Achor Achor’s Big Night Powers Samford By Furman
Samford might just be a team of destiny. The Bulldogs advanced to the Southern Conference tournament final for the first time ever with a 84-77 win over archrival Furman. Achor Achor was magnificent today leading Samford with a double-double of 28 points and 14 rebounds.
Bucky McMillan mentioned post game yesterday, that the team that is going to win this tournament, will have to play great defense and rebound. Well, Samford won the rebounding battle and held Furman to just 34% shooting. This team rebounded like their life depended on it, especially when it came to Achor. Today Achor tied his season-high rebounding total with 14.
When asked by Samford Scoop about the rebounding and the defense, McMillan mentioned that exactly.
“I thought it was phenomenal. If you looked at this man’s (Achor Achor) effort in that game to rebound the basketball, that was special. He came out of nowhere to get his hands on balls. We rebounded like our life was on the line. When you play every possession like your life's on the line, it adds up.”
He continued about the team’s effort on the defensive end. “Their ability defensively to know what we are in, we are constantly changing defenses. We were trying to not let them (Furman) get into a great rhythm, our guys did a good job and I was proud of them.”
It all started today on the defensive end. Furman started out with a 7-0 run and then Samford responded back with an 8-0 run of their own. In the first half, everything changed when Samford went to a 1-3-1 zone after the 8:00 media timeout. Furman was out of sorts and Samford was able to claw back and take a halftime lead.
Furman went scoreless over the final 5:05 of the first half, meanwhile, Samford finished the half on a 14-1 run over the final 7:14 of the half. Samford never really looked back from there.
That was the most impressive part, when Furman tried to sway the momentum back on their side, Samford was there to respond. It mirrored the Western Carolina game in Cullowhee, where Samford did not allow the Catamounts to go on scoring runs.
Samford kept the pedal down even when they battled foul trouble. Much like the last Furman matchup, Jermaine Marshall picked up his fourth foul with over 10 minutes left. Rylan Jones eventually fouled out but he was great as well. Jones continues to do it all for this team as he had 11 points, 6 assists, and four rebounds.
We also continue to harp on the depth of this team and for good reason. In the first half when Jones had to sit with two fouls, it was freshman Josh Holloway who provided valuable minutes. He hit a big three to give Samford their first lead at 30-28 with 3:24 left in the half.
Then in the second half when Jones had four fouls, it was Dallas Graziani who stepped up scoring for himself and had a great dish to Achor for a slam. That’s how you win championships, having different players ready to shine when called upon.
However, it was Achor Achor’s double-double that was the biggest story of the game. The last time these two teams played, Achor only played nine minutes after re-aggravating a foot injury. Tonight, he played 32 minutes. When asked by Samford Scoop if that specifically was any extra motivation for his performance, Achor mentioned something else that was the main motivator.
“Honestly the motivation came from last year. Doing it for the guys that weren’t here. Logan (Dye), Bubba (Parham), Ques (Glover), they didn't get a chance to beat them. This one was for them.”
It is stuff like that that makes this team special. Achor hilariously also said he finally got some sleep which was his main reason for the performance.
As was said at the beginning, Samford just might be a team of destiny. At the time of publishing, Samford still awaits the winner of Chattanooga-ETSU. It does not matter to this team who they play, these Bulldogs know all the pressure is on them.
They would not have it any other way.
