Nov. 24, 2008

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford basketball team extended its winning streak to three-consecutive games Monday as the Bulldogs overcame a three-point halftime deficit to earn a critical 57-50 win against the Lipscomb Bisons at the Pete Hanna Center. Junior Bryan Friday tied a career-high with 20 points in the victory.

"We couldn't play any harder than we did tonight and this was a good win," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "We played with great effort and we knew that was what we would have to do in order to beat a physical team. We didn't shoot the ball that well, but it was important that we were able to overcome that and still get the win."

With the victory, Samford (3-1) concluded its three-game homestand with an undefeated record and improved to 3-0 this season when playing in the Pete Hanna Center.

On Saturday, the Bulldogs will begin an arduous three-game road trip with an 11 a.m. (CST) matchup against the Ohio State Buckeyes. The marquee non-conference game will be held at Value City Arena (19,049) and will be televised live on the Big Ten Network.

Samford's Bryan Friday led all scorers with 20 points, with 18 of his game-high total coming in the second half of play. The Bulldogs' 6-foot-6 junior from Grapevine, Texas, shot 8-of-12 from the floor and made a number successful post moves around the basket. Friday also finished with five rebounds and a steal.

"I thought that we did a good of scoring the ball around the basket in the second half, especially Bryan Friday," Tillette said. "Bryan had a great second half and that's what he's capable of doing. He can score the ball, he can make threes and he has great post moves, so we thought that he had a very good game tonight."

In Monday's loss, Lipscomb (2-2) was held to a season-low 27.8 percent shooting from the field. The Bisons only made 5-of-23 of their 3-point attempts and turned in a 21.7 outing from beyond the arc.

Lipscomb was led in scoring by sophomore forward Brandon Brown's 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field. The Bisons' 6-foot-7 native of Nashville, Tenn., also finished with 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season.

The only other player to score in double figures for Lipscomb on Monday was Michael Teller. The 6-foot-5 triggerman was 4-of-10 from the field, with most of his damage coming from 3-point range. Teller finished 4-of-8 from beyond the arc.

"I thought that we really defended well tonight," said Tillette. "We never took a single possession off and we fought hard the entire time. Lipscomb has a lot of talent on their team and I thought we did a great job of limiting their good looks at the basket tonight. We still made a lot of mistakes but this was good win for us."

With 2:29 left in the contest, Lipscomb's Brown hit a running layup to trim Samford's lead to 50-48. The Bulldogs then used a clinching 7-0 run down the stretch to earn their critical 57-48 advantage.

During Samford's run, Trey Montgomery started the scoring with a driving layup to give the Bulldogs a four-point advantage. Sophomore center Andy King then knocked down a pair of free throws and Curtis West added another to extend the lead to 55-48 with 53 seconds remaining.

True to form, Bryan Friday closed out the scoring run with two more free throws to give Samford its decisive 57-50 victory. With his 20-point performance, Friday tied his career-high, matching a similar outing at Louisiana Tech last season on Feb. 23.

"Coach (Tillette) wants me to take the ball to the goal, so that's what I tried to do," said Friday. "I was also able to make a couple of outside shots late in the game, and as long as we get the win, I'm happy and Coach is happy."

Samford led by as many as four points early in the first half, but a late Lipscomb run helped the Bisons take a 23-20 advantage into the intermission. Neither team shot the ball well in the opening period as they combined to post a 2-for-20 outing from beyond the arc.

The Bulldogs were 1-for-11 from 3-point range in the first half, while the Bisons finished 1-for-9.

Samford's Bryan Friday immediately took over in the second half and scored eight of the Bulldogs' first 11 points of the period. Sophomore Josh Davis also turned in a solid second half and knocked down a pair of early 3-pointers in the final 20 minutes of play.

Davis finished with 11 points on 3-of-7 shooting from the field and King added 10 points for Samford with a 3-of-5 outing from the floor.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at 11 a.m. (CST), as the Bulldogs travel to Columbus, Ohio, for a marquee non-conference matchup against the Ohio State Buckeyes. The game will be held at Value City Arena (19,049) and will be televised live on the Big Ten Network.