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GREENSBORO -- Pat Conroy penned his memoirs of basketball at The Citadel in a work he called "My Losing Season."

On Thursday night, his cousin Ed Conroy and the Bulldogs started the presses on that sort of tale for the UNCG Spartans, who must find offensive balance between now and Saturday to avoid a perilous start to Southern Conference play.

The Citadel (5-3, 1-0 SoCon) snapped a 16-game losing streak on the SoCon road with a 57-50 victory over the Spartans, whose 5-for-29 shooting from beyond the 3-point line kept them winless against Division I competition this season.

UNCG (1-4, 0-1) hosts the College of Charleston on Saturday with a sudden urgency.

"We had great looks all night," said guard Landon Clement, whose 15 points led the Spartans. "We just struggled to knock them down. Shots rattled in and out."

That was particularly true for Mikko Koivisto, the normally accurate long-range shooter who made his first and missed his last nine.

The Bulldogs got it done by spreading the floor and posting up anybody and everybody at various points. That included 6-foot-1 guard Cameron Wells, who scored over 5-10 Daniel Oliver twice in the decisive 12-2 stretch that gave The Citadel a 41-29 lead early in the second half.

The Spartans spent the rest of the evening trying to get even, and they certainly had their chances. Down 54-50 in the final 2 minutes, they had three chances to make it a one-possession game, but 3-pointers by Clement and Koivisto went halfway down and declined to fall through.

"In a game like this," Ed Conroy said, "it's a matter of who can get a guy to make a couple of shots."

UNCG's task in that regard was complicated by difficulty in establishing a low-post game. The Spartans missed the services of promising freshman forward Damian Eargle, suspended for the night for an unspecified violation of team rules. Elhanan Bone, another rookie, generated some chances but didn't have a running mate in the post.

"We have to find out who that guy is going to be," Spartans coach Mike Dement said.

Only the last two 3-pointers were desperate heaves necessitated by the time and score.

For the evening, 29 of UNCG's 64 field-goal attempts came from downtown. Very few teams can win consistently with that ratio, and that's especially apparent with the new and deeper 3-point line.

The start was not promising for the Spartans, who now need to fend off the Cougars. Coach Bobby Cremins' club, which plays at Fleming Gym at 3 p.m. Saturday, improved to 6-1 after winning 77-69 at Elon Thursday.

"It's going to be tough," forward Ben Stywall said. "We have to put this one behind us, get it off our minds and practice hard so we can be prepared for them."

Contact Rob Daniels at 373-7028 or rob.daniels@news-record.com

THE CITADEL (5-3, 1-0)

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Dahn 27 4-8 0-0 0-2 0 0 10

Eykyn 21 0-4 0-0 2-2 0 0 0

Nelson 25 5-8 1-2 1-8 0 3 11

Urbanus 33 1-3 3-6 0-5 2 1 5

Wells 30 5-11 1-2 0-9 3 3 12

McDowell 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0

Morabbi 14 2-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 5

Brick 11 2-2 0-0 0-1 2 2 4

Streeter 14 3-5 2-3 2-4 0 0 8

Roberts 4 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 0 0

Clark 15 1-5 0-0 3-4 0 1 2

Totals 200 23-49 7-13 10-41 8 11 57

Percentages: FG .469, FT .538.

3-point goals: 4-12, .333 (Dahn 2-5, Morabbi 1-1, Wells 1-2, Clark 0-1, Urbanus 0-1, Eykyn 0-2).

Team rebounds: 4.

Blocked shots: 1 (Wells).

Turnovers: 15 (Nelson 3, Wells 2, Streeter 2, Brick 2, Morabbi, Urbanus, Roberts, Clark, Eykyn).

Steals: 2 (Morabbi, Clark).

UNCG (1-4, 0-1)

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Bone 23 4-8 0-0 2-6 0 2 8

Stywall 36 2-5 2-4 7-10 1 3 6

Koivisto 32 2-14 2-2 1-3 2 2 7

Smith 21 2-8 1-1 0-1 1 0 5

Toney 25 1-9 0-0 0-3 1 0 2

Clement 24 5-13 2-2 0-2 0 1 15

Oliver 17 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 3 3

Brown 17 2-4 0-0 1-3 1 3 4

Jackson 5 0-2 0-0 1-2 0 0 0

Totals 200 19-64 7-9 15-35 6 14 50

Percentages: FG .297, FT .778.

3-point goals: 5-29, .172 (Clement 3-10, Oliver 1-1, Koivisto 1-10, Stywall 0-1, Smith 0-2, Toney 0-5).

Team rebounds: 5.

Blocked shots: 4 (Brown 2, Stywall 2).

Turnovers: 8 (Stywall 3, Brown 2, Bone, Clement, Toney).

Steals: 9 (Toney 2, Koivisto 2, Smith 2, Bone, Oliver, Brown).

The Citadel 24 33 -- 57

UNCG 22 28 -- 50

A--1,127. Officials_Ted Valentine, Gary Maxwell, Tim Clark.