All eyes from the Atlantic Sun will be concentrated on Johnson City this weekend as the Bucs host the Nashville duo of the Lipscomb Bisons and Belmont Bears.ETSU, who returns home from wins against North Florida and Jacksonville, is on an eight-game winning streak that dates back to Dec. 24.

That’s when the Bucs defeated old Southern Conference rival Appalachian State 79-51 in Cancun.

This weekend’s games have big implications on the Bucs’ overall chances of winning an Atlantic Sun Conference regular season championship.

Lipscomb, who comes to town on Friday night, was picked to be the regular season champion by the media and coaches.

“Lipscomb will give us all we can handle on Friday night,” head coach Murry Bartow said. “They can really score, it all starts with [Josh] Slater and [Adnan] Hodzic. Slater in this building a year ago had 35 [points]. Hodzic’s the most dominant big guy in our league, so they have a great one two punch.”

This one-two punch is as effective as ever. Hodzic and Slater are ranked one and two, respectively, in scoring in the conference.

When Lipscomb came to town last year they escaped with an 85-84 victory in overtime, propelled by Slater’s performance, which included a game-winning shot. The Bisons (10-7, 5-3) aren’t living up to expectations right now; they are currently in fourth place.

The Bears on the other hand seem to be overachieving, as they sit atop the Atlantic Sun at 8-0, 16-3 overall. Their three losses include two from the University of Tennessee and one from Vanderbilt. Belmont was picked to finish third, behind Lipscomb and ETSU.

Belmont is currently ranked 16th in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major poll, and received one vote in this week’s Associated Press rankings, the first in school history.

The Bucs are in second place in the A-Sun, 7-1, 12-7. With two wins this weekend they would be in a tie for first with Belmont if they are able to win both games this weekend.

ETSU should be well rested after getting Sunday and Monday off. The Bucs earned these days off by winning the game against Jacksonville, according to Bartow. The rest will hopefully give the Bucs their legs back and get them fresh for the big weekend. The game Friday against Lipscomb will be televised on CSS.

The Bucs hope to have a great student turn out.

Head coach Murry Bartow and his staff will be at the Culp Center this week to try and rally the students for there support.

“It’s really pivotal that in these two games we have a huge student turn out,” Bartow said. “The energy is really built by the students, so we need both student sections just packed. Our team is playing good, but to give them that extra boost of energy I hope we have a huge student turn out.

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