Dec. 16, 2004

Charleston, SC - Donny McLendon admitted to some nervousness as he walked out of The Citadel's locker room before Wednesday night's game against Savannah State.

And why not? It had been 18 months and two schools since McLendon had last played in a college basketball game.

"I wasn't nervous before the game," said McLendon, a sophomore guard who last played at Mercer in the 2002-03 season. "But when I came to the bench to sit down before the game, I started getting nervous. And then when I got in the game, it went right away."

McLendon quickly shook off whatever rust had accumulated on his game, scoring a career-high 20 points in his Citadel debut and helping the Bulldogs to a 81-58 victory over Savannah State before 542 fans at McAlister Field House.

The victory sends The Citadel to Friday night's game at Clemson with four straight wins, a 6-1 record and its best start since 1982. The six wins matches the Bulldogs' victory total from last season. Savannah State, the second Division I team the Bulldogs have beaten this season, dropped to 0-12.

Junior guard Kevin Hammack complemented McLendon with 18 points and five assists, and sophomore forward J'mel Everhart racked up his fourth straight double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Citadel coach Pat Dennis had anxiously awaited the debut of McLendon, who was eligible for the first time Wednesday after transferring from Florida A&M and sitting out a year. He wasn't disappointed.

McLendon, the older brother of Citadel freshman Warren McLendon, demonstrated a confident, polished game, hitting 8 of 19 shots and dishing three assists in 24 minutes.

"No question, he will help us," Dennis said. "And he's still got a lot of cobwebs. When he gets comfortable and puts his total game together, he'll be a heck of a player for us."

Donny McLendon heated up as the Bulldogs opened the second half with a 16-0 run, hitting two 3-pointers and scoring 10 points with one assist during that stretch. He finished 3 of 10 from 3-point range.

"I came out and missed a few shots early," he said. "So I drove the ball a little more and started hitting some shots, and then I missed a lot more at the end. That's a warm-up game, I guess."

It was enough to impress his teammates. Everhart hugged Donny McLendon around the neck after Savannah State called a timeout to stop this second-half flurry ñ McLendon scored on the break off a pass from Hammack, hit a 3-pointer, fed Hammack for a score and then finished off an 11-0 run with a finger-roll scoop off the backboard for a 44-29 lead.

"You saw tonight how much he can help us," said Hammack, who made 8 of 9 free throws and has scored 37 points the last two games. "He came off the bench and gave us a great spark offensively. With Donny, we have four guards who can play and we don't have to play 37 minutes each every night. That will help keep us fresh."

The Citadel's trapping defense forced 27 turnovers, 19 of them off of steals, leading to 37 points for the Bulldogs. Warren McLendon had eight points and eight rebounds, and Everhart hit 7 of 9 shots, boosting his field-goal percentage to 64.6 percent for the season.

Savannah State shaved a 14-point deficit to four by halftime, but the Bulldogs opened the second half with a 16-0 run for a 49-29 lead. The closest the Tigers got after that was 56-40, and the Bulldogs' largest lead was 25 points.

NOTES

-- Sophomore forward Aaron Xia suffered a dislocated shoulder in practice this week and did not play Wednesday. He also will miss the Clemson game Friday before he is re-evaluated.