Dec. 28, 2004

Box Score

INDIANAPOLIS - The Samford University basketball team's road woes continued on Tuesday as the Bulldogs lost their fourth-consecutive game away from home, 64-50, against the IUPUI Jaguars in front of 1,427 fans at the IUPUI Gymnasium.

"They (Jaguars) came out in the second half and hit most of their shots," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "I thought that we didn't do a good job on the boards and offensively, we had 12 turnovers, and that's not bad, but it just came down to decision-making. We just didn't make quality decisions out there tonight."

Samford (5-5) dropped its second straight contest of the team's current four-game road trip and will face off against Notre Dame on Thursday.

The Bulldogs are in the midst of their toughest stretch of non-conference games and were defeated by the Bradley Braves in their previous matchup on Dec. 22. Bradley, which owns a 7-1 record on the season, is the 29th-rated team in the RPI (Rating Percentage Index).

Samford opened the year with a 72-58 victory over Central Connecticut in its first road game of the season, but has dropped its previous four contests away from Seibert Hall. Since winning the 2004 Mohegan Sun Classic on Nov. 20, the Bulldogs have dropped consecutive road games against South Alabama, Louisiana-Monroe, Bradley and IUPUI.

IUPUI (6-5) earned its second win in a row on Tuesday and improved to 4-1 at home this season. The Jaguars' lone loss of the 2004-05 campaign in the IUPUI Gymnasium came against Western Michigan, 75-66, on Dec. 15.

The Jaguars shot a stellar 50 percent from the field in the second half of play and outrebounded Samford, 29-17, with 14 of those boards coming on the offensive end. IUPUI also played disciplined basketball and only committed five turnovers. The Bulldogs turned the ball over 12 times and were held to a season-low two steals.

"I think that we're doing better at handling the pressure, but we're still not at the point that we want to be yet," Tillette said. "We were able to negotiate their pressure in the backcourt, but we had four turnovers from Jerry (Smith), three from Randall (Gulina), and I think that Bryan (Boerjan) was even forced to speed up some."

Samford finished with three players scoring in double figures on Tuesday.

Junior J. Robert Merritt led the Bulldogs with 15 points on 4-of-7 shooting and was joined by guards Randall Gulina and Jerry Smith. Gulina, a native of Baton Rouge, La., finished 3-of-7 from the floor for 11 total points, but was 0-for-3 from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs' sophomore was a perfect 5-of-5 from the free throw line.

Smith turned in Samford's best shooting performance of the night and was 5-of-6 from the field. He also dished out three assists and led the team in that category for the ninth time this season. Smith scored 10 points on Tuesday and grabbed two rebounds.

At the half, IUPUI held a slight 28-25 advantage over the Bulldogs.

The Jaguars were led by senior James Booyer in the opening 20 minutes of play and he finished with 14 points. IUPUI's 6-8 forward from Gary, Ind., scored 12 points in the first half on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor and was a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe.

"IUPUI was a difficult team to play, because they did a lot of unconventional things defensively," said Tillette. "They played some box-and-one tonight and they were also in a match-up zone for a while. I thought that a bright spot for us was how Jerry (Smith) and Randall (Gulina) were able to beat some people off of the dribble and we probably should have gone with a smaller lineup sooner against them."

Samford was trailing by six points, 28-22, with 10 seconds remaining in the first half when the Bulldogs' Josh Hare knocked down a key 3-point basket from the left wing. The shot clock was turned off on the possession and Samford was playing for the final shot of the period, but Hare found himself wide open for the basket and drilled the attempt.

Merritt, Samford's junior from Oklahoma City, Okla., led the Bulldogs in scoring at the half with seven points. The 6-6 forward shot 2-of-3 from the floor and pulled down three rebounds as he played all 20 minutes.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action on Thursday as the Bulldogs head up to South Bend, Ind., for a 5 p.m. (CST) matchup against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The meeting will be the first in the all-time series between the teams.