Nov. 14, 2008

Box Score

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - In its 2008-09 season opener, the Samford University basketball team was hampered by 24 turnovers in a 78-60 loss on the road against the Belmont Bruins at the Curb Event Center.

"Belmont's a very good team, but if we turn the ball over 24 times, we're not going to beat anybody," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "I was disappointed in the turnovers, especially because our guards turned the ball over 18 times. Defensively, I thought we played well, but the turnovers helped them to a lot of easy points."

In the loss, Samford (0-1) was led in scoring by junior guard Trey Montgomery. The Bulldogs' 6-foot-4 floor general finished with 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field. Montgomery also pulled down three rebounds and grabbed three steals.

Also scoring in double figures for Samford was sophomore guard Josh Bedwell. The Bulldogs' sharpshooter from Hartselle, Ala., was a perfect 7-for-7 from the free-throw line and knocked down a deep 3-point basket in the first half.

"I thought that we had some guys play well, but we need to be a lot better," Tillette said. "Belmont did a good job of limiting our shots. We only had 34 attempts tonight and only 11 of those were 3-pointers, but that's something we need to deal with. When they take away our threes we need to do a better job of cutting and getting to the goal."

Belmont (1-0) attempted 30 shots from beyond the arc and made 13 for a 43.3 percentage from long range.

The Bruins finished the game with three players in double figures and were led in scoring by senior guard Andy Wicke. Belmont's native of Hendersonville, Tenn., only scored two points in the first half, but tallied 12 down the stretch to pace the Bruins. Wicke turned in a 3-for-4 performance from the field and a 6-of-6 mark from the charity stripe.

Also scoring in double figures for the Bruins were Shane Dansby and Keaton Belcher. Dansby was 4-for-10 from the field, while Belcher knocked down 3-ofr-5 three-point attempts.

"Belmont shot the ball very well tonight, but they were able to get a lot of wide open looks in transition," Tillette said. "They are a very good basketball team and they have a lot of good shooters. They had 12 steals and we had 24 turnovers and that's definitely not a good combination for us, so we'll have to regroup and be ready to play Monday."

Samford finished Friday's game with 11 players scoring at least two points. Josh Davis tallied eight points on 3-of-4 shooting from the field, while Jim Griffin followed with seven, all of which came from the free-throw line.

Early in the second half, the Bulldogs' Curtis West drove through the lane for a running layup to cut the Bruins' lead to eight points, 39-31, with 17:04 to play. Belmont's lead remained around the 12-14 point range until Wicke scored five-straight to give the Bruins a 57-37 advantage with 12:24 to go.

With 1:24 remaining, Samford's Griffin knocked down a pair of free throws to move within 15 points of Belmont at 74-59.

"I don't know if it was first-game jitters or what, but I was really disappointed in a lot of our guys that we expect to play a lot of minutes," said Tillette. "Actually, our younger guys came in and played pretty well. Right now, we know it's a long season, so we'll take tomorrow off, but come back Sunday and get better."

Samford true freshmen Kaylin Johnson and Jeffrey Merritt both scored the first points of their collegiate careers Monday. Johnson knocked down a 3-pointer from the left flank late in the second half, while Merritt drained a turnaround 6-footer the first time he touched the ball.

Despite a sloppy first half of play, Samford used a late 6-0 run to move within 33-24 of Belmont at the intermission. Bedwell led the Bulldogs with eight first-half points, while both Friday and Davis added four points apiece in the opening 20 minutes of play.

Belmont finished the first half with four players scoring six points each. The Bruins were led in the opening period by Dansby, Alex Renfroe, Belcher and Matthew Dotson.

After a free throw from Murray State transfer Dansby, Belmont took its largest lead of the first half, 21-8, with 7:22 remaining in the stanza. During the 14-3 run, the Bruins' Belcher knocked down two-straight 3-point baskets.

Late in the first half, Samford's Bedwell knocked down a deep 3-point basket and then hit five-straight free throws. After a wide open layup from Davis, the Bulldogs trimmed the Bruins lead to 33-24 with 16.1 seconds remaining in the half.

Samford committed 13 turnovers in the opening period and shot 43.8 percent from the field. Belmont turned the ball over eight times in the first half, but shot 40 percent (6-fo-15) from beyond the arc.

Samford alumnus and current standout cornerback for the Tennessee Titans, Cortland Finnegan, was in attendance at Friday night's game. During the game, Finnegan sat next to country music star and Belmont fan, Vince Gill.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Monday at 7 p.m., as the Bulldogs welcome the Spring Hill College Badgers to the Pete Hanna Center for a non-conference matchup. The game will be Samford's home-opener of the 2008-09 campaign.