ETSU Bucs and Lipscomb Bisons played one of the closest games of the season Saturday inside the ETSU/MSHA Athletic Complex. It took overtime to decide the game in which Lipscomb defeated ETSU 85-84 on a two-point shot by Jordan Burgason with 4.5 seconds left.

The Bison’s were led by junior guard Josh Slater who scored a career-high 35 points, and junior center Adnan Hodzic who scored 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

“That was a great, great college basketball game,” ETSU head coach Murry Bartow said. “I’m proud of my guys, we fought and competed hard. They just made one more play than us there at the end.”

The Bucs were led by junior forward Tommy Hubbard who posted his 10th double-double of the season with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Sophomore Isiah Brown also recorded a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

“This loss was tough,” Brown said. “It almost felt like payback.”

Brown was referring to the game that was played just nine days earlier at Lipscomb in which the Bucs had the last position when sophomore guard Jarvis Jones hit a three to win with just .04 seconds left.

The Bucs led most of the game, going into the half with a score of 33-30. The largest lead for the Bucs came with 6:17 left in the second half when they led by nine points.

Over the next two minutes, Lipscomb went on a 12-0 run to gain their first lead of the second half, 70-67.

The last field goal of that run by Lipscomb with 4:06 minutes left would be their final one of the second half. A missed three by Slater would end the half and send the game into overtime.

ETSU opened the overtime on a 5-0 run, but the Bisons answered with a 7-2 run to tie the game at 80.

The game would go back and forth, with Hubbard hitting two free throws and then Burgason hitting a three.

Hubbard scored another lay-up off his own miss, which gave the ball to the Bisons, who were down by one with 20 seconds left. That’s when Burgason hit his shot with 4.5 seconds left.

Hubbard would have one more chance, but his 3-pointer from the corner clanked off the rim as time expired.

The Bucs also got 16 points from junior guard Justin Tubbs and 13 points from junior guard Micah Williams.

While Bartow was disappointed with the loss he said the team had to move on.

“We’ve got to pick ourselves up,” he said. “We don’t have time to sit and pout with Belmont coming in on Monday.”

ETSU falls to a third-place tie in the A-Sun with Campbell, who they beat Thursday.

Next up for the Bucs is a match with conference rival Belmont. The Bucs lost to Belmont 100-89 on Jan. 23. Tip is set for 7 p.m.

Also on Saturday, ETSU’s Lady Bucs defeated Lipscomb, 82-59, at home. The victory marked ETSU’s eighth straight win and seventh straight at home, as the Lady Bucs improved to 12-7, 10-1 in A-Sun play. See etsubucs.com.

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