Early deficit too much for Golden Bears
Box Score
HOMEWOOD, Ala. -- When
Aaron Jones and
Chauncey Day knocked down Miles' first two shots against Samford, the Golden Bears held a 4-0 advantage over their Division I opponents and thoughts of a competitive contest looked promising.
When the Bulldogs scored the next 15 points, any chances of an upset precipitously vanished. While Miles fought valiantly, and even outscored the Bulldogs in the second half, it was not enough to prevent a 92-73 defeat Saturday night at the Pete Hanna Center.
Shaquille Cook led Miles with 16 points - 10 in the first half - while Day and
Sheldon Wright each added 13 for the Golden Bears (2-5).
Samford led by at least 10 points after the 11:36 mark in the first half and had a lead as large as 30 points in the opening minute of the second half. But Miles continued to battle as Day and Cook combined to score 12 of the game's next 14 points to bring the Golden Bears to within 59-39. A layup by
Aron Stewart with 13:20 remaining cut the deficit to 61-43, but the 18 points would be as close as the team would come the rest of the night.
Miles did force 19 Samford turnovers (while only committing 11) but the Bulldogs shot 56 percent from the field and made half of their 22 3-pointers. Five players scored in double figures for Samford, led by Wyatt Walker's 18 points. Stewart had nine points and nine rebounds for the Golden Bears, who play again on Dec. 13 at 6:30 p.m.
