RICHMOND, Ky. – Visiting Samford shot 73.1 percent in the first half and 64 percent for the game on its way to an 85-66 win over the Eastern Kentucky men's basketball team Saturday night in McBrayer Arena. The Bulldogs (12-5, 8-2 OVC) have now won nine of their last 10 games while the Colonels (9-9, 6-4) lost for just the first time in four tilts.

One of the few bright spots for EKU was senior Matt Witt moving into fourth place on the all-time Colonel scoring list passing both Carl Brown (1972-76) and Eddie Bodkin (1963-66). He tallied 19 points on the evening to bring his career total to 1,603, just ahead of Brown's 1,592 points and Bodkin at 1,587. Fellow senior Jason McLeish netted a game-high 23 points, the sixth time this season he has reached the 20-point plateau.

For the Bulldogs, four players finished in double figures led by Travis Peterson's double-double (21 points, 11 rebounds). Randall Gulina posted 20 points as well on 9-of-11 (81.8 percent) shooting.

The first eight minutes of the game were back-and-forth with an Alonzo Hird lay-up cutting the Eastern deficit to two points, 19-17, with 11:39 left in the half. However, Samford recorded 16 unanswered as well as 26 of the ensuing 28 points to pull away. The Bulldogs took a commanding 49-25 advantage into the intermission while shooting 19-of-26 (73.1 percent) from the floor and 7-of-10 (70 percent) from three-point range.

A three-point play by McLeish midway through the second stanza helped the Colonels get to within 18 points, 65-47, but an 11-2 spurt by Samford ended any thoughts of an EKU comeback.

Eastern Kentucky looks to get back into the win column next Thursday night, Jan. 26, when the Colonels travel to Tennessee State. Game time is slated for 8:30 p.m. Samford returns home to face UT Martin on Jan. 26 at 8 p.m.