Three East Tennessee State freshmen led the charge as the Bucs defeated conference foe Davidson, 87-72, Saturday at Belk Arena in Davidson N.C. Ben Rhoda had a season-best 20 points, hitting 6-of-10 from the field and Brad Nuckles poured in his own season-high 19 points to go along with his team-high eight rebounds. Point guard Tim Smith also notched 19 points.
ETSU moved into a tie with the Wildcats for second place in the conference, improving its record to 14-9 overall, 8-4 in the SoCon. Davidson fell to 14-8 overall, 8-4 in the SoCon.
Just one game after shooting 54 percent from the field and 75 percent from 3-point range, Davidson struggled to find the bottom of the net. The Wildcats shot a season-low 33 percent from the field leading on their way to their first home loss of the season.
Freshman Brendan Winters led the Wildcats in scoring for the second game in a row, dropping 19 points, thanks to 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. He also added seven boards. Senior Wayne Bernard and freshman Ian Johnson also netted double figures, scoring 13 and 12, respectively.
The Wildcats struggled from the start, down 14-2 in the first five minutes of the game. Davidson crawled back to within three points thanks to a Bernard 3-pointer, the only 3-pointer for the Wildcats in the first half, at the 4:27 mark. Junior Terrell Ivory converted on a 3-point play a minute later and the Buc advantage was only two. Davidson did not score for the remaining three minutes of the half. ETSU went on a 13-0 run to take a 41-26 lead into the locker room.
Each team turned the ball over nine times in the first half, but the Bucs scored 14 points off Wildcat turnovers compared to only three by Davidson.
The Wildcats kept the game interesting in the final half, slowly cutting into the ETSU lead. Senior Peter Anderer made his return after missing nine games due to a broken hand and nailed a 3-pointer that cut the Buccaneer advantage to four points, 73-69, with just over four minutes remaining. Davidson did not connect again from the field and turned the ball over four times in the final two minutes of play as ETSU ended the Wildcats’ 10-game home winning streak.
Prior to this game, Davidson had shot below 45 percent in only two conference games. The Bucs, meanwhile, connected on 50.8 percent from the floor, the second time in the past four games a Wildcat opponent has hit at least 50 percent. It had been more than two years since an opponent had shot 50 percent or better before Wofford drilled 54 percent on Feb. 3.
The Buccaneers will head to Greensboro Monday to battle the Spartans at 7 p.m.

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