Over the past three and a half seasons, the person who’s arguably felt the most comfortable playing in Memorial Center has been Rick Byrd, head coach of Belmont University’s men’s basketball team. Since ETSU joined the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2005, Belmont has won nine consecutive games in Johnson City. Four of these victories came against ETSU, while the other five were conference tournament victories. Belmont has won seven of the last eight games against ETSU, both at home and away.

The Buccaneers, however, were determined to put that streak to an end.

Focusing mostly on strong defensive play, ETSU held Belmont to a season-low 28 percent from the field as they dominated their conference rival 87-57 on Monday, Jan. 19 in Memorial Center.

“It was a great win for us,” ETSU head coach Murry Bartow said. “I’m really proud of our guys.”

The last time these teams met, in the semifinals of the Atlantic Sun Tournament on March 7, 2008, ETSU held a tenuous 65-64 lead with less than 30 seconds left in the game.

ETSU was whistled for a questionable technical foul, and Belmont sunk the following free throws to take the lead. ETSU never recovered, losing the game by a final score of 69-65.

Despite the bitter history between the two teams, Bartow and his players claimed that revenge was not a motivator in their approach to the game.

“This was just another game,” senior forward Kevin Tiggs said. “Last year doesn’t matter. They won it last year, we won it this year.”

“It’s no secret that we’ve struggled with Belmont,” added Bartow, “but it was an important win – not because it was Belmont – but it was important because it was our next game and we need every win at home we can get.”

Defensively, the Bucs forced 17 turnovers and won the rebound battle 45-35. Offensively they were just as effective, shooting 57 percent from the field and scoring 48 of their 87 points in the paint. Tiggs scored 22 points, 15 of which came in the first half, senior guard Courtney Pigram led the team in scoring with 24, while senior forward Greg Hamlin recorded his first double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

“(Bartow) told us that they weren’t very good post defenders,” Hamlin said, on the subject of ETSU’s inside scoring. “We just focused on working inside, getting shots and getting offensive rebounds.”

The 57-point total marks Belmont’s lowest single-game scoring record of the season. The second lowest total came in a 74-60 loss to No. 4 Pittsburgh, whose defense sits at No. 19 in the NCAA rankings. Three-point shooting, typically the staple of Belmont’s offense, also stymied as the Bruins were held to 20 percent from beyond the arc.

“Very few teams can contend with (ETSU’s) athleticism and finishing ability,” Byrd said in a postgame press conference. “We simply could not make shots and could not disrupt ETSU’s offensive rhythm.”

Senior guard Alex Renfroe led the Bruins in scoring with 16, and senior guard Andy Wicke added 12. But junior forward Keaton Belcher, who scored 11, was the only Bruin to hit over 50 percent of his shots (3-5).

At the outset of the game, Tiggs tallied eight quick points and two steals to help the Bucs to a 14-5 lead with 15:25 left in the half. After two Belmont 3-pointers, Tiggs and Pigram combined for 11 points to push the advantage to 25-11 at 9:25. ETSU kept the pressure on throughout the half and built their lead up to 44-26 at the break. But they still weren’t comfortable enough.

“I told the guys to play like we were down,” Pigram said. “We played like we were down for basically the whole game.”

Belmont scored five quick points to open the half, but was plagued by offensive inconsistency for the remainder. The Bucs, on the other hand, exhibited solid team play, recording 11 of their 17 assists and 25 of their 45 rebounds in the second half.

“When you look at the numbers, we were pretty good on both ends,” Bartow said. “It was just one of those crazy games where we played really well, they probably didn’t, and we separated.”

The Bucs (13-5, 7-1 A-Sun) not only evened the series against Belmont (10-7, 6-2) at 7-7, but also tied Jacksonville (8-8, 7-1) for first place in the conference standings. Their next game will be against conference rival Campbell (7-10, 4-4) tonight at 7 at Memorial Center.

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