Samford Wins OT Thriller After Improbable Comeback
This is March, well it’s actually November but after Samford’s comeback against North Dakota State it certainly felt like March. Samford’s furious 14-point comeback helped the Bulldogs get into overtime en route to a 103-98 victory.
With 3:02 left to go in the game, Samford was down 85-71 and the vibes inside the Pete Hanna Center were not good. Samford proceeds to force six late turnovers to make it 85-83. The Bulldogs then got to the free throw line, missed both free throws and missed two layups before a Larry Olayinka put back finally tied it. Samford would not be denied.
Samford F Collin Holloway had a double-double with 24 points on 11 rebounds and G Trey Fort had 24 of his own. Samford’s super senior leader Rylan Jones had 19 points on six assists. Jones made two threes late to help even Samford get into position for a comeback.
Final sequence in regulation
As Samford was attempting to get back into the game, Samford head coach Bucky McMillan essentially started making offense for defense substitutions and vice versa for the last eight minutes of the second half. McMillan was focused on finding the right matchups to get the Bulldogs back into the game.
In key defensive situations, McMillan would make sure his most athletic five were on the court at the same time. This change included athletic center Larry Olayinka guarding the inbounder using his long frame to help Samford get back into the game.
The Bison’s offense finally cracked as Samford was making its monstrous comeback. North Dakota State had handled the Bucky Ball press for most of the game until something just flipped.
McMillan praised the team’s resilience especially when things did not look promising for a potential comeback.
“I don’t know how many people in the crowd felt like, hey these guys are going to get this done. I’d love to see the ESPN percentage win probability. It had to be us at .01% or something (it was 0.8%). But for this group who doesn’t have a lot of experience with each other, yet, it’s something that they will be able to really really rally around.”
North Dakota State played an amazing game offensively. The Bison shot 51% from the three-point line making 20 threes. Samford struggled to get stops throughout the game and the Bison were finding plenty of success against the Samford defense. They played so well and still ended up on the losing side.
NDSU G Jacari White finished with 30 points on six-of-nine from three-point range. G Luke Kasubke had 21 points on seven-of-eight from deep.
The Bison kept throwing haymakers and Samford did their best Captain America impression saying, “I can do this all day.”
A total team effort as Bucky McMillan put it for his crew. Samford had 10 guys play double-digit minutes as McMillan was constantly looking for the right matchups. Rylan Jones knows that this win will pay dividends for his team down the road.
“The game is never over, especially the way we play, full court pressure press. They can turn it over very fast and we can go on a 9-0 run in a matter of seconds. That’s just what we got to learn, our pressure throughout the whole game caused that. Just relentless, relentless and they almost gave in a little bit, they got tired.”
That is what is special about this team and program, they are never out of it (See, Kansas, NCAA Tournament). Samford closed the game on a 32-13 run and did what they do best, found a way.
