Nov. 11, 2007

Box Score

EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The Samford University basketball team used a last-second, left-handed runner in the lane from senior Joe Ross Merritt to defeat the Evansville Purple Aces 50-49 on road Sunday in Roberts Stadium.

With the win, Samford (1-0) opened its season with a victory for the third time in the last four years and defeated Evansville (0-1) for the first time in school history. Prior to Sunday's game, the Purple Aces held an 4-0 advantage in the all-time series.

"This was a big win for us because I didn't think that we played that well in the second half, but we were able to hold on for the win," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "I would like to be able to take credit for the game-winning shot, but really our guys were able to make a play and we had a senior step up and make the shot."

With 8.8 seconds remaining in the game, Samford trailed 49-48 and had possession of the ball. The inbounds pass went to Trey Montgomery and after a couple of passes he regained control of the ball on the left wing.

As the clock wound down to three seconds, Montgomery faked right, drove left and found Merritt on the baseline with one second remaining. Merritt immediately went up with the shot and banked it home the game-winner as the horn sounded.

Merritt led Samford with 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting from the floor. He helped carry the Bulldogs in the second half and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field in the final period. Fellow-senior Travis Peterson finished with 14 points and led the team in both rebounds (4) and minutes played (37).

With the loss, Evansville (0-1) opened the Marty Simmons era with a defeat Sunday. Simmons, a former star player and assistant coach for the Purple Aces, made his regular-season coaching debut in the game.

"I really feel bad for Marty in his coaching debut," Tillette said. "I thought that his team played tough and they did a great job in the second half. His team is extremely young right now and I think that they will definitely get better this season."

Evansville was led in scoring by Jason Holsinger, who tallied a game-high 19 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field. The Purple Aces' speedy sharpshooter scored 10 of his 19 points in the second half and was 5-of-7 from the free-throw line.

Samford shot a sizzling 52.6 percent from the floor in the opening period of play and took a 30-19 lead in the half.

Peterson led all scorers with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field in the first 20 minutes. The Bulldogs' 6-foot-10 center also knocked down a pair of 3-point baskets. Merritt, Samford's senior guard from Oklahoma City, Okla., scored nine points in the opening period and tallied a pair of steals.

Sophomore Trey Montgomery made his first career start Sunday and finished the first half with six points, four steals and two rebounds.

"I thought that our seniors played really well and that Trey Montgomery did a great job in his first start," said Tillette. "Trey played with a lot of energy and did an outstanding job for us on the defensive side of the ball. I thought that he also did well offensively, but as a team we have to cut down on mistakes and focus on making our free throws."

Montgomery, Samford's lithe guard from Destrehan, La., finished with 10 points, five steals, three rebounds and three assists. He led the Bulldogs with four free throws and finished 4-of-6 from the charity stripe.

After a tip-in from Merritt and a 3-point basket from Montgomery early in the second half, Samford held its largest lead of the game 34-21 with 17:35 to play.

Evansville then used an 11-0 run to trim Samford's lead to 37-32 with 12:56 left in the game. The Bulldogs continued to hold a slim advantage throughout the second half until Evansville earned only its third lead of the game with 3:29 remaining. At that point, the teams played back and forth until Merritt's buzzer-beating shot to win the game.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Thursday as the Bulldogs host the Belmont Bruins at 7 p.m. The non-conference matchup will be Samford's first regular-season game held in the University's brand-new, 32-million-dollar Pete Hanna Center.

Belmont, which was one of Samford's top rivals from its Atlantic Sun Conference, defeated Cincinnati 86-75 on the road Friday.