The Citadel men’s basketball team lost to Samford 78-75 at McAlister Field House on Thursday night. Despite a late surge in the final minutes, The Citadel was unable to close the gap, falling to 9-19 overall and 6-9 in Southern Conference play.
The first half saw several lead changes, with The Citadel hitting six three-pointers and leading 34-31 at halftime. Logan Applegate’s three-pointer just before the break gave them a narrow advantage.
Samford responded early in the second half with consecutive three-pointers from Cade Norris. After briefly regaining the lead on an Eze Wali basket, The Citadel fell behind as Samford built a 61-45 margin midway through the period.
A late rally began with a three-pointer by Braxton Williams at the 1:12 mark. Marcos Gonzales followed with a jumper, and Williams added two more threes to reduce Samford’s lead to three points with 15 seconds left. Sola Adebisi hit a jumper and Gonzales made a layup in the closing seconds, but Samford secured victory at the free throw line.
Braxton Williams led The Citadel with 22 points and four three-pointers, recording his seventh game this season scoring at least 20 points. Sola Adebisi contributed 13 points and nine rebounds—his fifth game this year with nine or more boards—and matched his career high of five steals. He also shot over 60 percent from the field for the ninth time this season when attempting five or more shots. Christian Moore added 12 points and made multiple threes for his nineteenth such game of the year, while Carter Kingsbury collected seven rebounds.
The Bulldogs committed only six turnovers, their lowest total during conference play this season.
For Samford, Norris scored a team-high 19 points. Jadin Booth and Zion Wilburn each finished with 18 points, while Dylan Faulkner had a double-double of ten points and ten rebounds.
Head coach Ed Conroy commented after the game: “I thought we did a lot of things we wanted to do. We had only six turnovers and defensively held their top two scorers to 11 of 26 from the field, which is significant considering what they average in league play. We had a strong first half defensively, but in the second half we went through a stretch where we missed shots, and we let that affect our energy on the other end. I told our guys I believe we can play with anybody in this league. In two weeks it will be win or go home, so we cannot let the emotional part of missing shots impact the way we play. Because of our scoring ability, we have to trust that whether shots go in or not, it should not affect our effort. We have shown we can put together major runs, and now it is about staying consistent for 40 minutes.”
The Citadel will next face Chattanooga on Saturday at McAlister Field House for Senior Day; tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Fans can follow The Citadel basketball program on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram @CitadelHoops or visit their official site at CitadelSports.com. Coverage for upcoming games will be available via ESPN+, 102.1 FM The City, and live stats online.
