JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Jan. 11, 2025) – When ETSU holds the opposition to 30 points or less in the first half it typically equates to a victory.
On Saturday, the trend continued.
ETSU held The Citadel to 22 first-half points and the Buccaneers cruised to a 70-52 victory over the Bulldogs inside Freedom Hall.
The Bucs, who forced 19 turnovers, held the Bulldogs to less than 40 percent shooting (19-49), including a 28 percent mark from beyond the arc (5-18). The Blue & Gold cashed the Bulldog miscues into 22 points, while also posting a season-high 14 steals against a Division I team. ETSU finished plus-16 on the glass, 41-25 and converted 21 offensive rebounds into 21 second-chance points.
Individually, Jaden Seymour netted a game-high 15 points, while John Buggs III finished with 12 and Quimari Peterson added 11. Buggs was 2-of-3 from three and 6-of-7 at the free throw line. Peterson totaled four steals, three rebounds and two assists. Gabe Sisk played a team-high 26 minutes, while eight players logged at least 20 minutes of game time. For the second straight game, Sisk pitched in with nine points, while Allen Strothers totaled seven.
With the win, ETSU made it back-to-back wins for the first time since finishing the month of November with four straight victories. The Bucs improved to 10-7 overall and 3-1 in league play, while the Bulldogs dipped to 5-10, 0-4.
The Bucs nearly led wire-to-wire as ETSU held the lead for 38 minutes and 54 seconds.
After The Citadel made one of two free throws in the opening seconds to go up by one, Buggs knocked down a corner three on the Bucs’ first possession and followed up with another triple a minute later, giving the Blue & Gold a 6-3 lead.
From that point forward, ETSU never trailed.
The Bucs opened a 10-point lead after scoring six straight points to make it 20-10 with just under nine minutes left before halftime. ETSU eventually led by as many as 17 in the opening 20 minutes and carried a 36-22 lead into intermission.
Saturday marked the sixth time ETSU held an opponent below 30 first-half points and the Bucs are now 5-1 in those contests. Since the start of the 2015-16 season, the Blue & Gold are 93-13 when accomplishing the feat.
The second half was much of the same as ETSU scored the first seven points to see its lead soar to 21, 43-22, after Peterson made a lay-up at the 17:45 mark. From there, the Bucs extended the advantage to 29, 60-31, with just under 10 minutes remaining.
With ETSU going deep into its bench, the Bulldogs were able to cut the deficit to 16 (66-50), but the Bucs cruised to the 18-point conference win.
Cam Glover led the Bulldogs with 13 points, while Brody Fox was held six points below his season average of 16.4 points per game.
The Bucs now gear up for a tough road trip as ETSU takes on Furman Wednesday night at 7 p.m. and then face reigning conference champion Samford Saturday at 6 p.m. ET.
