William Truss and Reggie Dillard recorded career-highs to lead the Presbyterian College men's basketball team back from a 16-point second-half deficit to within two late, before eventually falling to The Citadel, 82-68, tonight at McAlister Field House in Charleston, S.C.
PC falls to 0-2, while The Citadel wins its first of the season to go to 1-2. PC next heads to Winston-Salem, N.C., Friday, Nov. 15, for a 7 p.m., contest at Wake Forest.
Truss led all scorers with 20, surpassing his old mark of 19, while Dillard and Jordan Downing recorded 16 apiece. Dillard's 16 points was a career-high as well. Markus Terry recorded nine points and a team-leading four assists in 38 minutes of action. Truss earned his second career double-double with a team-leading 14 rebounds.
PC shot 42.6% from the field, including a 47.2% clip in the second half. The Citadel shot 51.8%. The Blue Hose pulled down 34 rebounds, just five short of the Bulldogs' 39. PC held the points in the paint advantage, 38-18, with 23 of the Bulldogs coming off the bench, compared to seven for PC.
Ashton Moore led The Citadel with 19 points, followed by Matt Van Scyoc with 16, Marshall Harris, III with 14 and Dylen Setzekorn with 12. Van Scyoc led The Citadel on the boards as well with eight.
Downing hit his first three-pointer of the game at 16:12 to give PC a 5-4 lead. Tom Koopman's jumper less than 30 seconds later put the Bulldogs back up top, however. After going down by three, 5-8, Downing hit a jumper to cut the margin to one, 8-7 14:37 on the clock.
A Citadel three-pointer by Moore made it 11-7 at the 13:59 mark and ignited a 13-4 run that gave the Bulldogs a 21-11 lead with 11:09 on the clock.
Trailing 24-14, Dillard hit a jumper at 10:05 to cut the deficit to eight. Downing's jumper made it a six-point game with 8:35 to go.
After Terry cut The Citadel to seven with his first lay-up of the night, Bulldog Raemond Robinson turned it in to a 10-point game again with a three-pointer at the 7:37 mark.
The Bulldogs continued their offensive performance and extended their lead to 41-23 at 3:44, before baskets by Truss and Downing, as well as a Dillard free throw, cut The Citadel lead by five, 41-28 with 49 ticks on the clock.
After a 30-second timeout by PC, Downing came out and hit a three-pointer as time expired to make it a 10-point game again, capping off an 8-0 run by the Blue Hose to head into the locker room down 41-31.
The Citadel opened the second half with six straight to build a 16-point, 47-31, lead before a Terry basket at 17:56 ended the scoring drought for PC. The Blue Hose cut the deficit nine with 15:22 off a Dillard jumper, The Citadel responded with a basket of its own to go back up by 11, 52-41, with 14:54 left in the game.
A 7-2 run by PC, highlighted by three points from Truss, made it a six-point, 56-50, game with 11:53 on the clock
After both teams traded three-pointers, Danny Herrera, who had seven points on the night, hit a lay-up at 9:57 to cut the score to four, 59-55. Dilard made it a two-point contest before Setzekorn came back with a basket for the four-point game again.
The Bulldogs and Blue Hose traded baskets the next several minutes, with Truss' basket at 4:30 making it a four-point, 69-65, game for the fifth time of the second half. Truss connected on one of two free throws at 3:34 to make it a one-possession game at 3:56.
The Citadel went on a 7-0 run, sparked by a three-pointer from Setzekorn, to quiet the Blue Hose rally and take a 10-point, 76-66 lead at the 1:51 mark.
The Bulldogs were six-of-six from the free throw line the final minute to help the home team hold on to the 82-68 win.
