Final Stats

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford men’s basketball team shot 54.2 percent from the field including 52.6 percent from 3-point range in route to an 85-71 victory over Western Carolina Saturday night inside the Pete Hanna Center. The Catamounts fell behind early and were unable to slow down the Bulldogs who led by double-digits for the entire second half. Freshman Matt Halvorsen did all he could to keep the Catamounts hopes of a perfect 3-0 start alive as he tied his career-high of 18 points in the opening 20 minutes and added three more in the second half to finish with 21.

Junior Mike Amius who was coming off a dominating performance against Chattanooga was unable to get going in the first half as he entered the locker room with no points and just two shot attempts. He went on to score 13 second half points most of which came in the final 10 minutes of play. Sophomore Onno Steger made the most of his second half minutes as he scored 10 points in 13 minutes of action while knocking down two 3-pointers.

The Catamounts knocked down 12 3-pointers in the contest led by Halvorsen who nailed six including five in the first half.

The loss drops WCU’s record to 6-9 overall and 2-1 in Southern Conference play. The Bulldogs improved to 6-10 and 2-1 in league action.

Senior Deriece Parks and sophomore Maurice Smith tied for the team lead in rebounding with seven boards a piece. Parks added a career-high seven assists and nine points as he came up just shy of a triple-double. Freshman Desmond Johnson dished out five assists as well while turning the ball over just once.

Samford edged the Catamounts on the boards 33-31 while WCU won the turnover battle by one as the Bulldogs gave the ball away 14 times compared to WCU’s 13. Despite the edge in turnovers, WCU lost the points off turnovers column as Samford converted WCU’s 13 miscues into 23 points while WCU took advantage of the 14 mistakes by Samford to the tune of 16 points.

One area that especially hurt the Catamounts was the free throw line where Samford scored 23 points compared to just nine by the Catamounts.

The Bulldogs came out firing on the very first possession of the game as they converted the first of 10 3-pointers. After a WCU turnover, Samford took a five point lead on a layup by Eric Adams. Halvorsen ended the run with his first 3-pointer of the game. After a Samford free throw, junior Marc Gosselin tied the game with a 3-pointer at the 17:25 mark. WCU took its only lead two possessions later as Halvorsen connected on another three to give WCU a 9-8 edge.

Samford responded with an 8-0 run that featured a pair of 3-pointers and a dunk. WCU cut the lead to four on three separate occasions but that would be as close as the Catamounts would get the rest of the contest. A 3-pointer by Samford with seven second remaining in the half gave the Bulldogs their largest lead of the opening 20 minutes at 42-26. Halvorsen answered at the buzzer to cut the deficit to 13 at the break.

Two 3-pointers to open the second half gave Samford its largest lead of the game at 19 points. Samford would match that lead two more times during the second half and would maintain a double-digit edge the rest of the way. WCU used a 9-0 run midway through the period to cut the lead to 10 but a pair of free throws ended the streak and kept WCU at bay. A 3-pointer by Steger a few possessions later once again cut the lead to 10 but again Samford answered at the free throw line to maintain its double-figure edge. Samford built its lead back to 19 points late in the period before a small WCU comeback produced the final score of 85-71.

Samford placed four scorers in double-figures led by Demetrius Denzel-Dyson who had 21 points including four 3-pointers. Triston Chambers added 15 points all of which came from beyond the arc including a pair of shot clock buzzer beaters.

WCU will return home for the first time in 2018 as the Catamounts host three-straight conference games inside the Ramsey Center starting with a battle against the always tough Mercer Bears Wednesday night at 7 pm.