In what was to be a very emotional weekend for the ETSU seniors, the Buccaneers were able to put aside the feelings of Senior Day and come out with two victories against Jacksonville and North Florida.”It was good to have my family here,” said Smith. “And it was good to play my last game here in the Dome.”
Mike Smith and Micah Williams both belonged to the 1,000-point club at ETSU and Smith finished his last game at the Dome with a career-high 29 points. “Mike and Micah have been here five years,” said head coach Murry Bartow. “They’ve won over 100 games and they’ve really meant a lot to our program.”
Despite all the emotions of the last game in the Dome, the Bucs basketball spoke for itself. In the first outing, ETSU was able to bounce back from their tough loss last week against Stetson with a blistering first half.
“The first half was about as good a first half as we’ve played all year,” Bartow said after the game. “Everything kind of went right.”
Bartow wasn’t exaggerating. Isiah Brown tipped the jump ball to Smith, who ran down the court and laid it in for two points; 2-0 Bucs after seven seconds.
From there it just got better for the Bucs. ETSU went on a 13-2 run right off the bat, causing the Jacksonville coach, Cliff Warren, to call a timeout before the first media break.
Jacksonville’s luck would get no better throughout the first half. Every time the Dolphins would get close, the Bucs would surge back ahead.
Twice in the first half, Jacksonville cut the lead to single digits, but at the end of the half, the Bucs kicked into top gear and finished the first half on a 20-5 run. ETSU would head into the locker room with a 51-27 lead.
The second half didn’t go quite so well.
Although they might have earned it after the dominant first half, the Bucs were not nearly as intense in the second half. Jacksonville was able to make a run and cut the lead to under 10 when Smith picked up two quick fouls and went to the bench.
“We’ve had some real slippage in second halves,” said Bartow. “We obviously slipped a little bit and they played well, and the game could’ve gotten tight but fortunately we kept enough of a gap.”
The Bucs only made eight field goals in the second half, but their lead was so large, they only needed to make free throws to finish out the game and win 80-64.
When the North Florida Ospreys came in on Sunday, ETSU got off to a hot start and started the game on a 10-2 run.
Strangely enough, the main man for the Buccaneers early was not a senior, but junior forward Isiah Brown. Brown had 12 points and four rebounds in the first half alone.
ETSU would continue to keep a fairly large lead throughout most of the half. Smith played well, as he has been lately. He recorded 18 points in the first half and the Bucs went into the locker rooms with a 41-26 lead.
North Florida would start the second half on a little bit of a run, and after a big dunk, the Ospreys were able to cut the lead to 16 with 13 minutes to play in the half.
But the seniors and Brown would prove to be too much for the Ospreys. The Bucs took a 68-44 lead with 7:30 to go and finished the game with the final score 80-57.
The Bucs will go on the road to play Belmont Feb. 17 to attempt to climb a game closer to the Bruins after the loss at home earlier this season.
No Comment