Murray State
Samford
Brown's 17 Points Not Enough As MSU Falls To Samford 61-58
1/15/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Junior forward Kelvin Brown led the way for Murray State with 17 points, but it was not enough as the Racers were unable to overcome a slow start dropping a tough 61-58 Ohio Valley Conference decision to the pesky Samford Bulldogs in front of 4,720 fans tonight at the Regional Special Events Center in Murray, Ky.
After MSU jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the first 90 seconds of play, Samford (7-7, 2-1 OVC) bounced back to gain a 5-4 advantage with 15:13 to go. The Racers regained the lead at 6-5 on a Brown jumper with 14:34 left, but the Bulldogs regained the lead for good at 8-6 on a J. Robert Merritt three-pointer with 14:03 to go.
Fueled by its outside shooting, Samford calmly used an 18-0 run over a span of six minutes and five seconds to push its lead out to as many as 17 in the first half after Eddie Harper converted on a layup for a 23-6 lead with 7:58 left in the first half.
Senior forward Cuthbert Victor scored on a layup with 7:32 to go to halt the Bulldog run and start a 14-2 MSU run over the next 4:43 to cut the deficit down to 25-20 with 2:49 left.
The Bulldogs eventually pushed the lead back out to double-digits and held a 32-22 halftime cushion.
The second half opened in much the same way as the first as the Bulldogs again pushed the margin out to as many as 17 points for a second time in the game, this one coming at 46-29 with 11:02 left in the game.
The Racers turned up the pressure in the final 10 minutes but could not overcome the big deficit. MSU got as close as three on three occasions in the final 1:36 of action, with the last coming on a Brown three-pointer at the final buzzer.
On the night, Brown was 8-for-12 from the field and pulled down six rebounds. Junior guard Adam Chiles added 14 points and six assists, while senior forward Antione Whelchel chipped in with 11 points and five rebounds.
Victor finished the night with eight points, eight rebounds, four blocks and four steals. With the four blocks, Victor becomes MSU's all-time leader with 131, passing former Racer great Jeff Martin's 130 swats from 1985-89.
Tyson Dorsey led Samford with 20 points, going a perfect 5-of-5 from behind the three-point line.
Overall, MSU was 24-of-56 from the field for 42.9 percent, while Samford was 20-of-46 for 43.5 percent. The key to the game was Samford's 9-of-19 shooting on three-pointers, and the Bulldogs' 37-25 advantage of the glass.
Up next, MSU continues its three-game homestand against another OVC newcomer, Jacksonville State, on Saturday at 7:15 p.m. at the Regional Special Events Center.
POST-GAME COMMENTS
MSU head coach Mick Cronin:
"We were held accountable tonight for our lack of defense, our lack of rebounding and our lack of effort in practice. We ran into a team that was very disciplined and knew exactly how to attack us. We were overconfident, and we forgot what had gotten us to 12-2. Samford did a great job of passing and shooting, and they beat us."
"We're a long way from being the team that beat Southern Miss by 40, and we're long way from being the team we were a month ago. This loss is terribly disappointing. I don't want to take anything away from Samford because they made the plays and we didn't."
"We have some guys that think they can turn it on when the game starts, and I take responsibility for that. We haven't practiced at the level we need to since the win at Morehead State. We didn't practice hard the day before Eastern Kentucky and it almost got us there. We certainly haven't practiced at the level we should this week, and we paid for it tonight."
'"We can't handle success, and I'm just trying to figure out why our guys think they're so good right now. This team hasn't had success yet. Success is hanging from the rafters of our building with those 19 OVC banners. Those teams won conference titles and they had success. That's how you judge success around here."
"We didn't do a good job of offensive rebounding. I knew that Samford was going to pack it in and our players knew it. We knew that rebounding would be the key for us on the offensive end, and we didn't do a good job of hitting the glass."
"I'm not worried about winning or losing on Saturday (against Jacksonville State). I want a team that will go out there and play hard for 40 minutes. If we go out and play hard and do the things we're supposed to do, the wins will fall into place. I want to put a team on the floor that 4,720 people can be proud of, and we weren't that team tonight."
