In a stunning comeback on senior day, the ETSU men’s basketball team displayed both grit and resilience to silence the Western Carolina Catamounts, escaping by a score of 68-67, and clinching the Southern Conference regular season title.
Despite the Buccaneers rushing out to an early lead, they found themselves trailing by a score of 32-26 at halftime, in a very physical affair that contained a total of 42 fouls committed between both teams.
Finding themselves down by 7 points at the media timeout with under four minutes remaining in the game, ETSU redshirt junior Patrick Good (Johnson City) caught fire, and refused to miss, dropping 14 points in the final 3:40 of play, including a dagger three-point shot that sent the sold out Freedom Hall Civic Center crowd of 6,177 into a frenzy.
Good finished the afternoon with an electrifying 26 points. At the final buzzer, the entire ETSU team chased Good around the court in an epic celebration, packed with emotion among both players, coaches and fans alike.
On an afternoon that included multiple pregame and post-game ceremonies, where both senior day and the Southern Conference regular season title were honored simultaneously, it came as no surprise that there were tears of joy on display, both on the court, and in the stands.
“We had a supernatural performance by Patrick Good,” said head coach Steve Forbes, during his press conference. “I don’t know if you can script it better than that for a young man that’s from Johnson City, Tennessee.”
Forbes, after a brief pause, went on to explain how proud he is of his senior class for their selfless play for the duration of the record-breaking season.
“It’s a tough road for a senior,” Forbes said. “Sometimes selfishness creeps in because it’s their last year [playing], but the most special thing about these guys is, they don’t care about individual stats.”
Saturday afternoon’s victory over the Catamounts propelled ETSU to a school record 27-4 regular season record, while Western Carolina finishes their regular season with an 18-11 overall record.
The Buccaneers have already clinched the 1st seed in the Southern Conference tournament with their comeback road win versus the Wofford Terriers on Feb. 26, by a final score of 60-54.
Moving into the Southern Conference tournament weekend, the Buccaneers look to continue their in-conference dominance, with their eyes set on a NCAA Tournament berth. The Bucs will begin play in the quarterfinals round, and will face the winner of the Virginia Military Institute Keydets versus the Samford Bulldogs.
ETSU’s quarterfinals game is expected to begin at noon on Saturday, March 7, at Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina.
