ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The Citadel basketball team's season came to an end Friday night as the No. 10 seed Bulldogs fell 100-71 to the No. 7 seed Samford in the second game of the 2019 Ingles Southern Conference Basketball Championships presented by General Shale.

Game Information
Location: Asheville, N.C. (U.S. Cellular Center)
Final Score: No. 7 Samford 100, No. 10 The Citadel 71
Records: Samford (17-15), The Citadel (12-18)
Series: The Citadel leads, 12-11

KEY PLAYS AND STATS

• The Citadel played without starting point guard Lew Stallworth, who was ruled academically ineligible prior to the game.
• In Stallworth's place, freshman Jerry Higgins, III earned his first career start.
• The Bulldogs from the Lowcountry jumped out to a quick 3-0 start when Connor Kern knocked down the first 3-pointer of the game. A few possessions later, Kern made it 6-4 in advantage of The Citadel with his second of three 3-pointers.
• With 17:27 left in the first half, Samford took the lead for good off a Myron Gordon 3-pointer and began to slowly build the lead.
• With 7:36 left in the opening period, Zane Najdawi hit his second jumper of the game, but the two points were the last for the 'Dogs for a period of seven minutes.
• In the seven-minute scoring drought by The Citadel, Samford went on an 11-0 run, stretching the lead to as many as 17, 43-26.
• After Samford took a 15-point, 45-30 lead into the locker room at halftime, the Bulldogs from Birmingham opened the second half with a Brandon Austin 3-pointer and quickly extended the lead out to 20 nearly three minutes into the half.
• With 4:41 left to play, Samford went on a 7-0 run to open a 28-point, 93-65 lead.
• For the game, The Citadel shot 38.4 percent (28-of-73) from the field, rebounding from shooting just 28.9 percent (11-of-38) in the first half to shoot 48.6 percent (17-of-35) in the second.
• Samford shot a blistering 60.7 percent (34-of-56) from the field for the game, including hitting on 70.8 percent (17-of-24) of shots from the field in the second half.
• Najdawi led the Bulldogs with a double-double performance of 15 points and 11 rebounds. The forward from Midlothian, Virginia added a pair of blocks in 36 minutes of action.
• Higgins recorded his first-career double-digit point outing with 12 points to go along with six assists, the most assists by the freshman in a game against an NCAA Division I opponent.
• Alex Reed came off the bench to score 10 points coupled with six rebounds and three assists.
• Austin led all scorers with 26 points, including a game-high six made 3-pointers.

NOTABLES

• Najdawi's career comes to an end with the forward ranked in the top 10 in program history in 10 different statistical categories, including top five in eight of those.
• Najdawi's 17^th career double-double moved him into sole possession of fourth all-time. He set a career record this season with eight double-doubles, tied for fourth-most in program history.
• Najdawi swatted away two shots Friday night, marking the 58^th time in his career the Midlothian native has swatted away multiple shots in a game. The Citadel's big man finished just one block shy of 200 for his career.
• Najdawi is one of just four players in SoCon history to record 1,600 points, 700 rebounds and 175 blocks.
• Matt Frierson ended his career sixth in Southern Conference history with 324 career made 3-pointers. The mark is tops in program history.
• Frierson's 1,148 career points ranks 22^nd in program history.
• Higgins set career highs in points scored (12), minutes played (32), made field goals (five) and made 3-pointers (two).

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