Kenyona Swader scored in a season-high 22 points as ETSU improved to 6-0 all-time against Mercer. Courtesy ETSUBucs.com
Date Posted: 2/1/2008
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - After watching a nine-point lead dwindle to one with just over three minutes left, the ETSU men’s basketball team made enough foul shots and senior Andrew Reed drained a clutch 3-pointer in the final minutes as the Buccaneers outlasted Mercer, 85-79, in Atlantic Sun Conference play Friday night inside Memorial Center.
The crowd of 5,193 looked on as the Bucs won for the fourth time in a row and improved their season record to 12-9 overall, 6-2 in A-Sun action. Meanwhile, Mercer fell to 9-12, 4-4.
ETSU was led by junior forward Kevin Tiggs (Flint, Mich.), who picked up his third career double-double with a game-high 26 points and 12 rebounds, while senior forward Kenyona Swader (Smyrna) netted a season high 22 points and nine rebounds. Junior guard Courtney Pigram (Memphis) was the only other Buccaneer in double figures, picking up 12 points, seven rebounds and three steals.
“Mercer is an explosive offensive team, but I thought we’d have a chance to score as well and I think we saw that tonight,” said Bartow, whose team has won six of its last eight games. “Kenyona is really on a roll right now, and when we recruited Kevin that is what we expected from him. Both those guys are such hard match ups for other teams and they showed that tonight. We’re getting better.”
