Samford rolls past Vikings

Bulldogs have too much of everything for Cleveland State

Chances are, you are not that familiar with the men’s basketball program at Samford University in Alabama.

Samford is a member of the Southern Conference, a 10-team Division I outfit based in Spartanburg, South Carolina

The Bulldogs play up to their nickname of canine origin, Bulldogs.

They are tough customers, as witnessed by their 73-60 win over Cleveland State Nov. 18 at Wolstein Center.

Redshirt junior guard Brandon Austin scored a game-high 21 points for the Bulldogs, who improved to 5-0 with this impressive showing.

The 6-foot-5, 200-pound Austin transferred to Samford from the University of Alabama. He is a smooth, smart player who works hard at both ends of the floor.

As the Vikings quickly learned, Samford’s roster is filled with rangy, hard-nosed guys like Austin. Oh, and there is 7-foot, 240-pound center Ruben Guerrero.

He’s a 5th-year senior center from Spain who came into the late-afternoon matinee in Cleveland averaging team-high totals of 17.8 points and 8.8 rebounds. He is a graduate transfer from South Florida.

The Bulldogs shot 48 percent from the field overall and 40 percent from 3-point range. They limited CSU to 31.6 percent shooting overall and 21.4 percent on 3-pointers.

“This team plays together. No one cares who gets the credit. And they play with a chip on their shoulder,” Samford coach Scott Padgett said.

Padgett is in his fifth season at Samford. He was a standout player at Kentucky and a starter on the Wildcats’ 1998 national championship team.

After nine mostly insubstantial seasons in the NBA, Padgett got into college coaching as an assistant at Kentucky.

Now, he’s molding a group of players who are good enough to make some noise in their conference and, if the situation is right, spring an upset on a highprofile team.

Next up for the Bulldogs is a road game against Ohio State on Nov. 20. Tipoff is 6 p.m. The Buckeyes had best come ready to compete.

As for the Vikings, they fell behind by 14 points in the first half but rallied to narrow the gap to 35-34 at halftime. They took the lead at 36-35 10 seconds deep into the second half, but the Bulldogs answered with a 14-0 run over the next minutes to regain the upper hand.

Sophomore center Stefan Kenic topped the Vikings with 15 points.

‘This was a difficult night for us, especially with us not making shots,” CSU coach Dennis Felton said. “Sometimes it comes down to makes and misses. We had too many misses.”

The Vikings (2-3) also are headed to Columbus to play Ohio State on Nov. 23. Tipoff is 6 p.m.