Men’s basketball faced No. 1 Wofford at home this past Thursday. After five minutes of over-time the Bucs lost to Wofford 78-76, making their conference record 9-4.
The Bucs started the first half with a layup by sophomore Mladen Armus (Belgrade, Serbia) that put the Bucs in the lead. The Terriers would match the Bucs step for step, until a shot in the paint by Armus gave the Bucs a two-point lead that would soon turn into 6 points with the help of sophomore Bo Hodges (Nashville, Tennessee) and junior Jeromy Rodriguez (Santiago, Dominican Republic).
The Terriers would tie the score at 13-13 and then take the lead with a layup, but a 3-pointer by junior Isaiah Tisdale (Lexington, Kentucky) would give the Bucs back the lead of 16-15. The Bucs would continue the lead until the Terriers would tie the score again with a layup making the score 25-25.
A 3-pointer made by freshman Daivien Williamson (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) put the Bucs back in the lead once again, which they would continue through first half.
The second half started with another layup from Armus, giving the Bucs a three-point lead of 40-37.
A 3-pointer by the Terriers put them within one point of tying the score, but a 3-pointer by sophomore Patrick Good (Johnson City, Tennessee) would keep the Bucs’ lead.
The final minutes of the second half had both teams fighting for the lead as the score would tie three times before ending in overtime at 64-64.
“They were locked in doing what we needed to do and going on the fly, but it was just that one play,” said head coach Steve Forbes.
The Terriers would start the five minutes of over-time with a jump shot in the paint, but the Bucs would match that and tie the score 66-66. The Terriers would take the lead until two free throws made by Rodriguez put the Bucs back in the lead.
The score would tie once more with the Bucs taking the one-point lead before the Terriers would make a 3-pointer and crucial free-throws that would leave them leading in the final score 78-76.
“The game plan that we had I feel like we executed it, but sometimes you set yourself up for success and sometimes you just fail,” said Good. “I feel like this will be a learning point and a stepping stool for us.”
Men’s basketball tackled Furman on Feb. 7, losing 78-76.
“We didn’t turn them over,” Forbes said to Buccaneer Sports Network. “We didn’t get transition, and we turned it over. … It’s a disgraceful effort. It’s disgraceful to ETSU, to the program that we’ve built since I’ve been there. That’s disgraceful.”
Men’s basketball will be back at home to face The Citadel on Thursday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m.
