-10 center from Glendale, Ariz., added a game-high five assists and led the team with three 3-point baskets. Merritt turned in a solid all-around performance with a 5-of-10 outing from the floor, four rebounds, three assists and a block.

Senior Jerry Smith concluded his illustrious four-year career Friday with 10 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals.

With his three assists in the game, Smith increased his season total to a career-high 121 and improved the all-time Samford record to 433. He is also the only Bulldog in school history to tally 900 points, 500 rebounds and 400 assists.

Austin Peay's Fernandez Lockett recorded a double-double in the victory.

The Governors' 6-foot-5 forward finished with 19 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. He was also 7-of-10 from the floor and knocked down 5-of-8 attempts from the free-throw line.

True freshman Wes Channels added 14 key points for Austin Peay, 10 of which came in the second half. In only his fourth start of the season, he was 3-for-6 from beyond the arc and knocked down a critical 3-point basket with 52 seconds remaining to give the Governors a 57-49 advantage.

"I thought that the person that really hurt us down the stretch was Channels," Tillette said. "As a freshman, he really stepped up and made a lot of key threes. We were really concerned about (Todd) Babington and we held him to only one three in the game. Austin Peay is a very good basketball team. It came down to the end of the game and they made shots while we didn't"

Samford trailed by as many as 11 points in the game, but fought back to take its second lead of the contest at the 12:12 mark in the second half, 38-37. The Bulldogs' first lead came when Gulina drove in for a layup to begin the game.

Following a back-door cut and lay-in from Merritt at the 11:18 mark, Samford built its largest advantage of the contest to 42-37.

During the Bulldogs' run in the second half, Gulina hit a pair of deep 3-point baskets, while Peterson added five points and Merritt was the recipient of a couple of back-door cuts.

Samford finished with 15 assists on its 20 field goals and only committed six turnovers.

"We really competed hard tonight and our players gave everything they had," said Tillette. "We had a couple of key guys fighting some injuries tonight and I think that might have started to take its toll late in the game."

In the first half of play, both teams mounted identical 7-0 runs, but Austin Peay rallied late in the period to take a 26-20 lead at the intermission.

The Governors' Lockett led all scorers with nine points in the first half. Austin Peay's junior forward from Madison, Ala., was 4-of-5 from the floor and also pulled down four rebounds.

Samford's Gulina and Peterson both scored six points during the opening 20 minutes of play. Gulina was 2-for-4 from the field in the first half, while Peterson registered a game-high four assists.

There were only four total turnovers in the opening period, with Austin Peay committing three and Samford turning the ball over once. The Bulldogs recorded seven assists in the first half.

Samford completed its 2006-07 campaign with a 16-16 overall record and a 12-8 mark in OVC play. The Bulldogs advanced to the semifinal round of the OVC Tournament for a second straight season.