After surrendering an early 22-point lead, the ETSU men’s basketball team rallied behind Kevin Tiggs’ 21 second-half points to hold off the Campbell Fighting Camels 79-60 on Jan. 22 at Memorial Center.
The victory was the Buccaneers’ third of a four-game home stretch and their 10th consecutive win in Johnson City.
“It was a good win,” ETSU head coach Murry Bartow said. “Any time you beat a league opponent by 19, I’ll take it.”
ETSU (14-5, 8-1 A-Sun) extended their all-time winning streak against the Camels to a perfect 10-0, while Campbell (7-12, 4-6) dropped to seventh place in the Atlantic Sun standings.
Last Monday, the Buccaneers effectively routed conference rival Belmont 87-57. In that contest, the Bucs never trailed and maintained a double-digit lead from 9:42 in the first half to the end of the game. Though the Camels never took the lead, they gave the Bucs and the 3,239 in attendance plenty of concern.
“We had some good spurts, and we had some bad spurts,” Bartow said. “It was kind of a game of runs, and fortunately we had the last one.”
The Bucs’ first big run began with 9:10 remaining in the first half. Holding a 22-13 advantage, ETSU went on a 15-2 run to push the lead to 37-15 at 5:15. Junior guard Mike Smith led the first-half charge by scoring 15 of his season-high 22 total points in the period.
“The guys were coming to me and I was making shots,” Smith said.
After ETSU’s 84-82 victory over Jacksonville on Jan. 3, Smith said that he has had difficulty finding his shot inside Memorial Center. In the victory over Campbell, he shot 69 percent from the field and was one of only two Buccaneers to score in double-digits.
“If other guys don’t play as well, I try to pick it up for them,” Smith said. “It definitely makes me a little more confident.”
Campbell regained some of their confidence after the ETSU run by outscoring the Bucs 17-3 for the remainder of the period to put the halftime score at 40-32. After the break, the Camels scored five quick points to start the second half. Junior forward William Kossangue led Campbell’s charge, scoring 12 of his 18 total points during the run.
“The kids finally settled down,” Campbell head coach Robbie Lang told GoCamels.com. “I kept encouraging them to grind it out and we got some buckets.”
After an early second-half timeout, with the score at 40-37, the Buccaneers increased their defensive pressure and transition offense to spark a 17-4 run to put the score at 57-41 with 13:48 remaining. Refusing to go away, Campbell went on a 7-3 run to make the score 64-56 with 7:12 left in the game. ETSU, however, caught the final run of the game as senior forward Kevin Tiggs scored 10 of ETSU’s final 15 points in a 15-4 run.
Tiggs, who scored only six points in the first half, dominated the second period as he shot 7-9 from the field and was a perfect 5-5 from the free-throw line. He led the game in both points (27) and steals (six).
“I think (Tiggs) is the best player in the league,” Bartow said. “He’s incredibly efficient. We did make a conscious effort to get the ball in his hands.”
For Campbell, Kossangue led the team in scoring, while sophomore guard Junard Hartley added 11. Junior forward Jonathan Rodriguez, who leads the Camels in scoring with 16.9 points per game, scored only three points in 16 minutes of play.
“I was glad not to see him,” Bartow said. “In last year’s games, I think he had a total of 56 points in two games, so to hold him to three was obviously a big key in this game.”
With the victory, the Buccaneers maintain their tie for first place in the Atlantic Sun with Jacksonville. They close out their home stretch against Florida Gulf Coast (9-12, 5-5) tonight at 7 p.m. in Memorial Center.

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