Dec. 8, 2005

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University basketball team used a 10-0 run midway through the second half to earn a 41-40 advantage in its Ohio Valley Conference opener on Thursday, but couldn't hold on in the end as Jacksonville State walked away with a tumultuous 62-61 victory in Seibert Hall.

Despite trailing 35-29 at the half, Samford (3-4, 0-1 OVC) rallied in the second frame and eventually held a five-point lead with 6:35 remaining in the game.

The advantage, which was the Bulldogs' biggest of the game, came after a thunderous dunk from sophomore center Travis Peterson. Peterson, a native of Glendale, Ariz., scored a game-high 16 points and finished 5-of-10 from the floor. He was also a perfect 6-of-6 from the charity stripe.

Samford's Randall Gulina added 11 points and grabbed six rebounds, while senior forward J. Robert Merritt finished with 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field.

Jacksonville State (3-2, 1-0 OVC) outscored the Bulldogs down the stretch, 14-8, and earned its first road win of the season.

The Gamecocks were led in scoring by senior All-OVC performer, Walker D. Russell, and junior college transfer Courtney Bradley. Russell tallied 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the floor and dished out a game-high six assists. Bradley performed well in his first game at Seibert Hall and scored 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting.

"I thought that Jacksonville State played very well tonight," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "Their offense was very good and they did a good job of shooting from the perimeter because of their quickness. We weren't able to guard them as tightly as we would have liked and they were more aggressive than we were."

In the final four minutes of the game, the teams battled back and forth with the Gamecocks' slight lead varying between three and one points.

With 2:23 remaining, Peterson converted a layup to trim JSU's lead to 58-57, but then Bradley knocked down a jumper on the next possession to increase it to 60-57. Samford's Randall Gulina then hit a pair of free throws and Bradley missed a shot, but Jacksonville State's Harold Crow grabbed the rebound and put it back to make the score 62-59.

On the ensuing possession, Gulina scored on a running jumper in the lane with 46 seconds remaining in the game to bring the Bulldogs within one at 62-61.

After a 30-second timeout called by the Gamecocks, Peterson stole an errant pass from Russell, handed it off to point guard Jerry Smith who threw it down court for J. Robert Merritt. The pass was picked off by B.J. Spencer, but he traveled on the play, giving it back to the Bulldogs with 4.6 seconds remaining.

With one final shot at winning the ball game, Samford's Smith threw the inbounds pass to J. Robert Merritt, who collected the pass, turned and moved towards the lane.

As he was about to attempt the game-winning shot, Merritt had the ball was tipped away from him and it ended up in the hands of Gulina. Gulina, the Bulldogs' junior from Baton Rouge, La., immediately turned and heaved an impromptu shot at the goal that fell short.

"As the game was coming down the stretch, they were able to hit some big shots and we just weren't able to," Tillette said. "We seemed to be shooting the ball when we should have been driving it, and we were driving it when we should have been shooting it. We just didn't seem to be in sync at all."

Samford turned the ball over 12 times and allowed the Gamecocks to shoot 50.0 percent from the field. The Bulldogs finished with a 48.8 shooting percentage and turned in a 41.2 mark from beyond the arc.

The loss snapped Samford's two-game winning streak against in-state rival Jacksonville State.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action on Monday, Dec. 19, as the Bulldogs continue their 2005-06 conference season at home against the Southeast Missouri Redhawks. The game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m., in Seibert Hall.