BOONE, N.C. --- Despite only shooting 4-of-25 from 3-point range for a season-low 16 percent Thursday, the Samford University basketball team used grit and determination to tally a 53-52 Southern Conference victory over the Appalachian State Mountaineers in front of 1,022 fans at the Holmes Center.
Samford (8-14, 5-6 SoCon) finished 1-of-14 from beyond the arc in the second half, but its lone 3-pointer of the period proved to be a key basket as Tyler Hood drained a critical shot from the right corner to give the Bulldogs a 49-44 advantage with 2:33 to play.
“We only shot 1-of-14 from the arc in the second half, but we made the one we needed to make,” said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. “When they went to the zone, I thought we had good looks, but they weren’t falling. The key for us was that we had eight turnovers in the first half and zero in the second. We had zero offensive rebounds in the first half, but then tallied seven in the second. We also held them to only one offensive rebound in the second half and we found a way to win on the road.”
Hood turned in Samford’s best offensive performance Thursday with 18 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field. He also grabbed six rebounds in 33 minutes of game time and knocked down three of the Bulldogs’ four 3-point field goals of the night. Samford also received 11 points from sophomore Drew Windler and 10 from true freshman Raijon Kelly.
Jeffrey Merritt, the Bulldogs’ hard-nosed senior guard from Oklahoma City, Okla., nearly registered his team-high fifth double-double of the season Thursday as he tallied a game-high 10 rebounds and nine points. Merritt scored six of his points in the second half as he helped Samford overcome a five-point halftime deficit.
Following Hood’s 3-point basket late in Thursday’s game, Appalachian State (9-12, 5-6 SoCon) answered with a 3-pointer of its own from Nathan Healy to trim Samford’s advantage to 49-47 with approximately two minutes remaining.
On the Bulldogs’ ensuing possession, Merritt connected on a turn-around jumper to increase his squad’s lead to 51-47, but then Appalachian State’s Omar Carter quickly followed with 3-pointer from the left flank to cut Samford’s advantage to 51-50.
“Appalachian State was playing man-to-man at that point and we use Jeffrey Merritt to dribble over our post player at the top and he makes really good decisions,” Tillette said. “So, Jeffrey scored it a couple of times down there and he was also able to distribute some good passes to our perimeter guys. I also have to credit Raijon Kelly for coming up big with some key free throws at the end.”
Following missed shots from each team, the Bulldogs’ Kelly was fouled intentionally with 24 seconds remaining and calmly sank a pair of free throws to extend Samford’s lead to 53-50.
On the Mountaineers’ final possession, true freshman Tab Hamilton was fouled on a 26-foot 3-point attempt from the right flank. The foul was called with a half-second remaining on the clock. Hamilton, with the weight of the game on his shoulders, knocked down the first of his three free-throw attempts, but then missed the second to all but secure the victory for the Bulldogs.
Appalachian State’s last hope was a purposeful miss by Hamilton and a potential tip in by a teammate, but the Mountaineers’ newcomer from Winston-Salem, N.C., banked home the free throw to make the final score 53-52.
“This was not our best game of the season and I’m sure they would tell you that it was not their best game either,” Tillette said. “We just came up on top at the end. We’ve won five of our last seven games and I really have to attribute that to us switching to the matchup zone. It allows our better offensive players to stay on the floor longer, because they’re not chasing guys around defensively all night.”
With Thursday’s key SoCon win, Samford snapped a five-game losing streak against Appalachian State. The Bulldogs’ most recent victory in the series occurred nearly three years ago, Feb. 28, 2009, in Boone.
Since losing at Georgia Southern on Jan. 12, Samford has been victorious in five of its most recent seven games and proved to be the lone SoCon team to hand Davidson a loss. The Bulldogs knocked off Davidson 77-74 at home in the Pete Hanna Center on Saturday.
“I can’t tell you how far we’ve come this season,” said Tillette. “Earlier this year, there’s no way in the world we win this game. We would have to play our best game and even then all the planets had to be aligned. Tonight, we didn’t play our best, but we were able to gut it out and get the victory. That’s a huge step forward for our program.”
Appalachian State failed to record its first winning streak of the 2011-12 SoCon season Thursday. So far this year, the Mountaineers have only achieved two wins in a row once with back-to-back triumphs against Milligan College and UNCG.
Appalachian State led by as many as seven points Thursday, but was outscored by Samford in the second half, 27-21.
The Mountaineers were paced offensively by Healy who finished with 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field. Healy, a 6-foot-7 junior from New Bern, N.C., also grabbed six rebounds for Appalachian State.
Samford only shot 36.2 percent from the field and 16 percent from long range. Appalachian State shot marginally better at 38.5 percent from the floor and 28 percent from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs out-rebounded the Mountaineers in the second half and grabbed seven crucial offensive boards.
Samford jumped out to an early 12-4 lead Thursday behind a pair of early 3-pointers from Hood. The Bulldogs’ eight-point advantage was their largest of the first half as Appalachian State used five straight points from Nathan Healy and a put-back from Andre Williamson to even the score at 19-19.
Both teams fell into minor shooting slumps to close out the first half, but the Mountaineers were able to capitalize on six offensive rebounds to end the period on a 9-3 run.
Appalachian State took a 31-26 advantage into the break and out-rebounded the Bulldogs, 18-15, in the opening 20 minutes of play. The major disparity in the rebounding numbers occurred on the offensive end of the court as the Mountaineers held the advantage 6-0.
Samford’s Hood led all scorers with 10 at the intermission. The Bulldogs’ redshirt freshman from Kingston, Tenn., went 4-for-6 from the field and 2-for-4 from 3-point range in the first half. Samford’s Drew Windler followed with seven points in only seven opening-period minutes.
Healy paced Appalachian State with seven points in the first half. He shot 3-of-6 from the field and pulled down three rebounds before halftime.
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at 1 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs continue their arduous two-game road swing against the Wofford Terriers at Benjamin Johnson Arena (3,500) in Spartanburg, S.C.
