LEXINGTON, Va. – Senior Kaiden Rice tallied a season-best 29 points on 7-for-10 shooting from beyond the arc, but The Citadel could not overcome a hot-shooting VMI squad on Saturday afternoon inside Cameron Hall, falling 110-103 in the battle of SoCon military foes.
 
Game Information
Final Score: VMI 110, The Citadel 103
Record: The Citadel (8-2, 1-2 SoCon), VMI (7-6, 2-2 SoCon)
Location: Lexington, Va. (Cameron Hall)
Series: The Citadel leads 58-57
 
How It Happened

• The opening three minutes of the game featured three ties as The Citadel battled back into a deadlock each time VMI grabbed a slim lead. Hayden Brown's layup at the 17:06 mark gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the afternoon, but neither side gained more than a one-possession edge until Kaiden Rice's three-pointer three minutes later pushed The Citadel's advantage to 20-14.
• A three-point play by Rice with 12:20 on the clock left the Bulldogs with a 27-18 lead, but an 8-1 run from VMI cut the lead to just two points with 10 minutes remaining in the opening half.
• Another long run by the Keydets, this time 10-3, allowed the home side to surge back into the lead on Jake Stephens' layup just under the five-minute mark before halftime.
• Both sides battled hard down the stretch of the first half, but six unanswered points from VMI largely made the difference as the Keydets took a 52-46 lead into the locker room.
• Three baskets from Brown in the first two and a half minutes of the second frame brought The Citadel back within one point, 57-56, before an 8-0 run by VMI pushed the deficit back out to nine points.
• VMI's advantage grew to as many as 15 points midway through the half before an 11-3 run allowed the Bulldogs to fight their way back into the contest. Fletcher Abee capped the stretch with a three-pointer off a VMI turnover, cutting the Keydets' lead to 85-78 with 6:32 left in the game.
• After the Keydets were able to fend off the first rally from The Citadel, the 'Dogs pieced together an 8-2 stretch in the final minute. Freshman Brent Davis connected on a triple to get The Citadel within five points, 108-103, but a pair of free throws on VMI's final possession of the afternoon iced the game.

 
Inside the Numbers

• Kaiden Rice scored a season-high 29 points and hit seven three-pointers against VMI; he now has four straight 20-point games and six for the 2020-21 season. Rice has also connected on at least five three-pointers in each of his last three games and is 18-for-34 (52.9 percent) from beyond the arc over that stretch.
• Hayden Brown fell just shy of another double-double, finishing with 19 points and eight rebounds. Brown netted 14 of his points in the second half, hitting on four of his five field goal attempts over the final 20 minutes.
• Tyler Moffe poured in 14 points and showed off his mid-range jumper several times in Saturday's contest. The graduate transfer has scored in double digits in six of his seven games this season while also dishing out five or more assists in five of those appearances, including five helpers against VMI.
• Bouncing back from scoring just five points against Furman on Wednesday, Fletcher Abee shot 50 percent (5-for-10) from the floor on Saturday to score 14 points.
• Brent Davis enjoyed another strong scoring outing, tallying nine points against the Keydets. Over his last two games, the freshman is averaging 9.5 points and has hit 50 percent of his three-pointers.
• The Citadel broke the 100-point barrier for the third time this season; the 103 points were the most for the Bulldogs against a SoCon opponent since also scoring 103 against Samford on Feb. 10, 2018.
• The Bulldogs finished 13-of-28 (46.4 percent) from the three-point arc and have hit double-digit three-pointers in all 10 of their contests this season. For the year, The Citadel is now shooting 141-of-327 (43.1 percent) from beyond the arc.
• The Citadel's 14 offensive rebounds on Saturday were its most against a SoCon opponent since pulling down 17 against Samford in the SoCon Tournament on March 8, 2019.

 
Up Next
The Bulldogs will face a quick turnaround following Saturday's game with a visit to UNCG on deck for Monday evening at 7 p.m. The game, originally scheduled for Feb. 3 in Greensboro, was shifted as part of the SoCon's rescheduling announced on Tuesday afternoon. The Spartans were picked by the league's coaches to claim the regular season championship in the SoCon preseason poll and are 7-5 overall and 2-2 in conference play thus far.