ETSU has turned what was a schedule of opportunity into a losing record and racking up no Division-I wins so far.
A record of 2-5, 0-1 SoCon is new territory for this back-to-back Southern Conference championship team, who couldn’t stop the Central Michigan Chippewas in route to the 88-77 loss they handed the Bucs in Rose Arena Tuesday night.
ETSU continues to be winless on the road, raising the Chippewas to 4-2, keeping their 4-0 home game winning streak alive.
“It was a five-minute game at the end and they won the five-minute game,” head coach Murry Bartow told reporters after the loss.
The Bucs came out to play in the first half, leading by as many as eight points. Going into the locker rooms at the half, however, the Bucs were down by a basket, 36-34.
CMU was able to put together a couple of second half runs, and fight off a few ETSU rallies. At 9:25 the Bucs were able to tie it up 62-all, but were never able to take the lead in the last half. CMU put together a 12-4 run in the end to take the game, 88-77.
James Anthony came off the bench for the Bucs to put a season-high 19 points on the board, 12 of those coming from behind the arc. Tim Smith and Ben Rhoda were also in double figures with 15 and 12 points respectively.
The Chippewas relied on guard Kevin Nelson who banked 21 points and eight rebounds. Trailing his teammate by one basket was Giordan Watson with 19. Three other Chippewas were able to score in the double digits to take the game. Eddie Spencer was the only one on either team to score a double-double on the night with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
CMU not only out- shot the Bucs, 47.8 percent, compared to the 46.2 percent the Bucs posted, they were also able to out rebound them 40-30.
We have to play harder, give it all we got,” Smith said. “Right now we’re not doing that.

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