JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – The Citadel shot better than 50 percent (28-of-52, 53.8 percent) from the floor for the fourth time this season, but Southern Conference leader ETSU earned a 112-84 victory inside Freedom Hall on Saturday evening.
 
Game Information
Final Score: ETSU 112, The Citadel 84
Record: The Citadel (9-5, 2-5 SoCon), ETSU (10-5, 6-1 SoCon)
Location: Johnson City, Tenn. (Freedom Hall)
Series: ETSU leads 48-17
 
How It Happened

• ETSU jumped out to an early lead after opening the game on an 8-0 run over the first three minutes, keyed by a pair of early three-pointers from Serrel Smith, Jr. Kaiden Rice rattled home a triple to end the early Buc run, and a second three-pointer from Rice just over a minute later cut the deficit to just two at the 15:43 mark.
• The Citadel closed within one point on three different occasions over the next four minutes, but another run from the Bucs, this time six consecutive points, gave ETSU a 22-15 edge after a pair of free throws from Ledarrius Brewer.
• The deficit grew to as many as 11 points for The Citadel over the final 10 minutes of the half, but the Bulldogs locked down over the final 90 seconds to hold ETSU scoreless. Brent Davis fired off a fast-break three-pointer for the final points of the half, pulling the 'Dogs back within seven points, 50-43, at the halftime break.
• Hayden Brown kicked off the second half with a three-point play for the Bulldogs, but the Bucs tallied 15 of the next 20 points as the deficit grew from six to 16 over a three-minute span. Brewer capped the run with a three-pointer at the 15:24 mark to push ETSU's lead to 67-51.
• After whittling the deficit back down to 13 on a triple from Fletcher Abee, The Citadel gave up eight straight points as ETSU grabbed its largest lead of the evening to that point, going up 75-54 on Richard Amaefule's jumper with 13:03 to play.
• ETSU largely maintained its edge of 20 or more points for the remainder of the game to close out the 112-84 victory.

 
Inside the Numbers

• Hayden Brown fell just shy of another double-double with team-best marks in scoring (21) and rebounding (8) on the evening.
• Fletcher Abee broke into double digits in scoring for the first time since Jan. 16 at VMI, knocking down a trio of three-pointers to finish with 13 points.
• Stephen Clark swatted away four shots, marking his seventh game this season with multiple blocks; the sophomore also dished out a career-best six assists to lead all Bulldogs in the category. Clark is now averaging 2.1 blocks per game this season.
• The Citadel knocked down 53.8 percent (28-of-52) of its shots from the field on Saturday, its second-best mark in 2020-21 and its best in the category against a SoCon foe since hitting 54.2 percent of its shots (26-of-48) at Mercer on Feb. 1, 2020.
• For the 12th time this season, The Citadel connected on double-digit three-pointers, hitting 11 times from beyond the arc against the Bucs. The 'Dogs have knocked down 183 triples this season through 14 games.
• Tyler Moffe logged his seventh game this season with at least five assists, four of which have come in conference play. As a team, The Citadel had 19 assists for the second straight game, tied for its most in SoCon action this season.
• Freshman Brent Davis matched his season-high mark with 19 minutes played and finished with nine points on 3-for-3 shooting. Davis is shooting 56.6 percent (30-of-53) from the field in 2020-21, second to only Clark among all Bulldogs with at least 50 attempts.

 
Up Next
The Citadel will face back-to-back road games in conference play for the second time this season as the Bulldogs make the trek to Western Carolina for a Monday afternoon tipoff at Noon. The 'Dogs will be looking to reverse their recent history against the Catamounts, who have won 17 of the last 19 meetings in the series, including each of the last six bouts dating back to the 2017-18 season.