The Bucs’ Saturday win was not pretty as they inched past the Mountaineers of Appalachian State, 66-63.
But the Bucs, now 11-0 in the Southern Conference, are rolling into the most important part of the season – one that sees them head to Fresno State for a bracket-buster game and one where they head to both Chattanooga and Charleston for SoCon matchups.
The largest crowd of the season, 7,049 fans, was on hand as the Bucs handed ASU their sixth-straight conference loss since Jan. 10. For most of the first half, ETSU (19-4, 11-0 SoCon) was playing catch-up. After a 7-0 Mountaineer run early in the first half, poor shooting and turnovers kept the Bucs from taking the lead for good.
“It was a win, maybe not our best of the year, but at this time of the year, a win is a win,” said Head Coach Murry Bartow.
“We did not have a very good practice yesterday. I was concerned coming into the game. But we put together a nice 10 minutes to start the second half and that was the difference.”
At the half, ASU (8-15, 3-7 SoCon) and the Bucs were tied at 32 apiece. In the first 10 minutes of the second half, ETSU built a lead of 54-38, only to let the Mountaineers slip back in late in the second half.
Poor shooting plagued the Bucs, as they were only 41 percent from field-goal range, 38 percent from three-point range and 55 percent from the free-.throw line.
“It’s always good to get a win against Appy State, no matter what the point margin is,” said Jerald Fields. “We are 11-0 and feeling good.”
Tim Smith led the Bucs in scoring with 16 points “We didn’t play as well as we should have, but it’s a win,” Smith said. “We didn’t have a good practice yesterday, and it carried over into today.”
The Mountaineers’ high scorer was Johnathan Mitchell, who had 11 points and 7 rebounds.
The big challenge for ETSU is heading into Chattanooga (6-4 SoCon) Monday to face the second place North Division rival.
“Zakee and Jerald are one-of-three against (UTC) in their careers here,” Bartow said. “I know we went down there last year and scored 94 points and got beat.”
“They’re one of the most talented teams in the league. They throw a lot of different things at you. It’s tough to prepare since we only have one day to practice. If we win on Monday, we are going to look back on today as a wake-up call. Sometimes you need a wake-up call.”
ETSU and UTC face off in Chattanooga at 7 p.m.

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