It was a typical day for ETSU – play from behind, come back and make it close late in the game. Typical for ETSU in the NCAA Tournament, they lost to a college basketball power by three points with the ball in their possession.

In the first round of the Atlanta Region bracket ETSU (27-6) lost to Cincinnati, 80-77, at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio for their second straight tournament loss by three points.

Tim Smith took the chance for a shot down a wide open lane and missed.

Despite three tries underneath on the missed shot, ETSU could not make the ball fall with time running out

“I had a choice between taking a three-point shot or going in for two points,” said Smith. “Zakee set a good screen and I decided to go down the lane for two.”

The Bucs had a three-point lead with less than two minutes left in the game, but a Bearcat (25-6) trey from freshman Eric Hicks tied the game at 77.

“Hes a great player,” UC coach Bob Huggins said.

“He’s (Tim Smith) got to be as fast with the ball as anybody in college basketball. He really broke our defense down.”

Tony Bobbit, Conference USAs number one sixth man, hit a three from the corner to put UC on top for good at 80-77.

Bobbit took the shot with 15 seconds left and sealed the game from there.

“I had a wide open shot from the corner and took it,” Bobbit said.

“Coach expects us to take that kind of shot if we have it. I didn’t know if we would get another chance like that.”

Receiving compliments from Bobbit and the Bearcats was Smith who lit up the scoreboard with a game-leading 26 points.

Coming from every direction, Smith hit key shots, rebounded and made steals coming behind players down court.

“It’s hard to teach quickness, and he was hitting his outside shots,” said sophomore UC forward Armein Kirkland. “If he wasn’t hitting his outside shots, we could play off him, but he was hitting them.”

In their final college basketball game, Jerald Fields and Zakee Wadood hoped for a win to end their illustrious careers.

Fields with the tough assignment of guarding and shooting against UC’s Big center Jason Maxiell.

He scored 19 points and kept Maxiell to a reasonable game underneath.

“I thought I played better this year but it’s upsetting to lose,” said Fields.

“I have to take my hat off to Cincinnati they played well but I think we could have beaten them.”

After a two week layoff after winning the SoCon championship, the Bucs started out sluggishly going down 11-0.

Turnovers and blocked shots plagued ETSU in the first three minutes of play.

From the free-throw line, ETSU shot 65 percent to Cincys 81 percent.

In field goal percentage, the Bucs were also out shot 46 to 39 percent.

“It’s been a great year for us,” said head coach Murry Bartow. “We have been talking all year about winning games in this tournament, so we’re a pretty dejected bunch.”

The lead was held by the Bearcats most of the game until Smith tied the game at 68 on a running shot with 6:27 remaining in the second half.

Thirty seconds later, Wadood gave the Bucs their first lead on a 3-point field goal at 72-68.

“We knew they were a very athletic team coming in,” Wadood said of ETSU going down 11-0 in the first three minutes of the game.

“It took us the first 11 points to get used to their athleticism. I had seen tape and knew they could jump. Once we got adjusted we could play with them.”

Everything went the Bearcats’ way after Hicks shot to tie the game at 77.

Wadood had a 3-point attempt blocked after an ETSU timeout with 1:19 left and eight seconds remaining on the shot clock.

Then a controversial play came with one minute left as Wadood was called for knocking the ball out of play when it appeared to be off a UC player after replay.

“The officials were right there and they didn’t call it,” he said. “Sometimes you luck out. That’s the way it ended and life goes on.”

Smith, Fields and Wadood put up the majority of ETSU’s points, combing for 62 of 77 points.

Scoring from the bench was low for the Bucs as Aaron Scott, Travis Strong and Brad Nuckles had seven points altogether.

The 3-point duo of Strong and James Anthony was limited to two between both players.

“It’s tough, I have no idea what I’m looking forward to,” said Fields about his life after basketball.

“It’s going to be hard to leave this team. I love my teammates and the coaching staff.”

Wadood set a season-high for rebounds with 13.

He had 17 points and added his 28th career double-double. Smith and Fields set their career bests in scoring as Smith (26 points) bested his 22 last year against Wake Forest.

Fields had 19 points, which bested his one point in the opening round last year.

Author