Friday, December 21, 2007

HONOLULU - The ETSU men’s basketball team had something to prove after coming off one of its worst losses in school history last weekend at Syracuse. The Buccaneers quickly answered the challenge with a 76-58 win over SEC challenger Georgia in the first round of the 44th annual Rainbow Classic Thursday evening inside the Stan Sheriff Center.

The victory snapped a two-game skid and the Bucs improved to 5-5 overall; while the Bulldogs fell to 6-2. The win over Georgia was ETSU’s first win over an SEC opponent since the 1991-92 campaign, when the Bucs defeated Tennessee, 87-79.

“We needed a breakthrough win and we finally got one tonight,” said head ETSU men’s basketball coach Murry Bartow, whose team allowed its second lowest scoring total this season. “There were a lot of encouraging things that I saw out there from our guys. To beat a team like Georgia is very exciting and it’s a big win for our program.”

The Buccaneers saw three score in double figures with junior guard Courtney Pigram (Memphis) leading the way with a game-high 18 points in 34 minutes of work. Joining Pigram were seniors Andrew Reed (Port Richey, Fla.) and Kenyona Swader (Smyrna, Tenn.) as they each pitched in with 14-point efforts. Reed was also two rebounds shy of collecting his fourth career double-double. Georgia’s Jeremy Price paced the Bulldogs with a team-high 10 points.