In a game marred by 69 fouls, 93 free throws, and plenty of bruises, ESTU won 85-69 over the Citadel on Saturday.
Dimeco Childress led the Bucs with 16 points and four rebounds as Scooter Johnson dominated the paint with 15 points and six rebounds.
With D.J. McDuffie’s usual double-digit scoring from outside (12 points) and the emergence of Zakee Wadood as a presence inside (six points and 11 rebounds), the Bucs never trailed, leading 38-29 at halftime.
However it was an odd first half. Despite shooting 14 percent and missing on every shot inside the three-point line (0-12), the Citadel trailed only nine points at halftime by turning 29 free throw attempts into 20 points.
Hand-checked fouls had the whistles blowing every possession, and neither team could get into an offensive rhythm or for that matter, any kind of rhythm at all.
“We had planned to do some trapping and pressing, but in a game like this, we couldn’t get into it at all,” Head Coach Ed DeChellis said. “I honestly can’t tell you if we got better or worse And I’ll tell you, as the game came down to the end, I was worried we night not have enough players.”
The second half proved no better as both teams committed technical fouls and tempers flared.
Although the Bucs were at times able to do some things in the half-court, getting a number of nice feeds to the post that resulted in layups and using a full-court set play out of a timeout; with both teams playing physical, agressive defense, the game got downright ugly in the low post.
Big man Cory Seels (six points, six rebounds) made his presence known, and sophomore Jerald Fields played a strong game, scoring eight points, grabbing four rebounds and blocking two shots.
However, both showed inexperience at time, forcing some shots inside and plying overly aggressive defense.
Regardless, with most of the starters on the bench due to foul trouble, Seels and Fields led by McDuffie as the emergency point guard (an injury to Sam Oatman took out the Bucs normal backup), brought home the win.
As a team the Bucs shot 71 percent at the foul line in the second half and 58 percent from the field, both significant improvements from the first half.
“We really needed this win after what happened in Chattanooga, and I’m just happy to have gotten out with the win,” McDuffie said. “As for playing point guard I’ve been doing that most of my life.”
“The Citadel came in with a good inside game, so coach emphasized strong post defense during practice,” Johnson said. “I felt pretty good today.”
The Citadel got 21 points from shooting guard Travis Cantrell,but they totaled four out of 12 shooting from the field.
As a team, ETSU’s front line outsized the Bulldogs significantly, resulting in a 49-31 Bucs advantage on the boards. However, the most important statistic proved to be ETSU’s 41 free throw attempts and 66 percents shooting from the stripe.
“In a game like this, if you don’t hit your free throws, suddenly the basket gets smaller, you offense slows down a bit and you tense up,” DeChellis said.
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