Dec. 18, 2004

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University basketball team posted its fifth double-digit victory of the 2004-05 season on Saturday as the Bulldogs sailed to a 71-56 win over the Tennessee Temple Crusaders at home in Seibert Hall.

Samford (5-3) played its first game in nine days on Saturday and needed the first few minutes of the first half to shake off some of the rust that it accumulated during final exams.

At 16:24 in the opening period, the score was knotted at 7-7 before the Bulldogs' J. Robert Merritt drove the lane and made a pivotal layup to give Samford the lead for good. Merritt's score acted as a catalyst for the Bulldogs and propelled them to a 10-0 run that extended the team's advantage to 17-7.

Tennessee Temple (6-5) fought hard in the opening period and chipped away at the lead to cut the deficit to 29-23 at the half, but Samford used a 42-point outburst in the second period to cruise to its second-straight victory. The Bulldogs shot 58.3 percent from the field in the second half of play and outscored TTU, 42-33.

"We looked a little sluggish in the first half, but I think that in the second half we did better," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "Jerry (Smith) had an overall solid game for us and J. Robert (Merritt) picked it up for us in the second half. Also, I think that Randall (Gulina) played well, but we're too far along in the season for our guys to make the kind of mental mistakes that they did today."

Sophomore Jerry Smith turned in a phenomenal all-around performance for the Bulldogs on Saturday, as the Picayune, Miss., native finished the non-conference matchup with 12 points, a team-high seven rebounds and five assists. Smith, a 6-2 point guard, has led the Bulldogs in rebounding in each of the last two games and is currently ranked second in the Ohio Valley Conference in assist/turnover ratio.

Samford's Merritt led the team in scoring for a fifth time this season and finished with 17 points on 5-of-11 shooting. He only tallied five points in the opening half of play, but caught fire in the second half with 12. The Bulldogs' junior from Oklahoma City, Okla., also pulled down five rebounds and registered a pair of steals.

Tennessee Temple was led by senior Paul Vespie who finished with a team-high 16 points. The Crusaders' scrappy guard finished the game with a perfect 11-of-11 shooting mark from the free-throw line.

"I want to congratulate Tennessee Temple on their effort," Tillette said. "I thought that their kids were energized and they played hard and they did a lot of good things. At the same time, I don't think that we were as aware as we needed to be on our end of the floor. Defensively, we had lapses. We were double-teaming the ball when we shouldn't have and we need to be better than that."

Samford played its way to a 29-23 halftime lead behind the scoring of a team-high seven points from senior Jon Mills. The Bulldogs' forward from Winfield, Ala., shot 3-of-4 from the field during the opening 20 minutes of play and connected on his lone 3-point attempt of the half.

Tennessee Temple shot 40 percent from the floor in the first half and drilled three key 3-point shots. Ryan Wadley, who scored five points in the opening period, banked home a buzzer-beating 3-point shot from the mid-court line with one second remaining.

"We're going to work on a lot of things before we head out on our road trip," Tillette said. "We're going to watch game film for a while tomorrow and then we'll practice for two hours. Then again, we'll come in here on Monday morning and practice for two hours in preparation for Bradley. Bradley is a top-25, all-time winningest program in college basketball and we need to be ready for that type of environment."

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action on Tuesday as the Bulldogs begin a four-game road trip against the Bradley Braves at 7:05 p.m., in Peoria, Ill.