TAMPA, Fla. – The East Tennessee State Buccaneers arrived in Tampa last week amidst a war in Iraq and terror threat within the home front.
The Bucs were quietly preparing for their showdown with Wake Forest on Friday. The show must go on, the fans were in full force arriving for the games, ready or not the madness is here.
Before the game between the Wake Forest Demon Deacons and the Bucs, predictions ran as far as a blowout to a close game.
Since the Demon Deacons were starting four freshmen, ETSU, as far as experience, had an equal edge. Youth won the night as Wake Forest won in scrappy fashion over the Bucs in a 76-73 nail-biter.
The first half started out sloppy as walks, botched passes and nervousness plagued both teams. Zakee Wadood drew a foul early when he missed both free throws while trying to acclimate to the Demon Deacon band heckling.
ETSU drew back late in the first half with their advantage in the turnover area with 10 points. As the first half closed nothing could stop Wake Forest center, Eric Williams, who scored 17 of his 20 points in the first half.
ETSU did stop the Demon Deacons top 3-point scorers but left others such as Taron Downey open to score 12 points in the second half. Wadood said, “that was the beauty of the tournament” when referring to secondary players stepping up.
The 17,024 fans were in for a great second half as ETSU tied the score with the Deacons three times. Buc freshman, Brad Nuckles said he “felt great and was comfortable” with his debut in the big dance. When Nuckles was asked if he loved the big games his reply was a confident, “yes.”
ETSU guard Tim Smith and Wadood combined for 42 of ETSU’s 73 points. It was tit-for-tat in the second half as Wake Forest scored and be answered by a Smith three or a Wadood free throw. Smith hit two big threes for the Bucs and Wadood was 9-12 from the foul line.
First-half trends remained the same as Wake Forest dominated in rebounding and second-chance points and the Bucs led in points off turnovers along with fast-break points.
ETSU was down 72-64 with 2:27 left in the game but Smith hit a 3-pointer with 1:34 left in the game. The freshman guard struck again with 28 seconds to go with another three to even the game 72-72.
As the flow had gone all night, the Bucs could not hold on to gain the lead. They fouled Josh Howard who hit both free throws to put Wake ahead by two. The Bucs had a chance to win but Smith missed a 3-pointer with three seconds left in the game.
ETSU head coach Ed DeChellis said that he gave Smith the option of winning the game with one shot.
“They played with tremendous heart and passion,” DeChellis said.
The Bucs shot 83 percent from above the arc in the second half and averaged 50 percent for the game. Smith played all 40 minutes and was ETSU’s top scorer with 22 points.
Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser said it was “bittersweet to play ETSU” since DeChellis was a friend of his. He even called the Bucs’ coach after their win in the Southern Conference.
When it came to choosing DeChellis over his team, he said, “I like Ed, but I like my kids more.”
The only starter the Bucs will lose is guard Ryan Lawson who said he thought the team played great despite the loss.
The Bucs’ dance at the ball ended but her Cinderella dreams are from over.

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