Buccaneer post players Zakee Wadood and Jerald Fields decided to take the load off their back court teammates in Tuesday’s matchup against UNC-Greensboro.
Wadood and Fields each scored 22 points in the Bucs’ 90-76 victory over the Spartans in the Mini-Dome.
With the win, ETSU moved into a tie for second place in the Southern Conference North Division.
“Those two kids can really play well together,” said head coach Ed DeChellis. “They pass the ball well together, they both can put the ball on the floor and both can shoot threes.”
It was the fifth straight win for the Bucs and it gave ETSU a split in its season series with UNC-Greensboro, which defeated the Bucs 104-92 on Jan. 14 at Greensboro.
“I’m proud of this team,” DeChellis said. “We looked dead in the water a month ago.
“We didn’t play great tonight, but we played well enough to win and we’ve put ourselves in a position to do something special.”
Wadood, who leads the conference in rebounding (9.1), grabbed 10 rebounds to go with his 22 points. Fields came up with eight rebounds to go with his 22 and also tied his single-game record with six blocked shots.
“It was time for us to step up,” said Fields, who was 3-for-3 on his three-point attempts. “We stepped up when we needed it.”
With leading scorer Dimeco Childress (16.5 ppg); who has been on fire in his last two games at the Mini-Dome, scoring 71 total points; in foul trouble most of the game, Wadood and Fields picked up for what the Bucs were missing without their leading scorer.
“It’s just something we worked on all week, getting the ball inside,” Wadood said.
Except for a 4-2 lead very early in the game by the Spartans, ETSU led the entire way and went on a 14-0 run, making the score 29-13.
The run included a five-point play from Ryan Lawson, who was fouled on a reverse layup and hit the foul shot and after a technical foul was called on the Spartans, Lawson finished off the play hitting both technical free throws.
Greensboro, however, responded after the Bucs’ run, going on a 10-0 run of its own led by back-to-back three-pointers by Jay Joseph and Ronnie Taylor, making the score 33-26. ETSU bounced right back, ending the half on a 10-4 spurt for a 43-30 lead.
“I thought we struggled in spurts, but that’s the sign of a champion to come through the spurts and bounce back,” said Lawson, who scored 18 points, including 5-for-5 from the free-throw line, a category in which he leads the SoCon (92.6 percent).
The Spartans made a run of their own in the second half, cutting the Bucs’ lead to five, 57-52 with 11:41 to go after a 13-2 run.
During the stretch, Greensboro’s Joseph continued his hot shooting, nailing two of his five three-pointers.
Lawson got the lead back up to eight, 60-52, with a three of his own.
Both teams went back and forth with Joseph striking again with a three to get his team within six, 65-59, but could not get the Spartans any closer.
With the Bucs leading by nine, 76-67, Fields showed his range knocking down two of his three-pointers for the night and connecting on a reverse layup to put ETSU up 88-74.
Fields scored 10 of the Bucs’ last 14 points, scoring ETSU’s final basket for the 90-76 win.
Wadood (22), Fields (22) and Lawson (18) were joined in double figures in the scoring column by Tiras Wade (11) and Childress (13), who also dished out a team-high five assists.
“It was a gutsy performance by our team,” DeChellis said. “We had all five (starters) in double figures.”
Lawson and Wade played the full 40 minutes for the Bucs.
Greensboro was led by Joseph’s 25 points on 9-for-18 shooting from the field.
David Schuck also scored over 20 points (24) on 6-for-10 shooting and went 12-for-13 from the free-throw line.
The Bucs host Western Carolina on Saturday at 4 p.m., their final home game of the season and one of three regular season games remaining.
“If we win the final three games we have a good shot at second place (in the North Division),” DeChellis said. “We have the opportunity to do something that a month ago looked impossible.

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