Jerrell Houston Leads Tigers With 15-point Effort

The Tennessee State Tigers (10-12, 7-6) missed an opportunity for a season sweep over Samford (10-12, 7-7) dropping a lackluster game 65-59 decision on Thursday night (1/31/08) at Gentry Center in Nashville. TSU beat Samford 55-46 in Birmingham twenty-one days ago.

Jerrell Houston was top scorer for TSU netting 15 points. Reiley Ervin chipped in 14 points with Bruce Price adding 12 points. Gerald Robinson, Jr., finished the game with seven points but had a career-high 11 rebounds.

Samford forward Travis Peterson led all scorers with 21 points supported by Joe Ross Merritt and Trey Montgomery with 10 points each.

In a low scoring first half, TSU started the game by opening a six point lead (12-6) midway through the half at the 11:14 mark, but Samford outscored the Tigers 11-3 to tie the game at 15-15 with 5:46 left in the half. The game was tied at 19-19 with 3:29 left, but the half ended with Samford leading 27-24.

In the second half, the Tigers managed to take as much as a three point lead twice, 43-40 (8:34) and 45-42 (7:54). Samford took control of the game at 6:30 on a jumper for a 47-45 lead and held the lead until the end of the game for a 65-59 win.

Tennessee State shot 39% (22-57) from the field, 27% (6-22) from 3-point range and 64% (9-14) from the foul line. Samford shot 47% (21-45) from the field, 33% (8-24) from 3-point range and 75% (15-20) from the charity stripe. The Tigers outrebounded Samford 35-30.