BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Citadel basketball team led by as many as 10 in the first half, but trailed by 14 with under 5:00 to play, and ultimately fell 80-77 at Samford Thursday night in Southern Conference action inside the Pete Hanna Center. The Bulldogs from the Lowcountry were paced by senior Matt Frierson's team-high 27 points, including eight 3-pointers.

Game Information
Location: Birmingham, Ala. (Pete Hanna Center)
Final Score: Samford 80, The Citadel 77
Records: Samford (12-7, 2-4 SoCon), The Citadel (9-8, 1-5 SoCon)
Series: The Citadel leads, 11-10

KEY STATS

• Samford quickly established a 12-0 lead in the first 3:30 of the first half as The Citadel missed its first six field goals.
• Lew Stallworth and Frierson broke through for the visiting Bulldogs to break the scoreless drought as The Citadel slowly chipped away at the lead.
• With 11:15 to go in the first half, Kaiden Rice hit one of his two 3-pointers to tie the game at 18-all as the Bulldogs went on a 16-0 run to claim an eight-point, 26-18 lead with 6:59 left in the opening stanza.
• After Stefan Lakic hit the second of two free throw attempts, Frierson gave The Citadel a 10-point, 29-19 lead with his third 3-pointer of the game.
• Alex Reed matched Ruben Guerrero with a tip-in to keep the lead at 10, but the homestanding Bulldogs closed the half on an 18-1 run as the Lowcountry Bulldogs went 0-for-7 in the final 4:30 of the opening half.
• The Citadel came out in the second half with a quick 5-0 run, including three free throws from Frierson, to pull to within two points of Samford, but that was as close as the 'Dogs would manage.
• With 12:33 to play, Brandon Austin gave Samford an 11-point, 58-47 lead with a dunk, but an 8-0 run by the 'Dogs, including 3-pointers from both Hayden Brown and Frierson, brought The Citadel back to within three with 10:31 to play.
• Josh Sharkey extended the lead back out to 14, 73-59 with a 3-pointer with just under 5:00 to play, and The Citadel then went on a 12-1 run with treys from Frierson, Rice, Connor Kern and Brown.
• With 1:44 to play, Frierson hit his eighth trey of the game to set the score at 77-74. On the other end of the court, Austin missed a similar three, and the Bulldogs found themselves with the ball with under a minute to play. Rice and Frierson each got a 3-point attempt off to try and tie the game, but neither shot found the mark.
• After Samford shot four free throws, making three, Stallworth hit a 3-pointer as time expired that set the final score at 80-77.
• For the game, The Citadel shot 37.8 percent (28-of-74) from the field compared to 42.2 percent (27-of-64) by Samford. The visiting Bulldogs connected on 17 of their 46 3-point attempts (.370) compared to 40.6 percent (13-of-32) from 3-point range for Samford.
• The Bulldogs from Charleston were led by Frierson's 27 points and Brown's double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds. Stallworth added 11 points and Najdawi chipped in 10.
• Samford was led by Austin's game-high 28 points and Sharkey's 23.

NOTABLES

• Four of the Bulldogs' starting five finished the game in double-digit scoring, marking the sixth time this season that has happened.
• Najdawi broke into the top 10 in program history for another statistical category as he made four field goals, giving him 493 for his career. His 493 made field goals are the 10^th most in program history.
• Najdawi ended the game with three blocks, marking the 51^st time in his illustrious career the forward has swatted away multiple shots. He has blocked multiple shots in each of the last four games and has 11 multi-block games this season.
• With his 14 points and 10 rebounds, Brown recorded his second double-double of the season.
• After making just two 3-pointers in his last four games, Frierson exploded Thursday night with eight treys. Frierson's eight 3-pointers were just two shy of his career high, but marked the 12^th game this season, and 36^th of his career, that the guard has made at least four 3-pointers. He is now just four 3-pointers made away from tying the program record for treys in a career.

COMING UP
The Bulldogs will next travel to Chattanooga for a 4:30 p.m. game against the Mocs on Saturday, Jan. 19. The Citadel will then travel to UNCG for a 7 p.m. game against the Spartans on Thursday, Jan. 24 before returning home for a 1 p.m. game against VMI on Saturday, Jan. 26. The game against the Keydets will be The Citadel's annual Pack the Mac and Military Appreciation game.

For more information on The Citadel basketball team, please visit CitadelSports.com and follow @CitadelHoops and @CitadelSports on Twitter and Instagram.