On Tuesday night the Bucs got their revenge for a one-point loss against USC Upstate in early December. The Bucs would get a win, but the final score was rather deceiving, 67-52. Head coach Murry Bartow had confidence in his team and was happy with the win, but was a little concerned. “That was a good win,” the coach said. “I’m glad that that one is over to be honest with you. That to me was a very, very scary [and] dangerous game. So I’m glad that one is over and we can move onto the next game.”

Bartow said he was concerned about this game because his team had just endured a tough weekend against two conference rivals. He also said that USC Upstate isn’t as bad as their record indicates.

“I was really worried about this game. Because there record is not good, but if you look at the history of us against Upstate over the last three years every game is a five, six, seven-point game.”

The USC Upstate Spartans record, 2-18 and 1-9 in the Atlantic Sun, is somewhat deceiving.

They played conference leader Belmont closer than the Bucs did, only losing by five points, less then a week ago. They also took Jacksonville to overtime, and have played six “major” programs like Michigan, South Carolina and Virginia Tech.

ETSU started the game looking rather sluggish, despite having the previous day off to recuperate from their hectic weekend.

The Bucs would take their first lead at 6-4, which would be answered by a 3-pointer from Upstate. The half would go back and forth with a total of seven lead changes. But the Bucs took control in the final minute, forcing three turnovers and going on a 7-0 run. The Bucs would take their biggest lead of the half as time expired, 31-24.

Junior guard Adam Sollazzo, who finished the game with 18 points, would score four of those seven points from the free-throw line. “I just told myself when I was sitting on the bench, just when I got in, to be aggressive,” he said.

The Bucs would not relinquish the lead in the second half, but Upstate would get as close as six.

Senior Mike Smith was the leading scorer with 22 points; he would surpass 1,500 points for his career, which places him eighth in ETSU history, behind Troy Mikell (1980-1983) who had 1,684. Fellow senior Micah Williams finished the game with 16 points and is now 14 points shy of reaching 1,000 for his career.

ETSU’s press defense was a major catalyst for the Bucs causing 14 turnovers in the game, but the Bucs were not able to press as much as they would have liked, due to their limited depth with guard Justin Tubbs being out with an ankle injury. Tubbs injured his ankle on Friday night against Lipscomb.

“We would have pressed more with Justin, but our press is not as good without Justin,” Bartow said.

He also mentioned the fact that Tubbs’ absence was a problem in both Tuesday and Sunday’s games on the offensive end. “We all know he is streaky [Tubbs], but he can streak you into about 25 points too. So he is very dangerous because he might be on and when he is on he makes us a different team.”

With the win, the Bucs wrapped up three games in five-day schedule, and will get Wednesday off. They welcome Kennesaw State to town on Saturday afternoon. Kennesaw also has a misleading record at 5-15, 3-7 in the A-Sun. One of their five wins includes a 17-point victory over Georgia Tech. They are led by sophomore guard Markeith Cummings, who is the third leading scorer in the A-Sun at 16.6 ppg. Tip is scheduled for 4 p.m.

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