Southern Confernce report

SportsLine Report
March 1, 2000

In the Paint

The Citadel ended the season tied with Furman with identical 5-10 league marks, but the Bulldogs got the nod for the fifth seed by virtue of a canceled game with the Paladins. Furman overscheduled by one game and the discrepancy was not discovered until last month, and the league decided to cancel the Paladins' game with The Citadel.

For seeding purposes, it was counted as a Bulldogs' win and a Paladins' loss, even though it does not show up on their records.

The Bulldogs have not had much Southern Conference tournament success, posting an all-time mark of 8-46 (.148) including a 1-7 (.125) record under coach Pat Dennis. Last season, the Bulldogs were eliminated in the opening round by East Tennessee State, 72-59. In 1998, the Bulldogs snapped a 12-game league tournament losing streak with a 77-66 quarterfinal victory over VMI before falling in the semifinals to eventual champion Davidson.

If a game gets close in the tournament, the Bulldogs stand a good chance of breaking the trend. The Citadel is 5-0 in games decided by four points or less this season. The Bulldogs have defeated Limestone (68-66), Anderson (84-82 in OT), Western Carolina (67-63), VMI (87-84 in OT) and Chattanooga (63-61).

The Citadel closed out the regular season with a 75-58 loss at UNC Greensboro last week. Alan Puckett led the Bulldogs with 13 points while Cliff Washburn added 12 points and nine rebounds.

With 67 3-pointers on the year, Puckett has posted the fifth-best single-season total in school history. Puckett owns the ninth best total with his 55 long-range field goals a season ago. He is already sixth all-time on the school's career triple chart with 122 treys.

Junior guard Mike Roy recorded 12 assists and just one turnover in the final two games of the regular season including a career-high eight assists in the Bulldogs' win at Chattanooga.

NOTEWORTHY: The Citadel has advanced to the championship game of the Southern Conference tournament just once (1959), when the Bulldogs suffered an 85-66 loss to future NBA Hall of Famer Jerry West and West Virginia. ... The Bulldogs have dropped five of six games entering the tournament. … Puckett leads the team in scoring at 12.0 ppg. He is second in the league in 3-point field goal percentage at .424. ... Freshman Gregg Jones is among the league leaders with 1.18 blocked shots per game. ... Washburn is tied for the team rebounding lead at 5.3 per game. ... Junior point guard Mike Roy who has averaged 6.3 points and over three assists per game.

THIS WEEK: The Bulldogs meet East Tennessee State on Thursday, March 2. A victory would pit The Citadel with cross-town rival College of Charleston on March 3.