November 26, 2016
Samford drops second straight on the road, overmatched by the Denver Pioneers
DENVER, CO – The Samford Bulldogs go on the road and lose their second straight game 89-74 to the Denver Pioneers. With the exception of one second half push, this one was never close. The Pioneers of Denver dominated in the paint. Levi Pardee, the DU Freshman Center from Batavia, New York led all scorers with 25 points, also grabbing 8 rebounds. His aggressive play forced the Samford Center Tank Josey into foul trouble early in the first half. Josey finished the game only mounting ten minutes of play. Denver led at half time 42-35 hitting 52% of their baskets and going to the free throw line 19 times. A frustrated A.C. Read said “We have to get in their faces and disrupt them without fouling. Either we are standing there giving them free reign to the basket or we are mugging them.”
The first ten minutes of play into the second half saw the Bulldogs chip away at the deficit, and took their only lead in the game 62-59 with 9:13 left. Samford was able to match the Denver tempo early but was unable to maintain the push and over the next 5:20 minutes of play, Denver mounted a 20-4 run establishing control with 3:53 left in the game. The Pioneers finished the game shooting 60% overall and 44% from three point range. Read said after the game “Down the stretch we ran out of gas. They pushed the floor and we couldn’t match them. We got a long way to go to get our defense where it needs to be.” When asked about Denver’s lights out shooting Coach Read added “We were exploited! We got our asses kicked! We simply can not keep allowing teams to beat us shooting fifty plus, up to sixty percent and dictate to us how they are doing it.”
The Bulldogs have one more game on the road Tuesday night against Buffalo of the MAC conference before heading home to Birmingham to face the Richmond Spiders on Friday night. Samford will have their hands full against Buffalo as the similarities between them and Denver’s offense are eerily close. The 2-2 Bulls are averaging 77.0 points per game on the season and shooting 47.7%.
Post Game Notes
Player of the Game
C Levi Pardee (DU) - 25 pts, 8 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk
Samford.... 35 - 39 = 74
DU..…........ 42 - 47 = 89
Lead Changes = 7 / Times Tied = 5
Points in the Paint.......... - SAM = 26 / DU = 36
Second Chance Points….... - SAM = 8 / DU = 3
Fast Break Points........... - SAM = 10 / DU = 8
Largest Lead................. - SAM = 3 / DU = 18
Samford Top Players -
PG Wendall Brunson....... 15 pts, 2 ast, 1 stl
SG Terry Ware….............15 pts, 3 reb, 4 ast
PG Gerald Darby…..........11 pts, 3 ast
Samford Top Bench Player -
C Kyle Fidler................. 5 pts, 7 reb, 1 ast
DU Top Players -
C Levi Pardee…….…........ 25 pts, 8 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk
SG Keyon Bradley…........ 21 pts, 3 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl
SF Cole Hurrell…..…........11 pts, 3 reb, 3 stl, 2 ast
DU Top Bench Player -
PF Christopher Luxford... 2 pts, 5 reb, 1 stl, 1 ast
Samford Team Stats -
FG... 26/66 (39.4%)
3P... 9/22 (40.9%)
FT... 13/15 (86.7%)
REB.. 29
AST.. 17
STL.. 4
BLK.. 2
TO... 10
PF... 16
DU Team Stats -
FG... 33/55 (60.0%)
3P... 8/18 (44.4%)
FT... 15/26 (57.7%)
REB.. 33
AST.. 18
STL.. 7
BLK.. 3
TO...11
PF... 13