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In the final game of the regular season, ETSU traveled down to face Mercer in Macon, GA. Tipoff set at 4:30 pm EST. Coming off of a loss to Wofford at home, The Bucs are looking for a final win of the season before heading to Asheville. Mercer also coming off of a loss but to Western Carolina, is seeking to better their standing for next weekend at the tournament in Asheville.
First Half Stats
The Bucs struggled consistently in the first half, shooting at 39% for FG’s, 29% for 3’s, and 100% of FT’s. The Bucs had a solid 19 rebounds, but trailed behind Mercer in steals, assists, and blocks. Team leaders for ETSU were Brian Taylor II, Jaylen Smith, Maki Johnson, and Blake Barkley. Taylor led the team with 10 points, Smith and Johnson both with 5, and Barkley with 4. Barkley and Johnson additionally contributed with 4 rebounds each, and Barkley with 2 assists.
On the opposite side of the scoreboard, Zaire Williams was a standout for Mercer in the first half. With 13 points, he shot 3-4 on FG’s, 2-3 on 3’s, and 5-6 for FT’s with 1 rebound and 2 assists. Another high contributor was Quinton Perkins II who contributed 9 points overall. Perkins shot 3-4 on FG’s, 3-4 on 3’s, with 2 rebounds and an assist. The Bears ended the half leading 49-35 over The Bucs.
Second Half Overview
After a battle in the first half, The Bucs weren’t ready to call it just yet. The Bucs drastically improved across the board shooting 52% for FG’s, 50% for 3’s, 67% for FT’s, and outscored The Bears in the second half 41-33. ETSU also made only 2 turnovers, 14 rebounds, and 4 steals.
Second half scorers were Barkley with 12 points, Sutherland with 9 points, and additionally Taylor and Smith had 5 points. Barkley contributed 5 rebounds and 1 assist, Smith with 1 rebound, and Taylor with 1 rebound and 1 assist.
Ultimately, The Bucs pushed but seemed to run out of gas since there were no FG’s made by them in the last 3 minutes of the game. The team overall had a lower amount of assists (13), an average amount of steals (8), and blocks (2). Additionally at no point in the entire contest did The Bucs have a lead on The Bears, which is a very rare occurrence for ETSU.
Post Season Positioning
With the way the chips have fallen, The Bucs will play on Saturday, March 7th at Noon at Harrah’s Cherokee Center Asheville. The Bucs will play either UTC (#8) or The Citadel (#9) since they are the Game One matchup on Friday, March 6th.
More SoCon Basketball Tournament information and brackets for both Men’s and Women’s Basketball can be found here; https://www.exploreasheville.com/socon/basketball-champion
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