ETSU men’s basketball opened the official season with a win over King University, scoring 73-56 inside Freedom Hall. Serving as an assistant coach from 2015 to 2020, Brooks Savage is no stranger to the culture at ETSU. This is Savage’s first season as head coach for the Buccaneers, and he is off to a perfect start.

King opened the game by scoring the first four buckets before ETSU answered by scoring 11 of their own to take a seven-point lead early on. King tied the game up at 11 with 10:22 left in the first half, but ETSU led for the rest.

Tyler Rice (Columbia, S.C.) hit back-to-back triples to give the Bucs a double-digit lead with just under five minutes left in the first half. This sparked the offense for the Bucs and helped establish a 15-point lead at the end of the first half.

Early in the second half, the Bucs’ lead grew to 21 after two made free throws by Jaden Seymour (Charlotte, N.C.). While the Bucs controlled the entire game, King cut the lead to 10 with 9:18 left in the second half. A three-pointer by Ebby Asamoah (Rockville, Md.) in the game’s closing seconds made the final score 73-56.

Photo of Quimari Peterson during game against King University. (Contributed/ETSU Athletics)

Quimari Peterson (Gary, Ind.) was the leading scorer for the Bucs with 15 and played just over 35 minutes, while Asamoah was not far behind with 14 of his own. ETSU only had 12 turnovers in the game, while King had 22, giving the Bucs an advantage on scoring opportunities. The Bucs shot .368% from the field, while they held King to just .294% shooting.

The Bucs will be on the road as they play Elon on November 9. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

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