On Sunday, the ETSU men’s basketball team faced Wofford.
Coming into the game the Bucs overall record was 14-5 and tied for third in the SoCon with a conference record of 4-2.
The Bucs won 79-72 and improved their record to 15-5 and 5-2 in conference play.
Wofford came into the matchup with a 8-11 record sitting in sixth place in the SoCon. In the first five minutes of the game both teams started great on offense. The Bucs started 5-5 on field goals and making good on the only three they took.
Wofford started the game 5-8 and made all three of their threes attempted. At the media timeout the Bucs and Wofford were tied at 18, both teams shooting over 60 percent.
Wofford was shooting 80 percent from three while the Bucs were shooting 66 percent from three. As the first half progressed after the second media timeout at the eight minute mark, the Bucs’ defense tightened up, dropping Wofford’s shooting percentage to 43 percent. But the score remained tied at 23.
As the game got more physical, both teams were taking tough shots. At the last media timeout of the half the Bucs were able to get a lead at 32-31. The Bucs were still able to shoot 60 percent from field goal. At half, the Bucs lead 41-37 still shooting an outstanding 64 percent from the field and 57 percent from the three.
The Bucs were led in scoring by A.J. Merriweather with 12 points, shooting a perfect 5-5. David Burrell came up big for the Bucs with two big three’s, with one in the final seconds to increase the Bucs lead to four points.
For Wofford, Fletcher Magee was explosive, scoring 16 points in the first half on 4-6 shooting from field goal and 2-2 from three. Magee also went 6-6 from the free throw line, more than the Bucs team made. The Bucs first half was plagued with careless turnovers with 15 in the first half, but they also forced Wofford to commit 11 turnovers.
After the first media timeout of the second half, the Bucs led 52-46, shooting 83 percent for the half and continuing to find success attacking the basket. With eight minutes to go, the Bucs lead was to cut into three with the Bucs shooting 1-7 from the three — until Desonta Bradford hit a big three to increase the Bucs lead to 68-60 with five minutes remaining.
The Bucs were able to control the rest of the game, winning 79-72. Fletcher Magee was the high point man for the game with 24 points while the Bucs had four players with over 10 points.
