Men’s basketball moves to finals, women’s team eliminated

The ETSU men’s basketball team moves on to the Southern Conference finals after they defeated Western Carolina Sunday in the semifinals at Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina. The Bucs preceded that victory with a win over VMI in their SoCon Tournament opener Saturday.

Buccaneer senior guard Isaiah Tisdale (Lexington, Kentucky) reflected on being a piece of ETSU history, having helped set the school record for regular season wins (27) in a season.

“It’s really significant,” said Tisdale. “We had been talking about trying to put that banner up. That was a really big accomplishment for us.”

Despite having already achieved such a tall accomplishment, Tisdale acknowledged there is still work to be done, as the men’s basketball team inches closer to a potential NCAA Tournament berth.

“[The NCAA Tournament] would be an amazing accomplishment,” said Tisdale. “When I got recruited here I wanted to make it to the NCAA Tournament. That is our ultimate plan.”

The men’s basketball team will face Wofford, who beat Chattanooga 72-70 Sunday in the other semifinal, in the SoCon final Monday night at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.

Meanwhile, the ETSU women’s basketball team was unable to grab the victory against the UNC Greensboro Spartans in the quarterfinals of the Southern Conference Tournament. The Bucs were defeated on Thursday evening by a final score of 57-47. The loss eliminated the Buccaneers from contention, and ending their season.

In front of a crowd of 3,254 at Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina, the resilient Buccaneers managed to take a 25-23 lead going into halftime. However, UNC Greensboro eventually took over the scoring sheet, outscoring the Bucs by 14 points in the third quarter.

Despite having held a strong 21-11 advantage in turnover margin, the Bucs were unable to get shots to fall, scoring only 16 of 58 (27.6%) from the field. Three point shooting for the Bucs ended 4 for 16 (25%).

Sophomore E’Lease Stafford (Lawrence, Kansas) led the Bucs with 13 points, as well as contributing one block and three rebounds. The Bucs managed to score an impressive 18 points off the bench, but it proved not to be enough to capture the victory.

The women’s basketball team ends their 2019-20 season with an overall record of 9-21 and 4-10 in Southern Conference Play. The UNC Greensboro Spartans advance to the semifinals of the Southern Conference Tournament to take on seventh seed Mercer.