Nov. 15, 2007

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - In Samford's first men's basketball game in the brand-new Pete Hanna Center, the Bulldogs mounted a late, second-half comeback against the Belmont Bruins, but fell short in a hard-fought 82-73 non-conference loss.

"We just waited too long to get things going and we can't afford to do that against a good team like Belmont," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "Joe Ross (Merritt) was hobbled a little bit out there, but he played well. I also thought that Bryan Friday played well, but as a team we can't start off that slowly."

In the loss, Samford (1-1) trailed by as many as 16 points, but cut Belmont's (3-1) lead to 71-69 with two minutes remaining.

Senior Travis Peterson scored a layup with 2:17 left to trim the Bruins' advantage to two points before Belmont's senior scoring leader Justin Hare recorded five-straight points to hold on for the win. Hare, the Bruins' No. 3 all-time scorer, finished with a game-high 25 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the floor.

With the victory, Belmont improved to 2-0 on the road this season. Last week, the Bruins defeated Cincinnati at Cincinnati, 86-75.

Samford was led in scoring by senior Joe Ross Merritt's career-high 24 points. The Bulldogs' 6-foot-4 guard from Oklahoma City, Okla., was 9-of-12 from the field and 3-for-6 from 3-point range. His previous career-high of 23 points was scored against Murray State last season.

Sophomore Bryan Friday also finished with career-highs in both points and rebounds as he exploded for 16 points and 10 boards. The double-double was his first as a Bulldog. Friday also tallied a stellar 6-of-8 shooting performance from the field.

Samford shot 56.5 percent from the floor, but only 29.2 from beyond the arc. Belmont finished with a 50 percent shooting percentage and a 39.1 mark from 3-point range.

"I thought that we turned the ball over too much and we let them get too many open shots," Tillette said. "We also committed too many fouls. In the game, we let them shoot 32 free throws and they made 27. The main thing is that we made too many mistakes and that led to too many easy baskets."

Belmont jumped out to an early 25-15 lead with 12:51 remaining in the first half.

The Bruins' Jordan Campbell and Henry Harris knocked down back-to-back 3-point baskets midway through the opening period and helped Belmont to its 35.7 first-half shooting percentage from beyond the arc.

Following a pair of free throws from Hare with 2:14 until halftime, Belmont took its largest lead of the game 36-20. Samford shot 20 percent (2-of-10) from 3-point range in the opening period.

In the second half, Belmont's lead hovered around the 12-point mark until there were eight minutes left to play.

With their loud home crowd behind them, the Bulldogs rallied behind the play of Trey Montgomery, Merritt, Friday and Peterson to trim the lead to 71-69. Merritt scored 17 of his career-high 24 points in the second half, while Friday tallied 13 in the final period and Montgomery added eight.

Samford finished the game with four players scoring in double figures, but received only four points from its bench. True freshman Josh Bedwell scored three points and fellow-frosh Josh Davis added a free throw.

Belmont's Campbell, also a true freshman, started the game and scored a career-high 21 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field. He was also 6-of-7 from the charity stripe.

The Samford University basketball team will continue its three-game homestand Tuesday at 7 p.m., as the Bulldogs host the Towson Tigers in the Pete Hanna Center.