On Nov. 14 the East Tennessee State University basketball team faced Detroit Mercy for their second home game of the season. ETSU is now 2-0 after a 107-78 victory over Detriot Mercy.
The Bucs got off to a great start leading 7-0 before the Detriot Mercy coach called a timeout at the 18:10 mark. Mercy’s sophomore Josh McFolley (Detriot, Mich.) was able to get Mercy’s offense going scoring five points following a timeout called by Mercy.
At the 15 minute mark, the Bucs led 11-8 struggling to get easy buckets. Mercy was able to get their first lead at the 11:48 mark, they went into a timeout on the floor leading 17-15. At that point, the Bucs had committed six turnovers with Mercy getting 10 points off of them. With ETSU’s 3-pointers not falling early, Julian Walters (Madison,Wisc.) was able to give the Bucs their first three-pointer to give them a 25-21 lead. After a floor timeout, Walters hit back-to-back threes for the Bucs followed by a 3-pointer by senior TJ Cromer (Albany, Ga.) extending the Buccaneer lead to 10.
The Bucs went into halftime leading 43-33, shooting an outstanding percentage of 68 percent from the field. The Buccaneer defense held Mercy to shooting 38 percent from the field despite Mercy shooting 44 percent from three to keep them in the game. Cromer led all scorers with 13 points, finishing six shots out of eight attempts from the field.
McFolley and Jarod Williams (Danville,Va.) led Mercy in scoring, both scoring 10 each. Seniors Hanner Mosquera-Perea (Istmina, Colombia) and Issac Banks (New Orleans, La.) were a force inside for the Bucs, scoring 22 points inside the paint.
Five minutes into the second half both offenses got the shots they wanted. Both teams combined for five for seven from the three point line and 11 for 16 from the field. The Bucs led 68-56 going to the media time at the 11:48 mark. McFolley started to get hot in the second half, hitting his seventh 3-pointer of the night for Mercy.
At 9:30, Desonta Bradford (Humboldt, Tenn.) threw down two monstrous dunks.
The Bucs now led 80-62. Following a timeout on the floor, the Bucs went on a seven to one run with Devontavius Payne (Carbondale, Ill.) starting to catch fire from the three-point line. At four minutes left in the second half, the Bucs led 98-69 with the offense looking like they could not be stopped.
The Bucs get their second win of the season to bring their record to 2-0. The Bucs shot an outstanding 68 percent from the field.
“We need to be more consistent defensively and with our effort,” said ETSU Head Coach Steve Forbes.
Cromer led all scorers with 27 points on an efficient 10 for 15 shooting. The Bucs’ next game will be at UNC Wilmington Nov. 20 at 3 p.m.
