At the end of the fall semester, the men’s basketball team was in need of a break.
After a brutal non-conference schedule and injuries to key players, Coach Murry Bartow and his team probably wished that they could take the month off like most of us did to regroup.
Instead, they faced some tough road games and lost more players. Here’s a recap of what happened over the holiday break.
ETSU 102, Union 67
With 11:41 to go in the first half, the Bulldogs of Union College probably had visions of sugarplums dancing through their heads, as the Bucs were only ahead 16-10. That’s when Union went ice cold.
By the time the Bulldogs hit another basket with 6:16 left in the first half, the Bucs had dropped an avalanche of points on Union, and were comfortably ahead 35-13.
ETSU cruised to a 102-67 victory from there. Tim Smith and Travis Strong each had 22 points, Dillion Sneed flexed his muscle inside with 10 points and 11 rebounds and Greg Surmacz made his debut with the Bucs a successful one by scoring 10 points.
Memphis 87, ETSU 56
Memphis had dropped two straight to Providence and Louisiana Tech before the Bucs came calling on Dec. 28, and the Tigers were not in a good mood.
Memphis created match up problems for the Bucs all night as their mix of height, speed and athleticism created good shots on the offensive end while bottling up the outsized Bucs on the defensive end.
Anthony Rice scored a career-high 20 points for Memphis, Darius Washington added 17 and Sean Banks came up big with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Tim Smith led ETSU with 18 points, but the Bucs had trouble finding good shots, which led to a dismal 35 percent shooting from the field.
Appalachian St. 81,
ETSU 79
The Bucs returned to Southern Conference play at Appalachian State with their eyes on improving enough to make some noise come tournament time in March.
ETSU must have had March on their minds, because they came in like a lamb and went out like a lion in this one.
After a dismal first half that left them down by 12 points at the break, the Bucs shot a superhuman 74 percent from the field in the second half and roared all the way back to tie the game at 79. But with 5.4 seconds left, the speedy D.J. Thompson of Appy State blew through the Bucs defense and hit a runner in the lane to win the game at the buzzer. Tim Smith once again led ETSU with 29 points, Travis Strong added 19 points and Dillion Sneed put up another double-double with 13 points and 17 boards.
Furman 76, ETSU 68
In another razor-close ballgame, the Bucs looked good at home up 45-40 with 13:22 left in the second half. From there, ETSU seemed to run out of gas while Furman hit some key three point shots down the stretch. The Paladins took the lead 52-51 and executed offensively down the stretch to hold off the Bucs.
Four Paladins ended up in double figures, led by Ben Earle with 16 points. Tim Smith scored 21 for the Bucs while Dillion Sneed continued his physical play with 14 points and 11 boards. James Anthony added 12 points while Travis Strong scored 10 in the losing effort.
ETSU 76, Western
Carolina 70
After the first three conference games of the year slipped through their hands, the Bucs finally won one thanks to the heroics of Tim Smith.
Smith took the ball down the lane in the final 30 seconds with the Bucs up two points, hit a lay-up while being fouled and made the free throw to ice away the Catamounts.
In addition to winning their first conference game, the Bucs also won their first game on the road after starting the season 0-5 away from Memorial Center.
Dillion Sneed continued his rampage through the conference with 19 points while Sam Oatman scored 14. Tim Smith played all 40 minutes, scoring 15 points and dishing out eight assists.
ETSU 79, Elon 67
The Bucs returned home hoping to ride the momentum of their win at Western Carolina.
They did it in a record setting way, as the offense clicked for the first time all season. When the dust cleared, ETSU shot 61 percent from the floor and a record 73 percent from the three-point stripe on the way to an easy win.
Travis Strong broke loose for 26 points, Tim Smith stayed hot by adding 25 and Dillion Sneed made himself at home in the paint again by pulling down 14 rebounds.
Elon shot a respectable 46 percent from the floor, but an 11-22 performance from the foul line kept them from seriously challenging the red hot Bucs.
ETSU 76, UNC-
Greensboro 79 OT
In a familiar scene to Bucs fans, ETSU led 33-25 at the half before dropping a conference game to UNC-Greensboro in overtime.
The loss ended the Bucs’ four-game winning streak over Greensboro and further complicated ETSU’s quest for a first round bye in the Southern Conference tournament.
The Spartans put four players in double figures as their balanced attack stretched the Bucs defense to the breaking point.
On the bright side for ETSU, Tim Smith and Dillion Sneed continued their consistent play.
Smith had 22 points, including two big foul shots that put the game into overtime. Dillion Sneed was big inside again with 18 points and 12 boards. Notes
*Junior college transfer Chris Mitchell has left the team, reportedly because of family problems.
*Mitchell was averaging 8.3 points and 6.4 rebounds at the time of his departure.
*Brad Nuckles has aggravated a foot injury that kept him out early in the season. It is not clear whether or not Nuckles will return.
There is a chance that he will receive a medical red shirt that would give him an extra year of eligibility.
*ETSU’s next game against UT-Chattanooga will be televised on Fox SportsNet South on Saturday at 2 p.m.
The team’s next home game will be Monday at 7 p.m. against the Citadel.

Author