The Buccaneer basketball team showed a bit of rust early on, but the defending Southern Conference North Division champions quickly brushed it off to defeat the Charleston Bombers, an AAU squad from West Virginia.
The Bucs defeated the Bombers, 97-83, in an exhibition contest last Thursday night in Brooks Gym, as each player that saw action got into the scoring column.
Freshmen Keeton Brooks and Tiras Wade, former teammates at Tampa Tech High School, Fla., provided ETSU with an aggressive spark off the bench, scoring 14 and 13 points, respectively.
“I saw some good stuff from our younger kids,” said head coach Ed DeChellis. “Tiras Wade did a good job . they’re young and they still have a lot of work to do.”
Wade shot just two of seven from the field, but had a big night from the foul line, converting on eight of 12 free throws.
Brooks shot five of six from the floor and was a perfect three of three from the line.
Offensively the Bucs’ freshmen did good things, according to DeChellis, in pushing the ball up the court and distancing themselves from Charleston.
“We’re trying to push the ball a lot more,” DeChellis said. “We’re trying to utilize our squad . (and) be aggressive on the offensive end.”
Defensively, however, the youthful Bucs still have a long way to go before they are playing the type of defense that DeChellis expects.
“They still don’t know the level (of defense) that they have to play at,” he said.
The Bucs led by as much as 23 points in the first half against the Charleston team, but the Bombers began chipping away at ETSU’s lead, getting within 15 at the end of the first half, 51-35.
The Bombers then opened up the second half with a 25-10 run through the first seven minutes to make it a one-point game at 61-60, as the Bucs’ lack of intensity on the defensive end concerned DeChellis.
“The only thing that bothered me was our focus at the beginning of the second half,” he said. “We went into the half with a 16-point lead and we wanted to play well the first four to five minutes of the second half.”
Senior Dimeco Childress said, “We’re progressing (on defense), we still have a long way to go.”
Childress, who was an all-conference performer last season and a preseason all-conference pick this year, scored 13 points, but had a tough night from the floor, making just three of 11 shots from the field.
“I wasn’t making anything,” said the Bucs’ guard. “We still have things to work on defensively and offensively.”
After the Bombers’ run, the Bucs went on a run of their own, outscoring Charleston 19-2 over the next four minutes to put their lead back up to 18 at 80-62.
ETSU did not look back from there, as the closest Charleston could get was within 12-points at 95-83, before Bucs’ freshman Josh Wallace capped the games scoring, 97-83, with a jumper at the buzzer.
Former Buccaneer player Greg Dennis (1988-1992) recorded a double-double for the Bombers with 11 points and 10 rebounds, saying the goal for his team was to give ETSU a tough workout before its regular season opener.
“We wanted to come in and give them good competition, work them hard and get them ready for the Southern Conference (schedule),” said Dennis, ETSU’s all-time leading scorer (2,204 points), who played in three NCAA tournaments in his career.
Another former Buccaneer, Marty Story (1989-1992) chipped in seven points and four rebounds for the Charleston squad.
Story finished his career at ETSU tied for third place on the all-time games played list (126) and sixth all-time in minutes played (2,646).
Bucs’ sophomore Jerald Fields also reached double figures in points (11) for ETSU and pulled down seven rebounds to go with two blocks. Fields shot five of seven from the field, including one of two from behind the three-point line.
Junior Isaac Potter, junior-transfer Shannon Huffstetler and Wade tied Fields for the team lead in rebounds with seven apiece.
Senior point guard Cliff Decoster led the Bucs in assists with five.
The Bucs open their season on Friday in Brooks Gym against Guilford College at 7:30 p.m.

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