February 28, 2002

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C.-- - Travis Cantrell scored 17 points Thursday to lead four Citadel players in double digits and the Bulldogs to an 80-70 victory over VMI in the first round of the 2002 Mountain Dew Southern Conference Men's Basketball Championships.

The Citadel, the South Division's No. 4 seed, advances to a quarterfinal matchup with North No. 1 seed Davidson Friday at noon. The loss for the Keydets (10-18) was their sixth straight in SoCon Tournament games.

Romas Krywonis' tip-in at 16:58 of the second half gave The Citadel (17-11) a lead it would not lose of 41-39. VMI trimmed the deficit to 56-55 on a Preston Beverly bucket with 8:21 remaining. A 9-1 Bulldog run late in the game, capped by two free throws from Michael Joseph, pushed The Citadel's margin to 73-63 with 3:09 to play. The Keydets never got closer than seven from that point.

The lead changed hands five times in the first half. A 7-0 Keydet spurt, highlighted by a Jason Conley dunk, gave VMI its largest lead of the game at 30-24 with 5:00 remaining in the first period. Joseph's jumper at 2:53 tied the score at 30-30, and Max Mombollet tied it at 35-all with a shot at the buzzer.

Cantrell scored in double digits for the fifth time in the last six games. He was 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Cliff Washburn netted 14 points, and Joseph finished with 13. Krywonis recorded his second double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

The Bulldogs shot 58.3 percent from the field in the second half. They went to the free throw line 36 times and made 27, while VMI was 10-19 from the stripe.

Conley, the nation's leading scorer, poured in 29 points. He scored 16 of VMI's 18 points from 11:20 to 3:59 in the second half. The freshman, who netted 13 by halftime, scored in double figures in each game this year. He finishes the season with 820 points, the seventh most for a single-season in SoCon history.

Radee Skipworth contributed 15 points, and Pressley added 10.