Nov. 28, 2009

Box Score

LUBBOCK, Texas - With 11:52 remaining in Saturday's game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders, Samford only trailed its second Big 12 opponent of the season 49-43 in front of 7,930 fans at United Spirit Arena. Despite a career-high 26 points from the Bulldogs' Josh Davis, Texas Tech rallied late to score 25 of the final 35 points en route to a 74-53 victory.

Davis, Samford's junior guard from Lubbock, Texas, finished 9-of-17 from the field and 6-of-12 from 3-point range for his career-high total. In front of a number of local friends and family, Davis surpassed his previous personal-best of 23 points, which he tallied against Reinhardt College on Dec. 15, 2007.

"I thought that we played well in spurts and we hung in with them well until midway through the second half," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "Then, late in the game, we just seemed to lose focus and played out of rhythm. We definitely didn't play tough enough today, especially on the defensive side of the ball and in rebounding. That's something we need to work on.

"Josh Davis played a great game for us today and he was really able to hit the sweet spot. Usually, when our guys come back and play in front of their home crowds, they are usually either too distracted by friends and family, or they are nervous and try to do too much. Davis was outstanding today and really did a great job for us."

With Saturday's loss, Samford (1-5) dropped to 0-5 on the road this season, including two-straight setbacks against Big 12 opponents. In their most recent road game on Nov. 20, the Bulldogs fell short in a 68-49 loss at Texas A&M.

"Texas Tech just kept playing and they ground us down basically," said Tillette. "We didn't score for awhile in the second half and when you don't score for awhile, especially on the road then you don't really have anything to hang your hat on. I thought that was the difference and that's something that our team will learn from as the season goes on."

Texas Tech (7-0) remained undefeated on the season and improved to 6-0 at home. The Red Raiders have not been beaten in United Spirit Arena since a 78-63 loss to Oklahoma on Feb. 28.

After Samford's breakaway layup from Matthew Friday to trim the Red Raiders' lead to 49-43 midway through the second half, Texas Tech took a timeout to regroup. Following the break, John Roberson, David Tairu and Brad Reese took over to score the next nine points to extend Texas Tech's lead to 58-43.

Roberson knocked down one of his team-high four 3-pointers during the stretch, while Tairu finished with a pair of layups and Reese added an old-fashioned 3-point play.

The Red Raiders outscored the Bulldogs 38-25 in the second half, including 25 of the last 35 points of the game. Samford only shot 37.2 percent from the field in the final period, while Texas Tech knocked down 53.1 percent of its attempts.

"We gave them too many wide-open looks," Tillette said. "Heading into the game, they were only shooting 33 percent from 3-point range, but it seemed like they made every shot against us today. There were two or three of their shooters that we didn't `star' in our scouting report, but they definitely looked good out there today."

Texas Tech continued its balanced scoring Saturday and finished the game with four players tallying double figures. Roberson led the way with 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field, while Tairu followed closely with a 15-point performance. Roberson also finished with a game-high nine assists and was 4-for-8 from beyond the arc.

Also scoring in double figures for the Red Raiders were Nick Okorie and Mike Singletary. Okorie tallied 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field and added five rebounds and a pair of assists. Singletary, whose father is the legendary linebacker for the Chicago Bears and current head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, added 11 points on a perfect 4-for-4 shooting performance from the floor.

Samford was paced by Davis' career-high points Saturday, but nobody else reached double figures. Senior point guard Trey Montgomery was the closest with nine points. He also finished with five rebounds, three assists and a trio of steals.

"It was nice to come home and play in front of all my family and friends," said Davis. "Playing here in Lubbock definitely helped my energy and I felt good out there. It was hard to keep focused at some points, but I was able to hit some shots early and that really gave me some confidence as the game went on."

The Bulldogs only shot 36.7 percent from the field against Texas Tech. The Red Raiders tallied a 54.7 percent mark from the floor. Texas Tech also out-rebounded Samford 35-20 and recorded 14 second-chance points.

At halftime, Samford trailed Texas Tech 36-28. The Bulldogs opened the game with a quick 7-0 lead, but the Red Raiders bounced back with an 11-0 run of their own. Midway through the first half, Davis led Samford on another spurt as he knocked down his second and third 3-point field goals of the opening period.

Following Davis' third 3-pointer of the first half, the Bulldogs held a 20-18 advantage with 10:34 to play in the stanza. Davis, a native of Lubbock, Texas, connected on 4-of-6 three-point field-goal attempts in the first half and led all scorers with 12 points at the intermission.

Samford's Bryan Friday and Montgomery both followed with four first-half points.

Late in the opening period, Texas Tech strung together a 10-0 run and was paced by Okorie's 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting. The Red Raiders scored 18 of the final 26 points of the half and Roberson added eight points, four assists and two steals in the opening stanza.

Texas Tech shot 55.6 percent from the field in the first half, while Samford turned in a 41.7 clip.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Thursday at 7:30 p.m., as the Bulldogs begin their Southern Conference schedule against the Elon Phoenix at the Pete Hanna Center. The matchup will be the first of a two-game conference homestand for Samford. The Bulldogs will also play host to the UNC Greensboro Spartans on Dec. 5 at 1 p.m.