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CHARLESTON, S.C. -- The Samford University basketball team continued its struggles on the road Monday as the Bulldogs suffered an 81-71 decision to The Citadel Bulldogs in the Southern Conference Game of the Week held in McAlister Fieldhouse. With the loss, Samford is now 2-15 when playing on the road this season.
 
"The Citadel is a good basketball team," said Samford head coach Bennie Seltzer. "Obviously, their record is no indication of how good this team is. I tried to warn our guys not to look at their record, because in watching video of this team, they had some really close games and only lost to Davidson by six or seven points. Tonight, I expected The Citadel to play hard and to play well, and they did."
 
Samford (11-18, 5-9 SoCon) trailed by as many as 16 points early in the second half, but rallied back to trim The Citadel's (5-25, 1-14 SoCon) advantage to just 63-58 with 6:32 left in the game. During the Bulldogs' rally, Isaiah Williams scored 11 points, Connor Miller drained a 3-point basket and Brandon Hayman added a high-flying layup.
 
After Samford cut the Cadets' lead to five points, The Citadel's Matt Van Scyoc scored five straight points to rebuild his squad's advantage to 68-58.
 
"We got their lead down to five, but then at that point, we needed to get another stop," Seltzer said. "Tonight, we always seemed to have trouble getting a big rebound or getting that next stop, so now we have to go back to the drawing board. We still have two more games left in the regular season and those will be opportunities for us to figure it out."
 
Down the stretch, the Bulldogs would use a jumper from Miller to cut the Cadets' lead to seven points, 74-67, with just over a minute left to play, but would not get any closer as The Citadel continued to knock down its free throws in the waning seconds and hung on for its final 81-71 decision.
 
With its victory, The Citadel snapped a school-record 17-game losing streak and earned its first triumph since Dec. 18. The Cadets also tallied their first SoCon win of the 2013-14 campaign and improved to 8-4 all-time against Samford.
 
The Bulldogs had their losing streak extended to three-consecutive games Monday, all of which have occurred on the road. Samford will next be in action Thursday at 7 p.m. (CT) as the Bulldogs begin a regular-season ending, two-game homestand against Appalachian State.
 
Samford was led in scoring by true freshman point guard Isaiah Williams, who finished with 24 points on 9-of-14 from the floor. The Bulldogs' talented native of Buford, Ga., also tallied a 4-of-6 performance from 3-point range and handed out three assists.
 
Williams' 24-point outing Monday proved to be just two points shy of equaling his career-high performance of 26 points, which he registered against Campbellsville on Nov. 29.
 
Samford's Tim Williams finished with 20 points and nine rebounds, just one board shy of posting his sixth double-double of the season and the 12^th of his career. Williams tallied a 7-of-13 mark from the field and finished a near-perfect 6-of-7 from the charity stripe.
 
The Citadel was paced by a trio of double-digit scorers and was led by Ashton Moore's 24 points on 7-of-12 shooting. Moore, the reigning SoCon Player of the Week, also added three 3-point baskets and grabbed a pair of rebounds.
 
"I think Moore is one of the most talented guards in this league," Seltzer said. "When you try to tell young players how good a team is, or how good a certain player is, but then they see that their record is 0-14, it's hard. We tried to reiterate over and over again not to pay attention to their record, because this team is pretty good. Our players found out the hard way. That was a tough loss for us."
 
The Cadets' Van Scyoc played the entire 40 minutes Monday and accumulated 19 points on 5-of-12 shooting from the field. As the top free-throw shooter in the SoCon, Van Scyoc turned in a near-perfect 7-of-8 performance from the charity stripe.
 
Marshall Harris III closed out The Citadel's double-digit scoring with 13 points, four assists and a rebound.
 
Samford outscored the Cadets in the paint, 36-22, but The Citadel out-rebounded the Bulldogs, 33-30.
 
The Cadets turned in a sizzling 53.1-percent shooting performance from the field Monday and tallied nine 3-point baskets. Samford finished 45.2 percent from the floor and 35.3 percent from beyond the arc.
 
The Citadel shot 50 percent from the field in the first half and garnered a 38-24 advantage at the intermission. The Cadets' 14-point lead at the half proved to be its largest of the 2013-14 campaign.
 
Samford led by three points, 11-8, at the 13:42 mark in the opening period, but then The Citadel exploded for an 18-4 run to take a 26-15 advantage with 5:33 remaining in the half.
 
Harris III paced the Cadets with nine first-half points, while Moore chipped in with eight points on 3-of-4 shooting from the field. Van Scyoc and Raemond Robinson both added six points for The Citadel in the opening 20 minutes of action.
 
The Cadets connected on six 3-point field goals in the first half, as compared to just one for Samford.
 
The Bulldogs only shot 34.6 percent from the field in the opening period, but were led by Tim Williams' eight points and six rebounds. Sophomore point guard Russell Wilson came off the bench to tally six points, while Isaiah Williams chipped in with five.
 
"We're ready for a little home cooking," said Seltzer. "We're definitely disappointed after this loss, but we can't dwell on this outcome for too long, because we have a quick turnaround and a game coming up Thursday."
 
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Thursday at 7 p.m. (CT) as the Bulldogs look to Red-Out the Appalachian State Mountaineers in a key home contest to be held at the Pete Hanna Center.
 
Thursday's game will begin a weekend homestand and is being promoted as a Red-Out contest. Samford students in attendance will have the opportunity to win a $250 Summit gift card, an iPad Air and a $2,500 Spring Break trip.

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