The Bucs had an eventful trip to Nashville this past weekend. They were able to defeat Lipscomb Saturday night, after losing the game to Belmont on Thursday. But things didn’t look so good when senior Mike Smith rolled an ankle at the 11:11 mark.

The injury left him on the bench for the rest of the game, with a bag of ice taped around his ankle.

But the other players wouldn’t let the injury to their leader keep them from sweeping the preseason favorites in the league. Even if it did take two overtimes.

Although it seemed like a dark day, with Smith’s injury, the Buc’s saw some bright spots with the victory.

“The Lipscpmb game was one of the best wins of the year by far,” head coach Murry Bartow said. “With the adversity, with it being senior day [for Lipscomb], and with losing Mike early in the game. It was a great effort by our guys.”

Even the bench, which has been sparsely used throughout the season, made an impressive appearance.

“We got a lot of great play from our bench,” Bartow said. “It took everybody stepping there game up [to win].”

The bench will be important as tournament time gets closer. Belmont, which plays 12 players, wore down the Bucs in the second half of Thursday’s meeting, and are ranked second nationally in bench points – 40.7 ppg.

Smith sat out of practice Tuesday, and had a noticeable limp while shooting with teammates. He is said to be “day-to-day” and his status for tonight’s game at Campbell is uncertain.

Campbell is currently 12-16, 6-12 in the Atlantic Sun, and could be a possible opponent for the Bucs in the first-round of the A-Sun tournament. The Bucs have already secured the second seed.

ETSU beat Campbell earlier this season inside of the Mini-Dome, 72-59. ETSU is 12-2 all-time against Campbell.

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