Springfield, MO. - Following a 63-56 victory in the first game of the Hispanic College Fund Challenge, over Eastern Michigan, The Citadel will now match-up with host Missouri State. Game time is set for 9:05 p.m. EST.
As for the Bears, they emerged from a tied game at the half to win 70-53 over Maryland-Eastern Shore. Missouri State (2-0) was led offensively by Kyle Weems 16 points.
Saturday's other game will pit Eastern Michigan against Maryland-Eastern Shore.
LAST TIME OUT: The Citadel Basketball team won the first game of the Hispanic College Fund Challenge, staving off a late charge by Eastern Michigan, 63-56. Junior point guard Cameron Wells scored 24 points, a game-high, to become the 26th member of the Bulldog's 1,000 point club. Wells, who reached the milestone in 66 games, becomes the quickest player in history to reach the plateau.
Joe Wolfinger, who added 14 points and seven rebounds, and Zach Urbanus (12 points) also scored in double figures for The Citadel. Urbanus hit 3-of-5 from beyond the arc, closing in on fifth place among best 3-point shooters in Bulldog history. He stands four back of Donny McLendon and Dante Terry, each with 160. Wolfinger chipped in a team-high seven boards, six on the defensive end.
Eastern Michigan, who falls to 1-1 on the season, was led offensively by Brandon Bowdry's 14 points. Bowdry added nine rebounds, all defensive. Teammates Justin Dobbins, who netted 12, Jay Higgins (10 pts.) and Carlos Medlock (10 pts.) all reached double-figures in scoring.
As a unit, The Citadel (2-1) finished with a 42.9% field goal percentage (21-49), while EMU (1-1) shot 21-of-47 from the field. Behind Wells' 10-of-12 shooting from the free throw line, the Bulldogs finished 16-of-20 as a team (80%). The Bulldogs also held an edge in second chance points (11-2) and points off turnovers (14-10) in the contest.
The Citadel held a 26-22 edge at the end of the first half, capitalizing on 14 points in the paint. Wolfinger led all scorers with nine points at the break, converting three shots from the floor along with a pair of free throws. The Bulldogs grabbed 17 rebounds, five offensive, with Wolfinger, Groselle and Wells each responsible for three. Meanwhile, Bowdry had high marks for the Eagles, six points, and teammate Carlos Medlock joined him with four boards.
With the score tied at 9-9 at the 15:53 mark of the half, The Citadel put together a 14-5 run over the next seven minutes of action. Wolfinger scored five points during that run, while the defense closed the door on the Eagles by forcing seven missed 3-pointers. Combined with two turnovers during the span, the Bulldogs established their largest lead of the half.
Jay Higgins and L.J. Frazier hit back-to-back buckets, closing the lead to 23-19 with 4:01 remaining. Wells closed out the half with three points in the final 1:18 for the 26-22 lead.
WELLS CRACKS 1,000 POINT SCORERS: Following his 24-point, 6 assist performance against Eastern Michigan, Cameron Wells moved into elite company among The Citadel's best players. Wells has 1,004 points on his scoring resume, with the next series of players to surpass being Cliff Washburn and Michael Joseph, each with 1,024. Wells, who entered the season with 946 career points in 63 contests, has scored 34 points this to this point.
BEARS WIN ON FIRST DAY OF HCFC: Missouri State used a 19-4 run midway through the second half to put away a pesky Maryland Eastern Shore club, 70-53, to conclude the first night of the Hispanic College Fund Challenge at JQH Arena.
Kyle Weems led the Bears with 16 points, while Adam Leonard scored 11 points behind three treys as the Bears improved to 2-0.
UMES, which fell to 0-3, got 11 points apiece from Hillary Haley and Kevin White.
After an even first half, the Bears stormed out of the gate in the second half, putting 10 points on the board in the first five minutes. The Fighting Hawks, however, refused to be shaken by Leonard's three and a buckey by Jermaine Mallett that gave MSU a 31-26 lead just 72 seconds into the second period.
But, just after the second media timeout of the second half, a dunk by Weems, a layup by Mallett, and back-to-back follow-ups by Weems gave the Bears their first double-figure lead of the evening, 49-39 with 10:05 to play. MSU would parlay that into an 18-point lead within the next five minutes as they wrapped a 19-4 run to extend their advantage to 61-43 at the 5:19 mark.
Will Creekmore got to the free throw line three times in a span of less than two minutes during the run and then made a layup to help him to a six-point night. For his toughness down the stretch and gritty play, Creekmore earned the game ball from coach Cuonzo Martin after the game.
MSU shot 55.6 percent from the field in the second half, but sloppy free throw shooting all night long led to an 18-for-31 (.581) effort for the night. The Bears, however, outrebounded UMES by a 42-29 margin and turned the ball over just 10 times.
UMES finished 18-for-47 (.383) from the field and made just 2-of-8 free throws in the second half, finishing at .571 (12-for-21) from the line.
There were 10 ties and six lead changes in a sloppy first half that resulted in a 26-26 deadlock at the intermission.
The Bears jumped out to a 7-2 lead on a three-pointer by Leonard three-and-a-half minutes into the ball game. And after a layup by Jehle at the 13:27 mark made the score 11-6, UMES went on a 7-0 run to tie the game, 13-13.
From there, neither team led by more than three points, and a three-pointer by UMES reserve Tim Burns with 1:30 to go in the opening stanza tied the game, 26-26, where it remained at the half. Weems had nine points in the first 20 minutes for MSU.
FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE: Interesting statistical trend for the Bulldogs through the first two games of the season. When the Bulldogs score first, they have not been beaten.
The Citadel will finish the Hispanic College Fund Classic on Sunday, Nov. 21 against the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore at 6:30 p.m. From there the Bulldogs travel to West Virginia to play the eighth ranked Mountaineers.
