Tigers Win Ugly, 55-46, At Samford

The Tennessee State University Tigers evened their OVC record at 3-3 with a 55-46 win at Samford University's new Pete Hanna Arena in Birmingham, Alabama.

Two TSU players Jerrell Houston and Reiley Ervin scored in double figures scoring 15 and 10 points respectively. Samford managed just two double figure scorers. Guard Josh Bedwell led all scorers and rebounders with 16 points and nine rebounds while center Travis Peterson tallied 14 points.

Tennessee State fell behind early trailing 15-7 at the 10:06 mark, but went on a 15-2 run over the next five minutes for a 22-17 lead at 5:05. The Tigers lead 24-22 at intermission after Samford hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

In the second half, Samford pushed to a 27-24 lead in the first minutes (18:28), but after an ebb and flow over the next six minutes, the Tigers took the lead for good at 34-33 at 10:45. TSU never trailed again, pushing their lead to as much as eleven points (49-38) with 3:45 remaining. Samford was never able to threaten the rest of the game and the final score ended 55-46.

On the game, TSU hit 48.9% from the floor (22-45) and 70.0% (7-10) from the charity stripe. Samford hit just 30.2% (16-53) from the floor and was 87.5% (7-8) from the foul line. TSU lost the battle of the boards 32-31.