After clinching the Southern Conference North Division title last Monday at UT-Chattanooga, ETSU kept on rolling as they beat Elon Saturday in Johnson City, 73-58.
The Phoenixes of Elon had won four of their last five games, but the Bucs, lead by Tim Smith’s 21 game points, stopped them from getting their 13th straight win.
“It’s another good win,” said Murry Bartow. “We gave up too many offensive rebounds, which I don’t like.”
“I thought Elon was a very hot team coming in, they had won four out of their last five.”
In typical Buccaneer basketball fashion, they grabbed an early 13-4 lead only to let Elon (9-15, 5-7 SoCon) tie the game at 15 just a few minutes later.
Tim Smith helped ETSU outscore the Phoenixes 17-10 in the final minutes before halftime, giving the Bucs a 15 point lead going into intermission.
Smith felt his big performance should not overshadow his teammates. “The whole squad put points on the board,” he said. Even though the SoCon’s eighth leading scorer, Zakee Wadood did not have his best game of the season, Smith feels that others step up. “That shows how good a team we are,” Smith said.
The second half was not one of the Bucs’ best halves of the season. All of their shooting percentages came down from the first half. From the floor, they shot only 34 percent after the half.
Bartow said to win by 15 against a hot Elon is enough to keep him pleased about their 13th straight SoCon win. “The number I really like is that (Elon) shot at 29 percent. We did a nice job in the zone, the number that really stands out is that there two best shooters were 3-22 from 3-point range.”
ETSU (21-4, 13-0 SoCon) held the Phoenixes at bay enough to win by 15 and kept their 13-game winning streak, an ETSU program record.
Winning at home has been a goal for Bartow, and ETSU’s 10-0 record is only matched by the College of Charleston’s, at 10-0 as well. “One thing we have talked about is trying to win at home, which we have done successfully to this point.”
Starting Monday, the Bucs will be spending most of their time on the road as they head to Charleston, S.C., to play the Citadel (0-12 SoCon), who was held to just 39 points against Charleston Saturday.
After a face off with the Citadel Monday, ETSU heads out west to face Fresno State on Saturday in ESPN’s bracket busters, an invitational game to help mid-major teams gain at-large bids.
Then the Bucs will finish their home schedule with UTC the next Tuesday, only to head back to Charleston to face CC to finish the season.
ETSU faces off with the Citadel in Charleston at 7:15 p.m. Monday.

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