ETSU men’s basketball traveled to Asheville, North Carolina to compete in the 2022 Asheville Championship inside Harrah’s Cherokee Center last weekend. ETSU managed to win their first game against Elon 77-64, which advanced them to the championship game where they came up just shy, losing to Louisiana 81-77.
In the first game against Elon, the Bucs started strong by scoring the first five points and by the 16:16 mark had established a 14-4 lead. After a missed free throw by Elon, the ball gets tipped back to Jordan King (Albany, N.Y.), who pushes the ball up the court quickly to DeAnthony Tipler (Ashland, Miss.).
Tipler takes contact and shoots an off-balance floater while going out of bounds for a tough two points and the foul. After making the free throw, that put the Bucs up by 10 with under two minutes left to play in the first half.
ETSU brought the momentum they had to the second half as they built a 15-point lead over the first four-plus minutes. Elon was able to battle back, cutting the deficit to seven with just over 10 minutes left to play. With under four minutes left to play, Brock Jancek (Knoxville, Tenn.) had the ball in the low post and was able to show off his court vision, finding Josh Taylor (Atlanta, Georgia) in the corner who connected on the three ball. This put the Bucs up 69-53 and from there, they were able to earn a 13 point-victory, 77-64.
Jalen Haynes (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) led the Bucs in scoring, with 17 while also securing six boards. King poured in 15 while going 3-7 from deep.
With the win over Elon, the Bucs advanced to the championship game to take on the preseason favorites of the Sun Belt Conference, the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns. Louisiana won against Harvard 75-61 for their shot at the championship.
The Bucs had a difficult time keeping up in the first half. ETSU shot 34 percent (12-35), where Louisiana shot 50 percent (16-32). Louisiana made 6 shots from beyond the arc in the first half to help them establish a big lead against the Blue and Gold. The Bucs trailed 42-28 as the final horn of the first half went off.
ETSU was determined to battle back in the second half as they used a 12-2 run to open things up. Haynes gets the ball behind the three-point line and is able to go to work as he drives towards the basket and shows off his footwork with a spin move that loses his defender for an easy layup. This cut the lead to four with just at 16 minutes left to play. The Ragin’ Cajuns answered right back as they extended their lead back to double digits, 68-58.
ETSU battled to stay in the game with help from Tipler, and a contested corner three to cut the lead down to two. On the next Louisiana possession, Haynes had a well-timed block to keep the defect at two for the Bucs. After Louisiana missed three, ETSU grabbed the rebound with 28 seconds left to play. Haynes had a man backed down in the painted area but was unable to draw the foul and Louisiana was able to escape with an 81-77 win.
The duo of Haynes (23 points) and King (13 points) combined for a majority of the offense in the championship game. These two earned Asheville Championship All-Tournament Team honors as well.
The Bucs will return to Freedom Hall on Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. to take on the Little Rock Trojans. ETSU’s record now sits at 2-1.
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