GREENSBORO, NC Ricky Hickman recorded his 18th straight double-digit scoring game with 16 points and went over 900 points for his career as UNC Greensboro pulled away late for a 65-46 win over The Citadel on Monday night at Fleming Gym in men's basketball action.

UNCG turned up the defense, limiting The Citadel to just two field goals over a 16-minute span midway through the contest and closing it out with an 18-5 run over the final 8:41. For the game, the Bulldogs shot just 29.2 percent from the field. It was the fourth time this season that UNCG has held the opposition under 50 points, a first in 38 seasons of basketball at the university.

Sophomore Kyle Hines added 17 points as the Spartans (10-10, 3-3 SoCon) won their second straight and got to back .500 in the league. Kevin Oleksiak chipped in with 14 points and sophomore point guard Dwayne Johnson had eight points and seven assists with no turnovers.

“Dwayne is playing about as well as he has here, I think,” said UNCG coach Mike Dement. “He hit a three early and made a nice feed to Kyle and did just an overall good job tonight.

“We rebounded well and did a pretty good job on the defensive end,” said Dement. “We still need more contribution from our bench because a couple of our guys are playing a lot of minutes. We had a couple of guys out to get some rest and struggled on the offensive end of the floor.”

The Spartans came out hot, connecting on 8 of their first 11 shots from the floor as they gradually opened up a lead. Hines turned a nifty baseline move into a thunderous dunk to give the Spartans a 24-17 lead with 7:42 to play in the first half.

Over the final 10:33 of the first half, the Bulldogs made just 1 of 10 and committed six turnovers as UNCG took a 31-20 lead to the locker room.

It was another defensive stand that gave the Spartans some breathing room. The Bulldogs pulled to within six, 47-41, when Dante Terry knocked down a three-pointer from the left side of the key with 8:41 to play. Terry finished with 17 points to lead the Bulldogs (6-13, 0-7 SoCon).

But UNCG scored 18 of the game's final 23 points to pull away, with Hines and Oleksiak teaming up to score 15 of the 18. The Bulldogs, who lost their 10th straight, made just one field goal in nine attempts after Terry's three-pointer.

UNCG, which has 10 wins in a season for the sixth time in the last seven years and 20th time in the last 27 seasons, hits the road for a pair of games beginning Saturday. The Spartans visit Georgia Southern for a 7:30 pm contest.

AGATE

UNCG 65, THE CITADEL 46

THE CITADEL (6-13, 0-7) - Terry, Dante 5-13 4-4 17; Thompson, Joseph 2-6 3-5 8; Nelson, Demetrius 2-7 1-2 5; Xia, Aaron 1-3 2-2 4; Everhart, J'Mel 1-3 1-2 3; Davis, Matt 1-4 0-1 3; Diasparra, Chris 1-4 0-2 3; Brick, Jonathan 1-5 0-0 3; Miller, Andy 0-0 0-0 0; Valiulis, Vytautas 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 14-48 11-18 46.

UNCG (10-10, 3-3) - Hines, Kyle 7-10 3-6 17; Hickman, Ricky 6-10 2-3 16; Oleksiak, Kevin 4-7 5-6 14; Johnson, Dwayne 3-4 1-1 8; Tooms, Bart 2-4 0-0 4; McClenny, David 2-6 0-0 4; Simmons, Everson 1-1 0-0 2; Everette, Dustin 0-0 0-0 0; Moore, Donald 0-0 0-0 0; Beckford, Brian 0-1 0-0 0; Akinosho, Matt 0-1 0-0 0; Vlazny, Gregory 0-0 0-0 0; Campbell, Marc 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-44 11-16 65.

Halftime: UNCG 31-20. 3-point goals-The Citadel 7-23 (Terry, Dante 3-7; Davis, Matt 1-4; Brick, Jonathan 1-2; Thompson, Joseph 1-4; Diasparra, Chris 1-3; Valiulis, Vytautas 0-2; Xia, Aaron 0-1), UNCG 4-10 (Hickman, Ricky 2-4; Oleksiak, Kevin 1-4; Johnson, Dwayne 1-1; McClenny, David 0-1). Fouled out--The Citadel-None, UNCG-None. Rebounds-The Citadel 29 (Everhart, J'Mel 6), UNCG 31 (Hines, Kyle 6). Assists-The Citadel 3 (Terry, Dante 1; Diasparra, Chris 1; Davis, Matt 1), UNCG 12 (Johnson, Dwayne 7). Total fouls-The Citadel 17, UNCG 15. A-966

- UNCG -

SIDELINES: Hickman hit a three-pointer midway through the first half to extend his string to 15 consecutive games with at least one three-pointer... UNCG has not lost a home game when leading at the half since February 18, 2003. Over that time, UNCG has won 21 in a row at home when taking a lead into halftime. Overall, UNCG has won 23 straight when leading at the half (dating back to March 2004)... Hines is 61-85 from the field in the month of January (71.8 percent) and averaging 20.1 ppg for the month... The game was Mike Dement's 50th all-time in Fleming Gym. He is 35-15 all-time there, including wins in 32 of the last 39... The Citadel has lost five straight at Fleming Gym and has not won there since 1991 UNCG's first season as an NCAA Division I member.