BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Senior Matt Witt scored a career-high 33 points, equaled a school record with seven three-pointers and established a new school record for career points (1,743) to guide the Eastern Kentucky men's basketball team to a 75-70 victory over host Samford Tuesday night in Seibert Hall. The win pushes the Colonels' record to 12-13 overall and 9-8 in the OVC while the Bulldogs fall to 16-8 and 12-5.

Witt, a native of Tipp City, Ohio, finished the game shooting 12-of-19 (63.2 percent) from the field and an even better 7-of-10 (70 percent) from behind the arc. Witt scored his 15th point of the contest on a three-pointer from the right wing to put the Colonels ahead, 33-22, with 8:12 remaining in the first half. That bucket also gave Witt 1,725 career points, surpassing Antonio Parris' (1983-87) old mark of 1,723 points.

Eastern went on to build a lead as large as 14 points, 41-27, late in the first half before Samford hit back-to-back three-pointers in the final minute to make the score 41-33 heading into the locker rooms. The Colonels shot 61.5 percent (16-of-26) from the field in the first 20 minutes of action and never trailed.

The Bulldogs slowly sliced into the deficit at the start of the second half and closed to within two points, 47-45, at the first media timeout. A fast-break dunk by junior Julian Mascoll a few minutes later pushed the Colonel advantage back up to five points, but Samford would not go away. Randall Gulina's second trifecta of the night followed by a Travis Peterson dunk knotted the score at 60-all with 9:26 left.

Two minutes of scoreless action ensued before Peterson netted 1-of-2 free throws, giving Samford its first lead at 61-60. From that point on, there were seven lead changes down the stretch before Eastern cemented the win. The key Eastern Kentucky bucket came with just over one minute to play and the Colonels trailing, 70-69. Mascoll drove the lane setting up sophomore Darnell Dialls for an old-fashioned three-point play to end a three minute EKU scoring drought and put the Colonels ahead for good, 72-70.

Samford missed a long jumper on its next possession before Witt connected on two free throws to make the score, 74-70. The Bulldogs missed two more three-point attempts in the waning seconds enabling Eastern to win at Samford for the third consecutive year.

Senior Jason McLeish added 17 points while Dialls chipped in with 10 to help the Colonel cause.

Peterson paced Samford with 25 points. The Bulldogs' leading scorer, J. Robert Merritt, was in constant foul trouble and held to just 12 points.

Eastern Kentucky concludes its Alabama road swing at Jacksonville State this Thursday, Feb. 16, at 8 p.m.