Busted! ETSU edges Tennessee Tech in BracketBusters
Courtney Pigram scored 15 points off the bench as ETSU improved to 3-0 in O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters play. Courtesy ETSUBucs.com
Date Posted: 2/23/2008
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - In need of a confidence boost, the ETSU men's basketball team got one during O'Reilly's ESPNU BracketBuster Saturday courtesy of the Ohio Valley Conference's Tennessee Tech.
The Buccaneers won for just the second time in their last five games, getting a career high six 3-pointers and 20 points from senior Travis Strong (Memphis), while senior Kenyona Swader (Smyrna) posted his second career double-double to lead ETSU to an 88-80 win over the Golden Eagles on Senior Day in front of 3,118 fans at Memorial Center.
"We really needed a win to get back on track," said ETSU head coach Murry Bartow, whose team improved to 16-12 on the year after taking a disheartening 96-70 conference loss at Gardner-Webb Thursday night. "This team still has a lot of basketball ahead of us, and getting out there tonight and playing well was important. We have to build some momentum as we prepare for the conference tournament. I wasn't really happy with the start of the second half, but we made enough plays at the end to get it done."
A blowout seemed eminent in the first half, as the Bucs built a lead of as many as 19 points twice and held a 49-30 advantage with 2:37 remaining before the break. However, Tech bounced back with a 7-0 run to close out the half and trail 51-39 at the intermission.
