CHARLESTON, S.C. – Strong bench shooting and a 29-point effort from Tim Smith helped ETSU drop No. 2 seeded Davidson 96-84 Thursday in the semifinals of the SoCon tournament.
Travis Strong replaced an injured James Anthony to hit a career high five 3-pointers for a 17-point career day.
“I like pressure and a big crowd,” Strong said about the pressure to perform in tournament action. “It carries over from Memphis (White Station High School). We played in front of big crowds like this. I knew I had to step once James went out.”
The Bucs (26-5) allowed Davidson to slip back into contention after a 14-point halftime lead. Davidson fought back to within six, with about seven minutes left to play.
Stellar defensive play and 84 percent free throw shooting sent Davidson (17-12) packing and back to North Carolina.
“We feel fortunate to win against one of the hottest teams in the Southern Conference. We got off to a good start which is key. Our bench play was excellent. Strong played phenomenal for us in place of Anthony,” ETSU coach Murry Bartow said.
“We’ve been telling Travis all year to stay ready, that his time would come and you’ve gotta be ready. He stepped up, and he’ll step up again tomorrow.”
Smith tied his career high of 29 points in his second game. He shot fifty percent from the field and was a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line.
“Smith is a guy who can control a game despite his size,” said Davidson coach Bob McKillop. “He controlled this game.”
Anthony went down with 13:17 left in the first half after trying to block a shot. His 10.2 points a game was a loss for Bartow’s short bench.
“We’re just sick about James. I’m not going to sugarcoat it. He’s a big loss for us,” Bartow said.
Fouls were a problem for the Bucs as they had three technical fouls on Smith, Wadood and Bartow. Even though Jerald Fields, Zakee Wadood and Smith all had four fouls, they drained Davidson with a 9-1 run with less than a minute remaining.
“I think we just ran out of gas,” said McKillop. “When you expend that much energy trying to come back, you have to convert on all your opportunities, and we could not do it.”
In typical Buccaneer fashion, they stretched out their lead against Furman in the last five minutes to beat the Paladins 94-84. Furman (17-12) led by as much as nine points before the ten minute mark, but a Smith basket on a steal and a block by Fields led to a Smith three-point play and put ETSU (25-5, 16-1 SoCon) ahead 73-69. Furman pulled within three at 6:56 on two free throws by Eric Webb to bring it 77-74. Fields came through in the end putting up nine of the last eleven points.
“Before the game we talked about the one-point win where they almost beat us.I told them we needed to go out there and show them we are the SoCon champions,” Fields said.
Wadood broke Greg Dennis’s (1987-92) twelve-year block record, making his lifetime total 175. Along with a block record, Wadood racked up his 27th career double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
“This was a great win against a tough Furman team,” Bartow said. “They’re a better defensive and rebounding team than most in the conference.”
“As a coach, I’m confident in these guys even when they’re down. When the team is down, they don’t panic- they’re calm and confident.”
Webb led the Paladins with 28 points and was at 6-of-6 from the charity stripe. Leveling Webb’s scoring from above the arc was Smith, who scored 24-points for his third 20-plus game in his last four SoCon outings.
“I knew I had to step because I’m the point guard and the leader,” said Smith of his third 20-point plus game in the past four games. “I’m the general and I know I have to step up.

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