Feb. 2, 2008

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Samford's Travis Peterson scored a season-high 24 points on Saturday as he helped lead the Bulldogs' basketball team to a decisive 65-52 victory against the Eastern Illinois Panthers at the Pete Hanna Center.

In the win, Peterson became the 21st player in school history to reach the prestigious 1,000-point plateau. He led all scorers with 24 points and increased his career total to 1,008.

"I didn't have any clue that I was that close to 1,000 points until I read it this morning," said Peterson. "During the game, I actually forgot all about it until they announced it over the PA system. Then I looked and saw that I had more than 16 points, so it was a good thing. It's a great thing to have and I'm glad that I was able to do it."

With the win, Samford (11-12, 8-7 Ohio Valley Conference) earned back-to-back victories for the first time since Dec. 15. The Bulldogs' previous winning streak came against Jacksonville State 41-34 and Reinhardt 89-61. Samford also improved to 6-6 at home this season.

"We've definitely been playing better since the Murray (State) game," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "We needed to play more physical and in practice I wasn't going to baby them. We worked really hard and I think that's helped us get ready for these last couple games."

The Bulldogs finished with three players scoring in double figures Saturday.

Peterson led the way with 24 points, while fellow-senior Joe Ross Merritt followed with 12 and sophomore Trey Montgomery added 10. Merritt and Montgomery both played 39 minutes each and Peterson tied a season-high with 38.

After a slow first half, Samford ended up shooting 46.3 percent from the field and 43.5 percent from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs also finished with a stellar 89.5-percent outing from the free-throw line. Samford was a near-perfect 17-of-19 from the charity stripe, including 7-of-8 in the final minute of play.

"We stepped up in the second half and made some 3s," said Tillette. "I thought that Josh Davis hit a couple of big shots for us and played well. He only had one turnover in 21 minutes. I thought that all-in-all the second half was an outstanding performance for us."

With the loss, Eastern Illinois (4-18, 3-11 OVC) had its two-game winning streak snapped.

The Panthers have been playing some of their best basketball of the season as of late, but dropped to 1-11 on the road. Thursday's victory at Jacksonville State was Eastern Illinois' first road win of the year.

Senior guard Jon'Tee Willhite led the Panthers with 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Eastern Illinois' 6-foot-1 native of Kalamazoo, Mich., also tallied three rebounds and two assists. Julio Anthony followed with 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field.

The Bulldogs have won two straight home games and own an 8-7 mark in conference play. With losses from Southeast Missouri, Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech on Saturday, Samford jumped to sole possession of fifth place in the conference standings.

Samford played a sluggish first half and trailed 28-21 at the intermission. The Bulldogs only shot 18.2 percent from beyond the arc in the opening period, while the Panthers turned in a 40-percent outing.

"On paper, this was a difficult game for us to play, especially without Josh Bedwell," said Tillette. "He's our best 3-point shooter and is shooting 43 percent from the arc. Having him would have helped us because Eastern Illinois plays a lot of zone. We were still able to get a lot of good looks in the first half, but I didn't think that our energy was where it needed to be."

Samford's Josh Bedwell, who injured his ankle against Tennessee State on Thursday, was unavailable against Eastern Illinois on Saturday and will be questionable for the Bulldogs' next game at Austin Peay on Feb. 9.

Heading into Saturday's game, Bedwell led the team with a 43.2 shooting percentage from 3-point range. So far this season, Samford's 6-foot sharpshooter from Hartselle, Ala., has made 45 field goals, 41 of which have come from beyond the arc.

Early in the second half, Samford trimmed Eastern Illinois' lead to 28-26 with a quick 3-pointer from Merritt and a seven-foot jumper from Bryan Friday. Friday finished with nine points on 4-for-7 shooting for the Bulldogs and added a game-high four assists.

At the 16:19 mark in the second half, Peterson nailed one of his three 3-point baskets to give Samford a 31-30 lead. The teams then traded baskets for a few minutes before Merritt, Peterson and Montgomery all connected on 3-point baskets en route to giving the Bulldogs a 47-39 advantage.

After its poor performance in the first half, Samford exploded for a 66.7 shooting percentage (8-of-12) from 3-point range in the final period.

Despite their shooting prowess in the second half, the Bulldogs' lead was trimmed to 55-52 with 1:52 left to play.

It was then that Peterson took over the game and scored nine straight points to give Samford a 64-52 advantage. Down the stretch, Peterson knocked down six-straight free throws to secure the victory.

"I want the ball at the end of the game and that's how I like it," Peterson said. "I tell coach that I want to shoot the free throws in those situations. I blew a game for us earlier this year at Lipscomb and I felt bad for my teammates because I know how hard they worked. At the end of the game, I feel like it is my time and I try to remain calm and relaxed at the free throw line."

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Feb. 9 at 7:30 p.m., as the Bulldogs travel to Clarksville, Tenn., for a road matchup against the first-place Austin Peay Governors. Just last week, Samford defeated Austin Peay at home in the Pete Hanna Center 63-49.