In ETSU’s final regular season game in the Southern Conference, Tim Smith and Elton Nesbitt locked up in a battle for the ages.
Nesbitt used his deadly touch from long range while Smith used his arsenal of spin moves, runners, crossovers and a few moves that they haven’t thought up names for yet to slice and dice the Golden Eagles defense.
When the smoke cleared, Smith won the battle by outscoring Nesbitt 41 to 31, but lost the war as Georgia Southern escaped with a 97-91 victory Saturday.
The Bucs were down by as many as 19 points in the second half, but they managed to battle back to pull the game within three points at 73-70 on a Smith three-point shot.
The Golden Eagles elected to put the clamps on Smith down the stretch and dared the rest of the Bucs to hit clutch shots.
“I looked up at the scoreboard and Smith had 38 points,” said Georgia Southern coach Jeff Price. “We decided to run at him and doubled him. He only had three points from then on.”
With Smith subdued for the last few minutes of the game, the Eagles pushed the lead back to 10 points twice late in the game. The Bucs fought back each time, but they finally ran out of time. Smith’s 41 points were a career high, breaking his previous high of 35 points against Marshall earlier this year.
Dillion Sneed also had a career day for the Bucs, scoring 10 points and grabbing 22 rebounds. He led ETSU to a 52 to 42 rebounding advantage. James Anthony added 16.

Author