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ETSU and Western Carolina face again for the 3rd time this year. It has been said that The Catamounts have been the Achilles Heel for The Bucs, since they’re the only team in the SoCon to beat them not once, but twice. Both ETSU and Western Carolina won their games on Saturday, so little recovery time forces these teams to focus up and push forward.
Tipoff for this local rivalry was 4pm. Starting out for Western was Stansberry, Pettway, Dioumassi, Kell and Dada. For The Bucs side of the court, Strothers, McCullum, Morris III, Taylor II and Barkley led the charge.
First Half;
Western won the tipoff, and Pettway but down a 3 to start the score, with an assist from Stansberry. Western and ETSU went back and forth for consistently, but Western having a much more dominant presence on the glass and securing buckets.
However, Western outrebounded ETSU in the first half 23-10 in total. In fact, at no point in the first half did The Catamounts give ETSU a lead. ETSU’s largest issue was missing the basic shots and turnovers.
Ending the first half, The Bucs were down 38-24. At the most struggling point in the contest, The Bucs were down 17 points at 2:00 left in the half. This is the largest deficit ETSU faced all year, the second was North Alabama (15 points). Additionally, The Catamounts also had more assists (8 to ETSU’s 5). The Bucs did force more steals (5 to Western’s 3) and had 2 fewer turnovers than Western (7 for The Catamounts, Bucs had 5).
Major players for The Bucs in the first half were Taylor (8 points), Barkley (7 points, 4 rebounds), and McCullum (5 points, 1 rebound, 1 steal and 1 block).
Second Half
The second half for The Bucs saw a huge influx of ball control, better accuracy at the glass, and more conscientious plays. The Bucs chipped away at the deficit slowly, pushing The Catamounts to run out of gas. This method was successful, especially later in the second with a 11-0 run from Barkley.
Consequently, The Catamounts severely struggled against the recharged Bucs after halftime. So much so their shooting dropped from 50% to 24% for FG’s, 43% to 14% from 3’s, and having just as many turnovers (7 and 7 each half).
Taylor, Barkley, and Smith dominated in the Second Half. Taylor with 14 points, and 2 assists. Barkley with 12 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 block. Additionally Smith contributed 9 points, 3 rebounds, and 1 steal.
The Bucs rallied and came out with the win 69-67 over The Catamounts.
Next Up;
Next Up for the Bucs? Facing the winner of UNCG vs Furman. The Bucs are playing for the SoCon Championship Monday night at 7pm, to punch their ticket to The Dance for the first time since 2017.
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