MACON, Ga. – For the first time since the 1926-27 season, The Citadel men's basketball team defeated Mercer in back-to-back games as the Bulldogs went on the road to beat the Bears, 67-61, behind Lew Stallworth's 27 points inside Hawkins Arena Saturday afternoon.

Game Information
Location: Macon, Ga. (Hawkins Arena)
Final Score: The Citadel 67, Mercer 61
Records: The Citadel (11-12, 3-9 SoCon), Mercer (8-16, 3-9)
Series: Mercer leads, 16-7

KEY PLAYS AND STATS

• After Zane Najdawi won the opening tipoff, Matt Frierson was fouled on the first 3-point attempt of the game. The senior guard calmly converted all three free throws, extending his streak to 33 straight free throws made this season.
• The Citadel maintained the lead for the first nine minutes of the game as the two teams combined for 20 points in the early going.
• With 10:57 to go in the opening half, Mercer took its first lead of the game when Ethan Stair converted his first 3-pointer of the game.
• With 6:38 to play, Stair hit his second of three treys to make it a seven-point, 23-16 Mercer lead.
• The Bulldogs produced a quick 5-0 spurt, spurred by Hayden Brown's three points and a Kaiden Rice layup, to pull to within two of the Bears with 4:32 to go.
• The Bulldogs ended the half on a 5-0 run, including a 3-pointer by Stallworth with 1:18 to play in the stanza that knotted the score at 26-all.
• After Stallworth and Najdawi hit back-to-back layups to open the second half, Mercer opened up a six-point, 42-36 lead with just over 13 minutes to play.
• With 12:42 to play in regulation, Rice converted a layup that propelled the Bulldogs on an 11-0 run, opening up a five-point, 47-42 advantage
• With 5:56 to play, Mercer was able to take the lead back off Stair's final trey of the game, but back-to-back-to-back 3-balls from Kern and Rice extended the lead back out to seven, 56-49 in favor of The Citadel.
• With 1:46 to left in regulation, Stallworth made it a nine-point, 61-52 game with a 3-pointer.
• In the final 1:30, Mercer sent Stallworth to the free throw line eight times, and Stallworth made the most of it by going 6-of-8 (.750) to maintain the Bulldogs' advantage.
• For the game, The Citadel connected on 41.5 percent (22-of-53) of its looks from the field, while Mercer shot 35.5 percent (22-of-62).
• The Bulldogs made eight 3-pointers compared to five by the Bears, but Mercer converted just 44.4 percent (12-of-27) of their free throw attempts, while the 'Dogs shot 65.2 percent (15-of-23) from the charity stripe.
• Stallworth led all players with 27 points, shooting 50.0 percent (8-of-16) from the field and 69.2 percent (9-of-13) from the free throw line.
• Rice finished the game with 11 points and Brown chipped in 10 for the Bulldogs.
• Stair was the lone Bear to finish the game in double figures as he scored 19.

NOTABLES

• The six-point win over Mercer marks the first time The Citadel has defeated Mercer in back-to-back games since the 1926-27 season. That year, the Bulldogs beat Mercer four times, including twice on the road.
• With the 2017-18 win in Macon and the 2018-19 win on the road, the Bulldogs have beat Mercer in Macon in back-to-back seasons for the first time in program history.
• The Bulldogs boast 11 wins on the year, marking the fifth straight year the 'Dogs have won at least 10 games. It is the first time since the stretch from the 1993-94 season to the 1997-98 season that The Citadel has posted double-digit wins in five straight seasons.
• The four straight double-digit wins in Duggar Baucom's first four years mark the first time since Norm Sloan from the 1956-57 season to the 1959-60 campaign that a head coach has won at least 10 games in his first four seasons. Sloan and Baucom are the only head coaches in program history to win double-digit games in each of their first four seasons in Charleston.
• With his 27-point performance Saturday, Stallworth eclipsed the 900-point mark for his collegiate career. He now has 909 points, including 442 this season.
• Stallworth recorded three assists in the game with Mercer, giving him 137 for the year. He is now in sole possession of seventh in program history and is just one assist behind Frankie Johnson's 2017-18 season and Cameron Wells' 2010-11 campaign in fifth.
• Najdawi scored four points in the win over the Bears, moving him into sole possession of third all time in program history with 1,510 career points. Najdawi also had two defensive rebounds, giving him 448 for his career, a mark that moved him up from fourth to third in program history.

COMING UP
The Bulldogs will remain on the road next week, traveling to ETSU (Feb. 14) and Western Carolina (Feb. 16). The 'Dogs and Buccaneers will tip off at 7 p.m. on Valentine's Day, with the game against the Catamounts slated for a 2 p.m. tipoff.

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