29-win Samford declares program’s 1st SoCon title

Mar 11, 2024, 10:58 PM ET ASHEVILLE, N.C.– Achor had 25 points and nine rebounds, Jermaine Marshall scored 23 and top-seeded Samford held off seventh-seeded East Tennessee State 76-69 to win the Southern Conference competition championship on Monday night and make an automated berth in the NCAA tournament.Samford coach Bucky McMillan, who had actually never coached above the high school level, has the Bulldogs dancing 4 years after taking over the 321st ranked program. Samford is making its very first trip to the Huge Dance since 2000 and simply its 3rd overall.The Bulldogs( 29-5 )extended the school record for success by beating the

Buccaneers (19-16 ), who were playing in the title game for the 13th time. ETSU was trying to advance to the NCAA tourney for a ninth time– by winning four games in 4 days.Samford Wins SoCon By The Numbers – 3rd NCAA tournament look (1st considering that 2000)- 7th straight No. 1 seed to win

SoCon competition – Program-record 29 wins this season; most wins by SoCon
team since ETSU in 2019-20 (30 wins )- Have actually won 6 straight
games vs. ETSU; had lost previous 12 – Achor Achor: 11th 20 +point game this season; T-3rd most among all SoCon players– ESPN Stats & Details Achor had a three-point play
and a dunk as Samford jumped out to an 11-2 lead. ETSU missed 4 of 5 shots and turned the ball over 3 times in falling behind.There were seven lead changes and seven ties by halftime. Achor had 17 points, Marshall scored 11 and Samford clung to a 40-38 advantage. ETSU was whistled for 16 fouls, Samford had 12 which led to 38 free throws

in the very first 20 minutes. The Bulldogs sank 13 of 21, while the Bucs made 11 of 17. Simply 5 Samford players scored, while ETSU had nine players score– led by Ebby Asamoah’s nine.Jaden Campbell struck back-to-back 3-pointers and Samford took its very first three-possession lead considering that its game-opening run, 52-43 with 15:30 staying. The Buccaneers closed within a point twice, the second at 65-64 on a jumper by Asamoah with 6:23

to go. Rylan Jones answered with a layup and Achor hit two nasty shots to push the Bulldogs’ cause five.Allen Strothers made the second of 2 complimentary tosses with 5:12 left to get the Buccaneers within 69-65. Neither team scored up until Marshall’s layup at the 2:22 mark pressed the Samford result in 6. In his fourth year as coach, Samford’s Bucky McMillan, who had actually never coached above the high school level, has the Bulldogs dancing for the very first time considering that 2000. John Byrum/Icon Sportswire Asamoah completed with

18 points for ETSU. He completed 3-for-11 from beyond the arc, setting the new tourney mark with 17 3-pointers. Quimari Peterson scored 17. Brooks Savage is one of 5 Bucs coaches to lead the team to the tourney

title game in his very first season.Samford was playing for the SoCon title for the first time since signing up with the conference in 2008.