It was not their prettiest game of the season, but the Bucs came up with important shots and key defensive stops when they needed them to defeat the Davidson Wildcats, 64-51, Saturday afternoon in Memorial Center.
The Bucs (16-9, 11-3) and Wildcats (11-16, 5-9) combined for 45 turnovers and 40 personal fouls in what looked more like a football game than a basketball game at times with the constant pushing and shoving.
The Bucs, however, behind the rebounding of seniors Adrian Meeks and Scooter Johnson and the sharp shooting of Ryan Lawson were able to hold on for the victory in a game that was a lot closer than the final score indicates.
“It was a tough game,” Head Coach Ed DeChellis said. “There was a lot of bumping, pushing and shoving going on.”
“We didn’t play with a lot of energy tonight, but our guys are playing with confidence,” he said.
The Bucs once again jumped out to an early lead, 15-2, which has become a custom at Buccaneer home games, behind seven quick points from Lawson.
The Wildcats began cutting into the Bucs’ lead, getting within three points at 24-21 with 2:41 to go in the half.
But behind the inside play of Meeks and Johnson, who combined for 23 rebounds with 13 on the offensive end, the Bucs pushed their lead back to 11 at intermission, 32-21.
“We talked about it all week (that) Davidson was going to come and be physical with us,” Meeks said.
Meeks and Johnson answered the physical play of the Wildcats’ 7-foot-2-inch center Martin Ides and 6-foot-9 inches forward Chris Pearson, outrebounding them 15-6 in the first half, and 8-1 on the offensive glass.
At the start of the second half, Davidson came out and cut the Bucs’ lead down to two off a basket by the Wildcats’ Juoni Eho at 41-39 with 11:53 remaining in the game.
Then, as he did in Tuesday’s contest with UNC-Greensboro, Ryan Lawson came up with some big shots to rebuild the Bucs lead.
After the bucket by Eho, Lawson answered with a short jumper putting the Bucs back up by four.
Following a timeout the Bucs struck again quickly as senior D.J. McDuffie came up with a steal and took it the length of the court to put the Bucs up 45-39.
The lead was once again cut to two on a basket by the Wildcats’ 7-foot center Ides at 46-44, then on the following play Lawson nailed his third three-pointer of the game on a pass by McDuffie putting the Bucs back up by five.
From there the Wildcats would not be able to mount another charge, as Lawson would hit his fourth three-pointer of the game, putting the Bucs up 56-47.
“I got great looks, especially in transition,” Lawson said.
The Bucs built their lead back to 10 as Lawson hit one of two free throws with 1:58 remaining.
The Bucs also received clutch free-throw shooting in the final two minutes from Cliff Decoster, who was 6-for-9 on the night but 5-for-6 in the waning minutes to help seal the victory for ETSU.
The Bucs were led in the scoring column for the third straight game by Lawson with 19 points on five-of-eight shooting from the field, including four-of-five from behind the arc and five-of-eight from the free-throw line.
“Ryan Lawson shot the ball well,” DeChellis said. “He took some big shots and made some big shots for us.”
Meeks and Johnson also came up big for the Bucs, both recording double-doubles, which is the first time the Bucs have had two players reach double digits in points and rebounds in the same game this season.
Johnson scored 14 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and Meeks scored 11 points to go along with 11 rebounds.
All may not be well, though, for Johnson as with 1:58 to go in the game he had to leave the court with a possible broken finger, according to DeChellis.
The Wildcats’ leading scorer was Peter Anderer with 12 points; all on three-point field goals.
The Bucs will look to remain undefeated in conference play at home when they play their final home game, which will be Senior Night, Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. against VMI.

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