Setting a school record for margin of victory, East Tennessee State raced past Old Dominion Athletic Conference foe Guilford College by a margin of 67 points in a 104-37 victory Friday night in the season opener for both teams at the Memorial Center.
ETSU — a preseason pick to win the Southern Conference North Division — had seven players score in double figures and held the Quakers to just 13-of-49 shooting from the floor (28.6 percent) en route to breaking a 12-year-old record for margin of victory set in a 64-point win over Eckerd College in 1990-91 (112-48).
In addition, Guilford’s 37 points of offense was the lowest scoring total for an ETSU opponent since the Bucs held Liberty to just 30 points in 1980-81.
True freshman Brad Nuckles, who started his first collegiate game due to the absence of junior forward Zakee Wadood because of a death in his family, showed few signs of nerves in the debut and registered a double-double effort with 12 points and 13 rebounds in 22 minutes of action.
Along with Nuckles, James Anthony scored a game-high 15 points, while Tiras Wade poured in 14 points.
Senior Ryan Lawson went 3-of-7 from 3-point range and fellow senior Shannon Huffstetler was a perfect 4-of-4 from the field on way to scoring 13 points each.
Jerald Fields and Tim Smith wrapped up the double-figure scorers for the Bucs with 10 points each.
The Bucs and Quakers found themselves tied 5-5 at the 18:22 mark of the first half, but ETSU’s offense found its stride over the final 18 minutes of the first half, outscoring Guilford 45-10 the rest of the way.
With a 50-15 halftime lead, ETSU cruised to the victory in the second half.
As a team, ETSU (1-0) shot a blistering 58.1 percent from the field and out-rebounded the Quakers 46-25. The Bucs’ defensive effort produced 34 Guilford turnovers and ETSU gave the ball up just 12 times.
ETSU had 15 steals including four from Fields and three from Smith.
The lone bright spot for Guilford (0-1) was freshman Sasha Kovacevic, who garnered 12 points and two rebounds.

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