Tim Smith missed a chance to ice the Owls of Kennesaw State at the free-throw line in early January. The Buccaneers dropped that contest in overtime.
Smith and the rest of the Buccaneers wanted to settle the score on Wednesday in the Mini-Dome against the Owls who are rated No.1 in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
It didn’t take the Bucs long to get the jump on the Owls. Andrew Reed elevated above the competition and slammed two missed Buccaneer baskets to give ETSU the momentum early in the game. “That’s my game right there,” the sophomore Reed said. “If I can get a dunk off of a miss it gives our team a lot of energy.”
The Buccaneer post play continued to play big as senior Dillion Sneed made the Dome erupt with two emphatic dunks. The Bucs took an 18-point lead into the half.
Things got ugly in the second half. “There was some trash talking . this is going to be the rivalry right here,” said Smith about the possibility of a new inter-conference conflict in the A-Sun with Kennesaw.
The trash talk turned violent when Kennesaw’s Ronell Wooten hit senior Ben Rhoda in the chest with an elbow as the two were running the length of the court.
“I felt like I ought to return the favor and protect myself,” Rhoda said.
The crowd agreed with Rhoda and started chanting his name as the officials sorted things out.
Both Rhoda and Wooten were ejected with about 10 minutes left in the affair. “I regret that I was thrown out but we got the win,” Rhoda said after the game.
The Bucs won in high style on Wednesday night: 110-74.
Rhoda’s league punishment for retaliating to foul play, kept him out of Saturday’s match-up with Stetson. His presence was missed on the floor as the Bucs got out to a slow first half.
Stetson’s Anthony Register came up with five huge steals for the Hatters and plagued ETSU’s guards all game long.
Stetson was up by six with just over two minutes left in the game.
Freshman Courtney Pigram hit a giant three ball. Then Brad Nuckles stole the ball and kicked it up the court to Pigram.
Pigram’s second 3-point shot was good and the score was tied 61 all. Things stayed knotted up tight right up to the end of regulation.
Smith launched a half court buzzer beater and just missed which sent the game into overtime.
The Hatters would outlast the Bucs as overtime expired 74-71.
Turnovers might have been the most costly for the Bucs in this A-Sun battle. ETSU lost possession of the basketball 35 times to the Hatters.

Author