HobbsDailyReport.com
HICKORY – The Citadel will visit Lenoir-Rhyne University on Sunday afternoon to play the Bears in an exhibition basketball game to raise funds for hurricane relief.
The school’s men’s teams tip off at 3 p.m. in Shuford Gym all game proceeds will go to a hurricane relief fund set up by the American Red Cross to help those affected in Florida and Puerto Rico by recent hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.
Tickets for Sunday’s exhibition are $10 for adults and $5 for ages 12 and under. All LRU students, faculty and staff with ID get in free.
The game was made possible due to a special waiver the NCAA is granting NCAA Division I schools. Similar games have been added across the nation in recent days. The waiver allows programs to add a second exhibition game as long as all proceeds go to relief efforts.
Sunday’s exhibition will be the first time LRU has played host to an NCAA Division I school in an exhibition (almost all contests against those schools are on the road).
LRU last played an NCAA Division I school in an exhibition in early November of 2015, visiting Davidson.
The Bears, under second-year mentor Everick Sullivan, returns senior guards Reed Lucas and Jarvis Calhoun. Lucas averaged 13.0 points per game and hit 69 3-pointers while Calhoun averaged 9.9 points and hit 58 treys.
The Citadel, a member of the Southern Conference, returns Preston Parks, the league freshman of the year who averaged a team-high 18.1 points last season.
The hurricane relief touches home for several members of the Bulldogs men’s basketball team as sophomore Leandro Allende hails from Puerto Rico while freshmen Rob Johnson and Derek Webster, Jr., are both from the state of Florida.
LRU’s men opener their season Nov. 10 against UNC Pembroke on the road with a 3 p.m. start as part of the SAC/Peach Belt Conference Challenge.
- Reported by LRU Sports Information