BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The Samford University basketball team opened its 2011-12 season with an impressive victory Monday as the Bulldogs registered an 87-47 triumph against the Berry College Vikings in an exhibition contest held at the Pete Hanna Center.
"I thought that early on we were a little nervous, but we picked it up at the end of the first half," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "We have a lot of good players on this team. They work hard, they compete and they play hard, so this was a good start for us. I'm pleased with where the team is right now. We've only had 18 practices, but all of these young guys have really been learning and improving."
Samford scored the first 10 points of the game and built a 40-23 lead at the half. The Bulldogs then closed out the preseason victory in convincing fashion by outscoring Berry College 47-24 in the final 20 minutes of play.
True freshmen Devin McNeil paced Samford with 12 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field. The Bulldogs' explosive native of Birmingham also led the team by knocking down a trio of 3-point baskets. McNeil finished 3-for-6 from beyond the arc and added three rebounds and three assists in 21 minutes of playing time.
Samford's Drew Windler turned in a solid all-around game Monday as he tallied 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field. The Bulldogs' sophomore from South Milwaukee, Wis., also pulled down four rebounds and added a steal and a block.
Samford's Brandon Hayman and Tyler Hood both finished with 10 points apiece. Hayman, the Bulldogs' high-flying true freshman from Braselton, Ga., pulled down a team-high seven rebounds and finished 4-of-6 from the field. Hood, a redshirt freshman from Kingston, Tenn., logged 20 minutes of playing time and also went 4-of-6 from the floor.
In its first exhibition match of the 2011-12 campaign, Berry College only shot 31.9 percent from field, but turned in a 30-percent shooting mark from beyond the arc.
Sophomore guard Mac Whalen paced the Vikings with a 13-point performance Monday as he knocked down 4-of-5 of his attempts from 3-point range. He also pulled down a team-high seven rebounds and handed out a trio of assists.
Lake Graham, a native of Arab, scored 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field. He knocked down four free throw attempts in 26 minutes of game action. Berry College's Nassar Almulla finished the contest with 10 points, four rebounds and two assists, but only shot 2-of-14 from the field and committed a game-high six turnovers.
Samford's reserves outscored Berry College's reserves 49-14 on Monday. The Bulldogs finished with 12 players scoring at least three points apiece, including seven with seven points or more.
Senior John Peterson and true freshman Raijon Kelly both tallied nine points, while Kaylin Johnson followed with seven. Sophomore Hamilton Bailey added some instant energy off the bench with five points in only six minutes of playing time, while centers Matthew Friday and Levi Barnes each finished with four points.
"I thought Devin was better tonight, Raijon played better in the second half and Brandon did a good job as well," Tillette said. "All those guys as well as Tyler Hood just picked it up and played really well. These players are good and they are picking this up all the way around. We were better than the scrimmage we played last week and that's a good sign because this Berry team was difficult to guard."
Samford starters Jeffrey Merritt and Will Cook rounded out the scoring with three points apiece, but combined for eight rebounds, three rebounds and three assists.
"If you look at it, Jeffrey only scored three points and Will only scored three points, but we were still able to score 87 as a team," said Tillette. "I thought that their energy was great, but that they were just trying to do too much. I was really pleased with how well we played with all of our new guys. They really played well."