NICEVILLE, FLA. – Samford used a 12-2 scoring flurry late in the game to rally for an 83-75 victory past McNeese in the final round of the Emerald Coast Classic at Raider Arena on the campus of Northwest Florida State College Saturday.
Trailing 69-68 lead sophomore guard Ques Glover scored eight points to trigger the comeback
Gloved scored a game-high 24 points while making all nine free throw attempts. He also had In Friday’s 77-75 victory over North Carolina A&T Glover tallied 25 points, sinking all 12 free throws.
“It was a fun tournament and a great spot,” said Samford coach Bucky McMillan. “We really appreciate the people who put the tournament on. We had a good win against Oregon State earlier out on the west coast, a PAC-12 team that made the Elite 8 last year. We played two good games here and that is what you are looking for.
“You talk about an event that gets you ready for your conference, that is what you want. We had a great time here. In terms of the game, we had a lot of guys that were tired. We had some guys dealing with some sickness right now. So, we had to play a lot of guys a lot of minutes. You could feel in that game, that once it got tight, McNeese got the momentum and it can be hard to flip that. I was really proud of our guys flipping the momentum back. Last year we had trouble finishing and winning those close games. This year we’ve had success winning the close ones.”
Myles Lewis led McNeese with 20 points, including 16 in the first half, along with eight rebounds.
Jaden Campbell added 19 points, including 16 in the first half, for Samford, which won its third straight game to move to 5-1.
The physical game was marred by a total of 50 turnovers, including a season-high 27 from McNeese, and 42 fouls. Each team had 26 free throw attempts.
