Just three games after losing their 12-game home streak to the Mercer Bears at Freedom Hall, the Bucs got another shot at the Bears in Macon, Georgia. After losing to the Bears 71-55 on Jan. 29, the Blue and Gold beat Mercer 73-60 Saturday.
ETSU improves to 21-4 in the regular season and 10-2 in SoCon action, while Mercer had their home winning streak snapped and stepped down to 12-13, with 6-6 in SoCon.
The Bucs shot 71% at the free throw line. The Blue and Gold scored 18 points off the Bears’ 16 turnovers, while outscoring the Bears 23-5 in transition.
The Buccaneers were led by sophomore Daivien Williamson (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) with his 16 points, four rebounds and two steals. Senior Tray Boyd III (Memphis, Tennessee) followed up by grabbing 15 points, four assists, four steals and three boards in 39 minutes.
Junior Bo Hodges (Nashville, Tennessee) managed to obtain three straight fouls in 14 seconds to foul out, but had 11 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Senior Lucas N’Guessan (De Lier, Netherlands) chipped in with 13 points and six rebounds.
The first half was looking in favor of the home team for the first few minutes of play. The Buccaneers began to build up their advantage to claim the lead 31-22 into the break.
The second half developed with high intensity when Boyd and Williamson teamed up to make back-to-back threes to up the lead to 10 points at 46-36 with only 13 minutes left of play. Mercer struggled for the last few minutes to reclaim the lead. They were almost successful, trimming the deficit to six on three different occasions over the course of three minutes. The Bucs were not about to fail, as they sent the tally to 60-52.
With just under four minutes to play, the Bears made it a five-point game, but Boyd continued knocking down clutch shots as his jumper with 3:22 left extended the Bucs’ lead to seven, 63-56.
ETSU scored 10 of the last 14 points in the closing minutes to claim the game with a 13-point win.
The Bucs will be back home to host The Citadel on Feb. 12 with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m.
