Nothing says teamwork like having 11 scorers out of a team of 12.
That is what the ETSU men’s basketball team displayed last Thursday in their game against The Citadel in Freedom Hall.
The Bucs were coming off a 3-point loss to Wofford and needed to recover with a win, and they did just that.
“We knew we had to bounce back to get back on the winning sides of things,” said Desonta Bradford (Humboldt, Tenn.). “This is a tough conference, so we just knew we had to come out and get a win.”
The game was pretty close for the first five minutes of the first half, until the Bucs started to separate themselves from The Citadel. After being tied at eight points with 15:36 remaining in the first half, the Bucs went on a 35-14 ending with a pair of free-throws from Jermaine Long (New Orleans, La.) to give the Bucs a 43-22 lead with 3:40 remaining in the first half.
The Citadel began to crawl back some, but the Bucs kept the lead at 45-32 to end the first half.
“Coach wanted to preach to us ‘when you’re playing teams like this that like to get up and down, you want to build a quick lead and try to step on their throats early so they won’t build confidence at your home,’” said T.J. Cromer (Albany, Ga.).
The Bucs kept their foot on the gas for the remainder of the game and did not allow The Citadel to come within single digits to their lead. At the end of regulation, the Bucs came out on top, 90-69.
Four Bucs scored in double digits, led by Cromer with the team-high in points with 17.
He also added 5 assists and 5 rebounds. Juniors Bradford and David Burrell (Milwaukee, Wis.), along with senior Hanner Mosquera-Perea (Istmina, Colombia) also finished in double digits.
Bradford and Mosquera-Perea finished with 12 points. Bradford adding four assists and six rebounds; Mosquera-Perea adding four rebounds, three blocks and a perfect percentage from the field. Burrell finished with 11 points and five rebounds.
Two days later, the Bucs hosted Mercer in Freedom Hall and came out with another victory.
This game was not only an exciting match up to see, but also exciting to see T.J. Cromer (Albany, Ga.) and A.J. Merriweather (Jackson, Tenn.) both reach 1,000 points at ETSU.
Cromer entered the game only needing five points, and Merriweather only needed six.
Both players crushed their milestone within the first four minutes of the game.
Overall the team had a great performance, defeating Mercer, 88-71.
The Bucs end their three-game home stand against Samford on Wednesday in Freedom Hall at 7 p.m.
