Samford rallies past Cowboys

Published 1:54 am Sunday, November 28, 2021

NICEVILLE, Fla. — Ques Glover scored a game-high 24 points as Samford rallied from an eight-point first-half deficit to beat McNeese State 83-75 Saturday in the final round of the Emerald Coast Classic.

Samford, which clinched the championship of its bracket, went undefeated in the week-long event. The Bulldogs opened the tournament with a 78-77 win at Oregon State followed by back-to-back victories over North Carolina A&T (77-75) and McNeese. The Bulldogs have won all three meetings with the Cowboys.

Glover made all 11 of his foul shots and distributed six assists. Jaden Campbell added a career-high 19 points for Samford (5-1).

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Jermaine Marshall registered his second double-double of the season with 17 points with 12 rebounds and Jacob Tryon scored 10.

Myles Lewis scored a season-high 20 points and collected eight rebounds for the Cowboys (3-4). Kellon Taylor scored 13 and T.J. Moss 12. Brendan Medley-Bacon, a 7-foot-1 junior and McNeese’s leading scorer, was limited to five points and eight rebounds.

Samford knocked down 23 of 26 (89 percent) from the free-throw line and forced the Cowboys into crucial turnovers late as the Bulldogs outscored McNeese 12-2 down the stretch.

The Cowboys were 17 of 26 (65 percent) from the free-throw line.

“They made a bunch of free throws and we didn’t, especially in the second half where we missed some at key moments,” said Cowboys head coach John Aiken.

“We had some costly turnovers late,” Aiken said. “I think it was fatigue. But I thought we learned a lot the last two games. We established our offensive identity a bit and we saw again our defensive identity. When we’re right, we’re really good.”

For the game, Bulldogs forced 27 turnovers that led to 32 points.

Lewis scored 12 of the game’s first 15 points as the Cowboys, who led for the first 10 minutes of the game, raced to a 15-7 lead, starting with back-to-back 3-pointers by Lewis and Taylor.