In its annual Blue-Gold scrimmage, the ETSU men’s basketball team could not be stopped on offense. Since they were defending against each other, this wasn’t always a positive trend.
Senior point guard Tim Smith led the Blue squad with 38 points and 10 rebounds as they went on to defeat their Gold teammates, 96-79.
While head coach Murry Bartow was pleased with the efforts of all his team’s newcomers, he acknowledged that several improvements needed to be made in defending shots. Both teams shot over 55 percent from the field.
“Our defense was incredibly disappointing,” Bartow said, “since the beginning of preseason, it’s all we’ve talked about, but we didn’t get much carryover from that theme today.”
The Buccaneers suffered a costly loss just a few minutes into the game. Sophomore forward Andrew Reed broke his left wrist in a violent fall on defense and is expected to miss anywhere from five to eight weeks.
After being helped off the court and having his wrist taped, he re-entered the game. Receiving a fast pass proved to be too much for Reed, and he was permanently taken out of the action.
A cast was on his left arm as he rested on the bench. “It’s pretty substantial,” Bartow said, “He’s right in the middle of our rotation, and he was a big help to us last year. Hopefully, he’ll be back with us within five or six weeks.”
Kenyona Swader is the only other injured player, rehabbing from knee surgery. Despite the bad news, the Buccaneers have gotten forward Brad Nuckles back after a foot injury prematurely derailed him last season.
Stealing the show for the Buccaneers was Smith, who is looking to put up big numbers in the last season of his illustrious ETSU career.
“I’m working on making better decisions on the floor, and making a lot more outside shots,” Smith said, “I want to be strong the whole season. We just have to back everything up with solid defense, since we’re definitely capable of putting 80-plus points on the board in every game.”
Along with Smith’s leadership, the rest of the backcourt seems to be a key strength for the team.
Junior guard Travis Strong led all outside shooters with six three-pointers, missing just one other attempt. Leading the Gold squad, Strong finished with 23 points.
Senior forward Dillion Sneed played with a high intensity level and scored 22 for the Gold team, punctuating one fast break with a powerful slam dunk.
With freshman guard Courtney Pigram hustling after a steal, Sneed took his pass off the backboard and stuffed it home.
“That one felt pretty good,” Sneed said, “It was the first alley-oop I’ve gotten since I started college, and I liked how the crowd reacted to it.”
“Dillion has had a real good preseason; he’s done as well as anyone so far this year. He has a lot more energy and trimmed off some body fat from last year,” Bartow said.
In terms of performance during Saturday’s scrimmage, coach Bartow said he was very pleased with all his first-year players.
“I liked the atmosphere during the game today, and loved the crowd,” freshman guard Tayloe Taylor said. “I was a little nervous, but it will just take some time to get adjusted to it all as the season goes on.”
ETSU takes some time off to practice, but will play a home exhibition game against Mars Hill on Nov. 10 at 7 p.m.

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